QUOTE(SkyBlue® @ Aug 23 2008, 10:47 AM)
Dear all,
Is anyone of you can kind enough to explain briefly to me what is metering mode are for and how to use it?
I know there are 4 type such as evaluative metering, partial metering, spot metering and center-weighted average. I have read up the manual but still don't understand. What are the different for all these metering?

it's the area taken by the metering to evaluate and return you the correct aperture/shutter.
in evaluative metering, it takes 21-zone (area)
in partial metering, it takes 10-15% of the entire area
spot, will take in < 5% of the area
center weighted will takes in 60%-80% of the center area
the challenge is always when to use it. In normal situation when the entire scene is balance, you can use evaluative or center weighted. It is when you are shotting a subject which very dark or very bright background which you need to use partial or spot.
depending on the size of ur subject on the area, u choose between partial or spot.