Metering Mode...

As others have stated, it's a limitation of current gen cameras not being able to capture the entire range of light.  But, the camera can certainly cheat.  Set the DRO to a higher setting (such as 4 or 5), or by turning on HDR (high dynamic range) shooting where the camera will take a few betwens between light and dark and merge them together to get a more "balanced" image.