The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5, the Canon PowerShot S3 IS and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7 all have the three metering patterns that are typical of digital cameras from the most elaborate to the most basic. These are: Spot, Multi-pattern and Center-weighted averaging. Spot takes a single measurement in a small area at the center of the frame. Multi-pattern takes several measurements all over the frame, and compares them, using an algorithm which should recognize and account for difficult lighting. Center-weighted takes a single measurement from a large area at the center of the frame, with decreasing sensitivity toward the edges of the frame.

 

We shot a bag of chips in the windowsill to see how the patterns handled backlighting. All three cameras' spot metering modes measured the bag exclusively – as they should have – and blew out the background, which is expected. The proper exposure for the bag should leave the background mostly white, or “blown out.” The PowerShot S3 IS was the most extreme, while the Cyber-shot DSC-H5 was the least. The PowerShot S3 IS pattern and center-weighted readings were identical, while both the Lumix FZ7 and the Cyber-shot DSC-H5 brightened the exposure about 1/3 of a stop with the multi-pattern setting, compared to center-weighted. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5's multi-pattern setting produced the best detail in both the chips and the background.

Exposure (Advantage: Draw)

We shot a few scenes with each camera on manual, relying on a handheld ambient light meter to set the camera's exposure. We found that each camera delivered good exposure with ambient readings, indicating that the camera's ISO settings are well-calibrated. Because we did not see a significant difference between the cameras, none has an advantage in this category.