Low light, auto iso, tv / av / m. Your preference?

FlyTVR

FlyTVR

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I was practicing low light shots (no flash) in my local church this evening. Kit – Canon 5dII 24-70 F2.8. Having played for a while, I’m left with a few questions -

1. The 5DII has auto ISO (if wanted). I get the feeling that this feature can be a pain e.g. although it’s trying to help you out it can trip you up. Only having had the 5d a month or so I was wondering how you guys find this feature?

2. Normally I do most of my ‘people’ based photography using AV mode. However, in low light conditions I get the feeling that TV may be more suitable so that I am ‘guaranteed’ (providing there is enough light) to get a reasonable blur free shot. If not TV then maybe even shoot fully manual. Once again, what do you guys prefer in similar conditions?

3. I took several shots varying ISOs just for comparison. I’ve not had chance to compare the images yet, but I was wondering how far you guys push the ISO settings on a 5DII (or similar).

4. Finally, against the flow of this thread, but are there any issues with blown images using flash with high ISO?

Thanks in advance.
 
Low light, I would shoot people in Manual and if it was still life/buildings AV :)
 
Manual all the way, only you know the compromises you're prepared to make to secure the shot - motion blur from slowing the shutter down, incredibly shallow DoF from opening the aperture right up, noise from high ISO. Start with your ideal circumstances and adjust according to your priorities
 
Manual for portraits... Aperture Priority for weddings (and even 'P' on occasion) ;)... Shutter Priority for fast moving stuff.

I'm quite happy to whack the ISO up to 3200 when it's needed too. :)

Si
 
Manual. But then I always use manual anyway. That way you don't have to 'keep an eye' on anything your camera's trying to do, you can just get on with taking photos.

I accidentally knocked my 1D onto auto ISO on a shoot yesterday, confused the hell out of me for a second. I really should disable that as a selectable option.

Most jobs I'm shooting at 1600 ISO if I'm lucky, more often it's 3200-6400

Flash is fine, works just the same as at any other ISO.
 
I dont have auto ISO on my camera but i thought the way it works is you can specify the maximum ISO it can choose. Or is this not how it works?

If it selects any of the ISO ranges available in the camera with you not being able to set a maxium ISO then it wouldnt be usefull at all.
 
For low light photography where the metering is being sent to pot by a lot of dark stuff in the image, I'll use Tv. I'm usually shooting a still subject so, I'll set the shutter speed to 1/focal length and let the rest work itself out. This saves me having to waste time metering off something lighter that the camera can understand, having to lock the exposure, and then recompose.

For almost anything else, I would use Av. And occasionally manual if I need the flexibility. (bulb exposures etc.)
 
EOS_JD said:
From what I read, the Auto ISO only locks ISO400 when shooting Manual
Click to expand...

It certainly does... And it can be a pain in the wotsits if you specify a shutter speed and aperture in Manual and want to let the camera decide the relevant ISO.

It's not a major hassle now that Canon put the ISO in the viewfinder but sometimes it can be a minor irritation.

Si
 
dont have a big beastie like the one you mentioned
but i always set the iso and usually low...if speed is a problem then support the camera
in a church that shouldnt be hard...even if you need to haul a piece of furniture around
i used a heater once when i didnt have my tripod..which is normal now



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set on manual...no flash..iso 100...think it was around 1/20 at 2.8
 
I don't use Auto ISO in low light. I set the ISO manually and use Manual mode or Tv. If Tv I keep an eye on the apertures the camera selects to see if I'm getting the depth of field I need.
 
For low light I would use AV, with a 2.8 lens I'd set it to that,2.8.
Then I would push the ISO to the max that I'm happy with with that camera.
 
With the D90 I would normally use Aperture, set the minimum shutter speed I want to maintain in the auto iso settings and limit the iso to not going beyond 3200.

I usually have it set to a min shutter speed of 1/30. :)
 
mrcrow said:
dont have a big beastie like the one you mentioned
but i always set the iso and usually low...if speed is a problem then support the camera
in a church that shouldnt be hard...even if you need to haul a piece of furniture around
i used a heater once when i didnt have my tripod..which is normal now



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set on manual...no flash..iso 100...think it was around 1/20 at 2.8
Click to expand...

Now I remember why I moved away from compacts... that image is as noisy as my 450D at ISO 1600! :gag:

(That wasn't an insult btw; I'd just forgotten how 'clean' even APS-C sized DSLR images are.)
 
trencheel303 said:
Now I remember why I moved away from compacts... that image is as noisy as my 450D at ISO 1600! :gag:

(That wasn't an insult btw; I'd just forgotten how 'clean' even APS-C sized DSLR images are.)
Click to expand...

i think i have to agree with you there...all the shots i took that day were very noisy...its got me worried a bit



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is this one noisy?

i really want to get better shots really and thought the lumix could cope
 
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