Metering
During the course of my test, I found that the E-PL5’s 324-zone ESP evaluative metering had a tendency to underexpose slightly, by about 0.6EV. This is not generally an issue, however, and, if anything, it helps to maintain detail in the highlight areas.
By now, I’d imagine most readers are familiar with the extra metering modes on Olympus cameras. Evaluative, spot and centreweighted metering are available, as well as highlight and shadow spot modes. The latter two allow a point in the image to be specified as the highlight or shadow, and the exposure is then calculated so that these points remain as highlights or shadows, regardless of the rest of the image.
What I like about the Olympus metering system is the way it seems to be designed with dedicated photographers in mind. Of course, the camera can produce good images for those who just want to point and shoot, but with a variety of metering options it is flexible enough for enthusiast photographers, who can really choose how they wish to meter and expose their images.
