Keith Newton
and willing to try suggestions. There are two other things that could be done to get better metering under conditions which can fool your sensor.

One is to see how you have it set for the focus. There are usually three settings. One will be just a [_] blank in the middle. This setting will meter on whatever is in that space when you press the shutter button down half way. If only your pin is in that space, you probably are OK, but if you have any of either the black or white in that space, then the subject will likely be off.

There is another setting with the rectangle, but with a period or dot in the middle. When using that setting, it will evaluate on a much smaller area, about the size of that dot, so you don't need to worry about it being fooled by the background. The third evaluates the whole image being shown in the LCD. Unfortunately the camera doesn't know background from subject, so it will average the light from everything, and the more contrast in the pic, the more likely it is to miss.

Then there is Bracketing. When you find and initiate that, the camera will take 3 or 5 pics when you press the shutter button. One or two will be over and under what the meter chooses as it's best guess. Then all you have to do, is review those, choose the best and delete the others.

I hope this helps. It can be pretty confusing, and even worse, when instead of the background being the really light, or really dark, when the subject is the really light or really dark, the metering would be just the opposite of when it is the background.