ISO - Auto or not?

I set it to auto when indoors with a Max of 800 as anything above that the quality is not as good on a d90. Outdoors I leave it at 200.
 
stupid answer, but it is yes and no

depends on the light and your assessment of what is needed depending on the subject, shutter speed and aperture used

Auto ISO may be useful when starting out but you need to fix a max and consider the minimum shutter speed.

I would just play around and notice what is going on, (with the shutter speed, fvalue and ISO plus image IQ), and that will help you to decide what and when to use
 
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and the time of day, and the light, and the subject matter and what lens you have and what camera etc etc
as someone who started out on film and didnt have the luxery of changing ISO mid shot i can only suggest start at ISO 100 for daytime shots. for night time shots its really depends on what your shooting. for instance shooting the Milky way at night around ISO 3200 is recommended.
theres really to many variables to give a sensible single answer though.
 
If i'm feeling lazy and using my 5Dmk3 with max set too 6400 and the light is changing all the time then why not.
As above this does depend on what the subject is.
 
Also depends on your camera, I never touched it on the 450D as it was horrendous above 400.

If I'm shooting hand-held in Av mode on the 6D, its almost always in Auto ISO mode.

If you have time to set it manually, its probably easier/better to do that (Landscapes, architecture etc)

If you're photographing a family party without flash (as I was last night!) Its great to set the minimum shutter speed, wide open aperture and let the Auto ISO take care of it, with a touch of exposure compensation where needed.
 
It depends on what you're doing. If I use it, I tend to set a minimum shutter speed after which it will increase the ISO
 
Depend what I'm doing:

For for birds at say 400mm

I just set it to suit current conditions (say ISO 800) choose the aperture I want and check the shutter speed is 1/400 or so.

All do then is keep an eye on the changing light and tweak the ISO up or down to maintain shutter speed.

Landscapes - I just keep at ISO 100 on a tripod, choose my aperture and then go with whatever shutter speed the exposure requires.
 
Auto ISO is only part of the problem there (but I'm making assumptions about other stuff).
What other 'auto' settings were you using?

They both show a heavy reliance on 'chasing the needle' where the shot with more sky is close to a silhouette of the ground and the shot with more ground has an overexposed sky.

  • The fist lesson is leave the camera in as much auto mode as you like but you choose what to focus on.

  • The second is you choose what to meter.

None of those things really matter whether you're shooting in M or full auto. You have to know when to take control. IMO the sky in the better one is still over exposed. but with the metering used, it'd have been the same shot at ISO 200 as at ISO 3200.
 
I try to never use auto iso. The reason is because I find that sometimes the camera will choose a high iso, say 3200 with a shutter speed of 500 when using aperture priority. The situation doesn't need a shutter speed nearly that high so if it had been up to me I would had chosen a slower shutter with a lower iso to keep the noise down. It works fine sometimes but other times it does this,. That is why I try not to use it. But there are still times that I don't have a choice. Times when you don't have time to adjust and you have to get the shot regardless of IQ. BTW I use a 5DIII and 7d,
 
For the sporting events I cover I always shoot in aperture priority and set the auto ISO slowest shutter speed to say 1/500th for bikes. I can then concentrate on composition and focus whilst the camera adjusts the ISO with the ever changing light so for me it's a no brainer not to use it.
 
shaylou said:
Now I'm confused.
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Manual is easy - I know what the camera's doing, I know what the light's doing (I can see it).

Auto means I have to be aware of light changing messing up the metering. Will that spotlight that flicks through the frame for half a second make me under-expose by three stops? Will that bloke in black stepping into centre frame cause me to over-expose by two stops? Will the background lights changing all the time cause my exposure to fly all over the place? Much more hassle than it's worth for me. Stick it in manual - get consistent exposures.

I shoot events and that's what works well for me there, as such I use it all the time, regardless of what I'm shooting, because it's what I'm used to. Others, as you can see, use their cameras differently.
 
I use manual and tend to stick with 200 outdoors (since the difference between 100 and 200 is, to me, imperceptable). Indoors it varies depending on whether or not I'm using flash, and if not how dark an environment it is. For example, at a fairly well lit museum last week I was using 800 and no flash, but in a dark church I may use up to 3200. I try not to go higher than that as the noise in the picture starts to get much worse. On my old camera though anything above 800 was just dreadful - so noisy, and I think that's why I began using manual ISOs in the first place. Maybe I don't need to so much now. It's just become force of habit.

Like everyone else I'd agree though that it really comes down to what you're shooting. I have missed shots before where I was piddling about with changing it.
 
I always leave it on, limited to 6400 iso with a minimum shutter speed of 1/60s (i mainly use aperture priority) - if the shutter tries to go below 1/60 it will rise above the base iso of 100
 
Jayst84 said:
Manual is easy - I know what the camera's doing, I know what the light's doing (I can see it).

Auto means I have to be aware of light changing messing up the metering. Will that spotlight that flicks through the frame for half a second make me under-expose by three stops? Will that bloke in black stepping into centre frame cause me to over-expose by two stops? Will the background lights changing all the time cause my exposure to fly all over the place? Much more hassle than it's worth for me. Stick it in manual - get consistent exposures.

I shoot events and that's what works well for me there, as such I use it all the time, regardless of what I'm shooting, because it's what I'm used to. Others, as you can see, use their cameras differently.
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I see. The reason I was confused is because for me the priority modes are easier to use as far as time spent adjusting goes. I totally agree about consistency in exposures, that's why I use manual first and only switch to priority modes when time is a factor.

Sorry to hijack the conversation.
 
As others have said it does really depend.. where you have very limited time/chance of getting a shot then it's useful, if you can set a Max parameter to stop it going to high and if you hit this consider opening the aperture up a bit instead.

For landscapes definitely manual and preferably also base iso.. high iso destroys detail in images and landscapes are all about detail, the camera also achieves it's widest dynamic range at base iso so gives you a better chance in capturing the full range of light. Iso can come in useful for landscapes too though, even when on a tripod.. if you're shooting on a breezy day and your foreground is moving around a little boosting the iso manually gives you the option of achieving a higher shutter speed to freeze it.

Simon
 
Depends ... as a general rule I use 100 where I can, i.e. if the light is there to give me the needed shutter speed and aperture (I'm generally in aperture mode) but there are many, many times when the light isn't there and then auto ISO is useful for when I manually select the shutter speed and aperture I want (manually).
However ... I often find that auto ISO takes it higher than necessary and this can be irritating! :)
 
I'm not sure what level of photographer you are, so apologies if the following is not appropriate for your skill level:

Set the camera to whatever you feel most comfortable with, be it full auto or full manual (or anything in between) and get out there and take photos. Lots of them. The only way at a relatively early stage (such as mine, and perhaps yours) to improve is by taking photos. Make mistakes, underexpose, overexpose, get focusing wrong, get composition wrong but just take photos. The more you take, the more you then review and understand why you're happy or not happy with them, the quicker you'll become a better photographer.

In time, you'll need to wean yourself away from program modes and auto/semi-auto if you want full control of your camera. But depending on how you and your mind works, that might be a while away (or it could be now if that's what "clicks" for you).

Don't get bogged down in what's the "right" setup... just take photos, look at them, enjoy taking them and enjoy the feeling of step-by-step improvement. And be patient!
 
pjm1 said:
I'm not sure what level of photographer you are, so apologies if the following is not appropriate for your skill level:

Set the camera to whatever you feel most comfortable with, be it full auto or full manual (or anything in between) and get out there and take photos. Lots of them. The only way at a relatively early stage (such as mine, and perhaps yours) to improve is by taking photos. Make mistakes, underexpose, overexpose, get focusing wrong, get composition wrong but just take photos. The more you take, the more you then review and understand why you're happy or not happy with them, the quicker you'll become a better photographer.

In time, you'll need to wean yourself away from program modes and auto/semi-auto if you want full control of your camera. But depending on how you and your mind works, that might be a while away (or it could be now if that's what "clicks" for you).

Don't get bogged down in what's the "right" setup... just take photos, look at them, enjoy taking them and enjoy the feeling of step-by-step improvement. And be patient!
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Whilst I agree entity with most of this, I have to disagree with 'wean yourself off the semi auto modes'.

If you know what you're doing, the auto and semi auto modes are just functions to use. As long as you understand what your meter is telling you, you are free to use any mode and get predictable results.
 
Anyone who reccomends to always shoot Manual is an idiot.. Manual is useless in many situations...

Anyone who reccomends never to shoot manual is an idiot... Manual is perfect in many situations...

both statements are 100% true

Summary.. this thread is full of Idiots :)
 
Jayst84 said:
Entirely up to you and how you like to shoot.

Personally I'm too lazy to use auto ISO. Same reason I can't be bothered using aperture priority, or any other semi-auto mode. I'd rather be looking at what's going on in the frame, than working out what the metre is up to.
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See, I'd argue the opposite. With manual you are changing iso, shutter speed and aperture - even when the metering is working for itself it will not always be accurate, which means adjusting accordingly.

For me auto iso + av mode + min shutter speed is the way to go. It just means you have to know your camera's metering system inside out, but that's also the case if you're shooting manual.

Obviously manual works for you which is good, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily easier.
 
Phil V said:
Whilst I agree entity with most of this, I have to disagree with 'wean yourself off the semi auto modes'.

If you know what you're doing, the auto and semi auto modes are just functions to use. As long as you understand what your meter is telling you, you are free to use any mode and get predictable results.
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The bold bit will be where I'm going wrong ;)

Seriously though, I struggle to get consistent results from anything other than manual when I'm using flash. I do expect it's a large part of user error on my side though. At the end of the day, whatever works for you/him/her/me is all that matters. I definitely still use the semi auto modes a fair bit... but for me, forcing myself to "go manual" improved my photography and now I'm comfortable using any setting on the dial, depending on circumstances.
 
Auto ISO's got it's uses in some situations certainly but I found it generally made things trickier to judge what was happening. Stopped using it now and happier just quickly changing ISO as required manually as a good few people above have said too.
 
pjm1 said:
The bold bit will be where I'm going wrong ;)

Seriously though, I struggle to get consistent results from anything other than manual when I'm using flash. I do expect it's a large part of user error on my side though. At the end of the day, whatever works for you/him/her/me is all that matters. I definitely still use the semi auto modes a fair bit... but for me, forcing myself to "go manual" improved my photography and now I'm comfortable using any setting on the dial, depending on circumstances.
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I always use Manual when using flash (as the primary light source) too. But that's because the camera has no idea what I want to do. That's not the same as always using Manual.
 
BBR said:
I would only ever use auto iso when shooting in manual ie I know what aperture and shutter speed I need and let the camera sort the exposure. I can't think why you would use auto iso in either of the priority modes.
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i find it great in av mode as this means i only need to worry about the aperture setting - i normally have it set to only increase the iso once the shutter goes as low as 1/60 so most daytime outdoor shooting will be iso100 so auto iso will only kick in when im in poor light
 
pjm1 said:
The bold bit will be where I'm going wrong ;)

Seriously though, I struggle to get consistent results from anything other than manual when I'm using flash. I do expect it's a large part of user error on my side though. At the end of the day, whatever works for you/him/her/me is all that matters. I definitely still use the semi auto modes a fair bit... but for me, forcing myself to "go manual" improved my photography and now I'm comfortable using any setting on the dial, depending on circumstances.
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100% agree. Priority modes are tools to be used not crutches to be leaned on.
 
daugirdas said:
Auto ISO - yes if you have 1dx. 5d3 implementation is fundamentally lacking, there is no exposure compensation so it is best avoided
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Tired of mentioning the fact that auto iso's usefulness is brand specific. And generally the Canon implementation is totally useless.
 
Phil V said:
Tired of mentioning the fact that auto iso's usefulness is brand specific. And generally the Canon implementation is totally useless.
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I have never seen you mention it.. How is it useless. The 1dx impliments it perfet as far as I can tell.. Now it has exposure compensation...
 
KIPAX said:
I have never seen you mention it.. How is it useless. The 1dx impliments it perfet as far as I can tell.. Now it has exposure compensation...
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The 1dx might, but the older cameras (up to and inc 5dIII) don't allow exp comp, therefore forcing you into the 'correct' meter reading in Manual, which is flipping useless.

I don't shoot Manual that often, but when I do I want at least as much control as I have in AV or TV.
 
KIPAX said:
I have never seen you mention it.. How is it useless. The 1dx impliments it perfet as far as I can tell.. Now it has exposure compensation...
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We could only pray for a new firmware in all "lesser" bodies. I wouldn't mind just use M with auto ISO, but then to be fair I'd want to disable 125, 250, etc as they are more noisy than 160, 32, 640...
 
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