For Those who use a Nikon D700

[creativepro]

will be visiting Morocco in week's time.

I usually use matrix metering when taking photographs.

However I have read that using the autoexposure (AE) Lock on the Nikon D700 one should use center- weighted or spot metering. see attachment re autoexposure lock

What are people's views on this - spot or center-weighted metering for street photography.

[I @ M]

Sue, do you know how to set the diameter of the centre weighted metering area in the menu of your camera? It makes a huge difference depending on how close to / how much your subject fills the frame.

I prefer spot metering to expose the subject and to correct / ignore the background later in PP.

2 quick examples, spot metered and ignoring the backgrounds. 35mm on a DX body, not cropped apart from the height of the 2nd one so close enough to fill the frame with the subject.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9582534/BTS_20110825_175228.JPG

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9582534/Bali%202012_20120106_124612.JPG

[JM Tran]

I used only spot metering when I was in Morocco, a lot of harsh lighting and going from dark areas with shadows to bright is common there.

Definitely shoot in RAW and PP later to make the best of it.

[swifty]

You'd use AE lock in centre weighted metering when what you want to meter on is not in the centre of your composition. The AF points are not tied to the metering.
So in this mode, essentially you point the middle of the frame to what you want to meter on, press AE-L, then recompose/focus whatever before taking the shot.

In spot, the AF point IS tied to the metering.
So whatever you put your active AF point on is the patch that you'll meter from. If you want to lock that value in and then do other things like change AF point/recompose etc. then use the AE-L button.
The beauty of this method is that you can survey a scene and decided quickly what you want 'middle gray' to be in your exposure. It might be a face against a bright/dark background or something which can easily fool the metering system. So you point your AF point on the face, AE-L it then recompose/AF etc. before taking the photo. A guide would be fair caucasian skin is usually around +2/3EV above middle gray. So you can spot meter on the skin with a +2/3 EV compensation and you should have your right exposure regardless of background.
But spot metering can be sensitive to small movements. So as an alternative, use a smaller patch of centre weighted instead, as Andrew alluded to. Its b5 in your custom settings.
In this method, what you point the CENTRE of the frame to (not active AF point) will be what you meter on, with a 75% bias to that centre patch. So you can lock that with AE-L recompose, AF etc. and shoot.

Hope that makes sense.

- - - Updated - - -

BTW the matrix metering these days are pretty smart.
The AF points do influence the metering in this mode, as well as other info like distance to subject etc.
If I do use matrix, I use it in conjunction with exposure compensation alot and just 'read' the scene generally.
If its backlit or very bright eg. beach or snow, you'd need a + EV adjustment cos you want the resultant picture to reflect the bright nature of the scene (at the risk of blowing highlights though so turn those 'blinkies' on in the your picture review).
If you're photographing at night and its a dark alley or something where you'd want your photo to be dark to represent the scene, it'd be a - EV adjustment (but at the risk of introducing noise).
Its a balancing game.