Nikon FA Instruction Manual page 41

TECHNICAL INFORMATION/PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES
continued
Front-lit subject
Front-lit subject against dark background
If a brightly lit subject is positioned against a dark background,
and is not in the center, centerweighted metering places too
much emphasis on the dark center of the picture. The result is a
correctly exposed background, but an overexposed main
subject However, with automatic multi-pattern metering, the
camera automatically integrates both the dark background and
bright subject to ensure the best overall exposure
Scenes with high reflectivity
If a scene contains spectral highlights, such as the sun itself or
bright reflections from water or metallic objects, the main subject
Automatic Multi-pattern
wilI come out as a silhouette with regular centerweighted
metering. However, with automatic multi pattern metering, the
light value of the darker parts is also measured, resulting in a
well-balanced exposure. In addition, overall bright scenes, such
as snow scenes, come out correctly exposed with automatic
multi-pattern metering What happens is that extreme brightness
is uniformly reduced to EV 16-1/3, automatically making the
right amount of exposure compensation for correct exposure.
Centerweighted
42