AUTOISO/ EXPOSURE in 'M' Manual mode on D300/Nikon?

Question about getting a quick autoexposure setting in MANUAL exposure mode? I know my D300 can do AUTOFOCUS in all modes, but often in M (Manual) mode i also want to quckly set S/A/Iso (instantly) so that i can them mess with the settings manualy. I can only see how to do this by going P, half shutter press then M mode. Now that sucks!

Another question on the auto iso mode on the D300, i can set it but it ignores me when i try to overide it with a manual setting, the auto ISO still sets itself. Is there a quick way to go from auto sio on to off & set new setting & then back again please?

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http://www.dslrpro.com

Auto ISo works in manual mode.
That is a great feature that many of us like.

Now what I have done is in "my menu" I put Auto ISo.
SO I can quickly turn it on or off.

See page 344 in the D300 manual.

Creating a "my menu" makes the settings you change alot right there at your fingertips.

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Sam
http://www.samjsternphotography.com

well thats a help on my second question about turning the auto iso on/off quickly. but i would still like a means of doing auto exposure in manual mode, any ideas?

(why do you ask, well in program P mode you get some idea of what settings it should start at, then in manual mode M its all manual, i want to quickly get some settings sorted sometimes & then change them for effect. on the pentax models you have an autoAE button up top as well as a rear autofocus button)

thanks

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http://www.dslrpro.com

Stephen Hardy said:

in program P mode you get some idea of what
settings it should start at, then in manual mode M its all manual, i
want to quickly get some settings sorted sometimes & then change them
for effect.

Click to expand...

If I understand you correctly, you'd like to be in Manual mode for these situations and know what the "correct" shutter speed & aperture should be to start with, before you change them?

Remember that there's an exposure guide in both the viewfinder and the top LCD that shows a +......0......- scale (excuse me if I've got the + and - the wrong way round). Depending on the metering mode, the marker should be on the "0" of this scale when exposure is correct.

You can then adjust shutter and/or aperture and see the effect (the under or over exposure will also be shown on the scale).

Apologies if I've got any of this wrong or misunderstood your question. Interestingly, I was trying to take some pictures of a moonlit landscape last night. I've only recently started using AutoISO and am still getting used to how it kicks in. My feeling from last night is that I'd initially have liked to turn it off whilst in Manual mode. When I changed aperture and shutter speed, there were times when the only thing that changed was the ISO. Probably need to read the manual more.....

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Colin Malsingh
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http://www.pbase.com/cmalsingh

col, night shots of the moon you need a LOW iso, so set it manualy (in the case of the d300 iso200 is perfect, lower iso has the reverse effect), use a camera stand & expose as if you was actualy shooting the sun! The moon is bloody bright, but the camera exposes for the large amount of dark... The d300 dsoent have an idiot mode for this situtation, so has to be done manualy.

I have taken hand shots of the moon & been able to see the rough cratored surface. Shutter sppeds of 1/1000sec, iso 200 f8 pr 9 for sharpness...

I know about the meter & how to use it for ajusting, using the light meter the only way i get the benefits of the camera smarts is if i use P, then switch to M (it keeps the previosu settings) then i can make mods manualy. The only button the d300 has does autofocus in all modes... Not P settings

On the Pentax i has a dedicated button for giving P settings in all modes, in fact the more i use the d300 the more i miss many small inovations that the Pentax has. Dont get me wrong, the d300 is plenty powerfull enough but its missing small things that would be easy to implement like this, its just so insanely usefull as i use M mode all the time & dont like having to switch back to P & back again manualy every bloody time...

So no ideas or shortcuts???

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http://www.dslrpro.com

Yeah, Pentax's Hyper Manual is a feature I would love to have. They must want too much for the licensing rights, since noone else seems to have it.

Stephen Hardy said:

col, night shots of the moon you need a LOW iso, so set it manualy

Click to expand...

Hi Stephen, yes though I currently have Auto ISO set and find it useful for some general shooting, I'm about to add this option to My Menu, so I can turn it off more easily.

Stephen Hardy said:

...the only way i get the benefits of the camera smarts is if i
use P, then switch to M (it keeps the previosu settings)

Click to expand...

I'm a little confused here. What's stopping you going straight to M and applying settings yourself? Why do you need the D300's P mode to tell you what to do - especially as you sound as if you're going to then over ride them?

I appreciate that using P is great for "grabbed" shots. But once you want to spend a little longer getting the result you want, why not just use M mode? Or in fact, A or S, with some EV adjustment?

Going back to your original question:

Stephen Hardy said:

i also want to quckly set S/A/Iso (instantly)

Click to expand...

Can you talk me through why the P mode is likely to know the right combination of S/A/ISO that you're likely to need? I don't think I've ever used P mode, as I find A or M does me fine. However I could have been missing out on this and I'd be interested to find out.

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Colin Malsingh
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http://www.pbase.com/cmalsingh

P mode was much more useful on the "nonprofessional" Nikons, which gave you a choice between a high-shutter-speed and a "normal" P mode, and took into account the lowest hand-holdable shutter speed for your focal length. I'd agree that the D300 P mode is not likely to hit on the best shutter speed / aperture combination.

I shoot M, probably over 95% of time, and I didn't know this function exists on pentax, but there was couple of times I was thinking something like, what you're talking about may be use full.

For instance when you get from dark room to bright outdoors, the difference in brightness could be multiple stops, so you have to rotate the dial like maniac if you quickly want to get correct exposure in manual mode, and lets say you return to dark room again, you have to do the same thing again.

If camera had a custom button, to set exposure to what it thinks is acceptable, you'd get in plus/minus one f stop range of correct exposure (unless in really difficult situations), and you'd have to rotate the dial much less (in some situations, if camera sets correct exposure, probably not at all).

That would be a great way to use cameras advanced metering, especially for those ,who like me, shoot M most of the time.

But surely the camera wouldn't know what 'type' of exposure you wanted, as you can have the same exposure with different aperture/shutter settings.

Surely in the case of your problem from moving from a dark to light area, it would be quicker to switch to P mode?

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/andythilo

OP says pentax has some kind of implementation, so it obviously can be done.

In my mind, in let's call it AE button setup, you'd be able to choose shutter or aperture priority, so i.e. camera would leave aperture you have on at the moment and change shutter speed to what it thinks is correct is needed to get correct exposure.

You could add more complex setup as well like min shutter speed, etc.

I don't see how would P mode be the choice in any situation, because I want to spot meter key elements of the scene and adjust shutter speed and aperture to move them to the zone I want them to be, which is exactly something P does not allow me to do.

This would be a different feature from Pentax's Hyper-Manual, but maybe useful too. In P/A/S, or I suppose with auto-ISO, it would ONLY take a meter reading and set the shutter/aperture/ISO when you pushed the button; otherwise they'd stay where they were (or where you left them after making adjustments).