Auto iso

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steve
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Does anyone use auto iso? I watched a training DVD for a D90 and the Guy recommended using auto ISO. Worth bothering with or not?
 
When neccesary yeah. Not all the time though.

If you are in changing or varible light, it can be very usefull.
 
Been trying to manually change ISO and so far been quite good. Nothing wrong with Auto though
 
I always leave it "enabled" but it will only become "active" when light levels drop to such an extent that I'm down to F/2.8 (the widest my lens will go) and I'm down to 1/125s (as I have set this as my minimum shutter speed before it cuts in).

I have set a maximum ISO of 6400 and once it becomes too dark to shoot at f/2.8, 1/125, iso 200 (ie a light level of only 4 EV!), only then will it start to slow the shutter beyond 1/125s.
 
I would be interested to see in what situation the training DVD said to use Auto ISO. :thinking:

On the vast majority of cameras Auto ISO is dumb, in that it only kicks in if the light levels make the shutter go below 1/60th second. That's fine if you have a 50mm lens, but what about a 10mm or a 300mm lens? :shrug:

I only use Auto on my camera because I can set things like the slowest shutter speed it activates at and the highest ISO it will use. That comes in handy walking around cities on holiday in and out of shadows. If I didn't have that control I'd tend not to use it and alter the ISO when needed, which is what I used have to do.

As far as I know there isn't a camera that adjusts the Auto ISO to the focal length used. Someone please let me know if there is. I can't see it as a hard function to implement. :shrug:
 
I use it in manual sometimes when shooting motorsport in changing light. Set my shutter speed, aperture then let the camera decide iso.
 
redhed17 said:
I would be interested to see in what situation the training DVD said to use Auto ISO. :thinking:

On the vast majority of cameras Auto ISO is dumb, in that it only kicks in if the light levels make the shutter go below 1/60th second. That's fine if you have a 50mm lens, but what about a 10mm or a 300mm lens? :shrug:

As far as I know there isn't a camera that adjusts the Auto ISO to the focal length used. Someone please let me know if there is. I can't see it as a hard function to implement. :shrug:
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You change the min shutter as per the lens you use. If Im using my 16-35, Ill set it at about 1/15. If Im using my 24-70, I'll set it at about 1/40, If Im using a 300mm prime, I'll set it at 1/300 or 1/400.
The camera cant do it, but you can set it yourself before you start shooting.
 
redhed17 said:
.....

On the vast majority of cameras Auto ISO is dumb, in that it only kicks in if the light levels make the shutter go below 1/60th second. That's fine if you have a 50mm lens, but what about a 10mm or a 300mm lens? :shrug:....
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That's the beauty of only ever shooting with a single prime lens (28mm for me :cool:)
 
I use it for sports work in stadiums that have big stands that cast a shadow over half the pitch (or thereabouts) Football/rugby players can be running along in sunshine one minute and into a dark shadow within seconds.. too quick for me to change settings..

As I require a certain shutter speed and aperture then in this situation the best result is using manual but wiht auto iso.. i can control everyhting and let the iso change between bright and dark.. I would have some shutter i could play with but not enough for this type of extreme..


So to anyone posting in here that its useless.. what you you suggest I do? :)
 
All the time, wether on a D700 or 300, it is a brilliant option.

Don`t use it the D200 as I only use that for certain jobs.
 
I use it all the time for my wildlife stuff, with the camera set to manual, so I set the shutter speed and aperture, and let the camera adjust the exposure with the ISO.

In my opinion it is a brilliant option to have.
 
TCR4x4 said:
You change the min shutter as per the lens you use. If Im using my 16-35, Ill set it at about 1/15. If Im using my 24-70, I'll set it at about 1/40, If Im using a 300mm prime, I'll set it at 1/300 or 1/400.
The camera cant do it, but you can set it yourself before you start shooting.
Click to expand...

I know that you can change the shutter speed at which the ISO activates, (at least on some Nikons, not sure about other makes) which is what I do, occasionally. :)

What I meant was an Auto ISO mode that changes with the min shutter, and so activates the Auto ISO dependent on what focal length you use. So it would set itself to 1/15th sec at 16mm and say 1/40th sec at 35mm, and at focal lengths in between. Obviously with small zoom ranges there wouldn't be much of a change, but on a 18-200mm (not that I'd ever use one) or a 70-300mm that would be a bigger change in shutter speeds and so when the need to activate the ISO. The cameras 'know' what focal length the lens is at and so could stop off the upping the ISO until it needs to.
 
Never used to use auto ISO but over the past few months I have been using it all the time for Wildlife and hand-held macro stuff, sometimes in aperture priority mode, sometimes in shutter priority mode and sometimes in manual mode. The trouble with using it in manual mode on the 7D is that you cannot apply any exposure compensation, but other than that I find auto ISO very useful.
 
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Martyn... said:
You can on a Nikon Roy
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Yep, I should have said on my Canon 7D Martin - I have now edited my post. What I do like about auto ISO in aperture priority mode is that it returns a shutter speed of focal length x crop factor so ideal for hand holding my lens.
 
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Roy C said:
Yep, I should have said on my Canon 7D Martin - I have now edited my post. What I do like about auto ISO in aperture priority mode is that it returns a shutter speed of focal length x crop factor so ideal for hand holding my lens.
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I like the flexibility it offers especially in manual mode, on my Nikons I can see the ISO it is setting in the viewfinder, if it starts to get a bit high I can adjust the speed or aperture as I wish to reign it in.
 
Martyn... said:
I like the flexibility it offers especially in manual mode, on my Nikons I can see the ISO it is setting in the viewfinder, if it starts to get a bit high I can adjust the speed or aperture as I wish to reign it in.
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That seems exactly the same as the 7D Martin, you can see the ISO it is setting in manual mode but you cannot apply any compensation because as soon as you change the aperture or shutter speed the ISO just changes to give Ev 0 .
 
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Roy C said:
That seems exactly the same as the 7D Martin, you can see the ISO it is setting in manual mode but you cannot apply any compensation on the 7D because as soon as you change the aperture or shutter speed the ISO just changes to give Ev 0 .
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If I set EV +1 then change the shutter speed or aperture, I will still have EV +1 until I zero it myself.
 
Martyn... said:
If I set EV +1 then change the shutter speed or aperture, I will still have EV +1 until I zero it myself.
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On the 7D once you select Manual mode there is no way you can dial in any exposure comp - the facility is removed. You may well be able to do it on the Canon 1 series Cameras though.
BTW does Auto ISO in aperture priority mode return a shutter speed of focal length x crop factor on the Nikon's? I thought I read somewhere that they do not but I may be wrong.
 
Roy C said:
BTW does Auto ISO in aperture priority mode return a shutter speed of focal length x crop factor on the Nikon's? I thought I read somewhere that they do not but I may be wrong.
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I have never checked ... but I do not remember reading about it when I actually read all 400 plus pages of the manual :D

There is a facility to set a minimum shutter speed with auto ISO, but I am sure that it does not have the same adaption of speed to focal length as your Canon.
 
Roy C said:
On the 7D once you select Manual mode there is no way you can dial in any exposure comp - the facility is removed. You may well be able to do it on the Canon 1 series Cameras though.
BTW does Auto ISO in aperture priority mode return a shutter speed of focal length x crop factor on the Nikon's? I thought I read somewhere that they do not but I may be wrong.
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are you sure you cant im sure my friend said this and then found that you can, i will ask hima nd get back to you, i could be wrong.
 
Roy is right, no ec in manual + auto iso with the 7D, the 60D is the same, also there is no exposure lock in this mode.
 
I have it kick in when my shutter is going to drop below 1/125 capped at 6400

Rather a grainy image than a blurred one :)
 
redhed17 said:
As far as I know there isn't a camera that adjusts the Auto ISO to the focal length used. Someone please let me know if there is. I can't see it as a hard function to implement. :shrug:
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Sonys do.
 
Both my Canons take focal length into account. In Aperture Prioroty they use Auto ISO to make sure the shutter speed is capable of being hand-held for the focal length. So it's not just ISO, it's a balancing act with aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

I use Auto ISO unless I'm on a tripod.
 
Johnd2000 said:
Sonys do.
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Is that just for the DSLRs or Compacts as well?

DuncanDisorderly said:
Both my Canons take focal length into account. In Aperture Prioroty they use Auto ISO to make sure the shutter speed is capable of being hand-held for the focal length.
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Interesting that the Canons do too. Again is that just DSLRs or Compacts too?
 
My advice would be not to.

If you use auto iso, and it turns out the image is massively under-exposed by the aperture/shutter speed that you have chosen, it will smack it way up high. And as we know, the higher the ISO, the more noise we see in our images.

Always try keep the ISO as low as you can, perhaps compensate some shutter speed etc to accompany for the ISO at times.


Most of the more modern camera's perform very well at high ISO's so it isn't a worry but older camera's tend not to..
 
redhed17 said:
Is that just for the DSLRs or Compacts as well?

Interesting that the Canons do too. Again is that just DSLRs or Compacts too?
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I'm not sure about compacts, but both my Sony DSLRs will go to the theoretical min shutter speed before increasing ISO. Both my crop and FF apply the "correct" value (for their respective sensors).

One thing you can't do on any Sony DSLR, though, is use auto-ISO in manual.
 
Johnd2000 said:
I'm not sure about compacts, but both my Sony DSLRs will go to the theoretical min shutter speed before increasing ISO. Both my crop and FF apply the "correct" value (for their respective sensors).

One thing you can't do on any Sony DSLR, though, is use auto-ISO in manual.
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I count the second para as a plus for Sony...
I often forget to turn off Auto ISO using Manual and the camera uses Auto ISO to 'correct' my exposure.

First para matches my experience with Canon.

I'll also add that Canon seems to ignore whether the IS is on or off; shutter speed is purely by focal length. Hence with IS turned on and using Auto ISO, the odds of getting a sharp shot are very good indeed.
 
I've got Auto ISO in my quick menu, I tend to switch it on for evening shoots in varying light condition in combination with minimum shutter speed of course. It is very useful to get the shot at the lowest possible ISO in situations when you don't necessarily have the time to meter/adjust/meter etc...

I like it.
 
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