5DII no Auto-ISO in Manual?!

John Sheehy wrote:

65tigershark wrote:

Let me see if I understand you right. You want Auto functions when
in MANUAL mode?
You do realise what MANUAL mode means don't you?

Just semantics.

Exactly. It doesn't matter whether the mode is called "Manual with Auto ISO" or "TAv". A mode where you set the shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation and the camera automatically selects ISO would be a nice benefit.

65tigershark: please note that no-one is saying that traditional "Manual", where you set speed, aperture and ISO should be taken away. That would be stupid and let's repeat it, NO-ONE has suggested that. What we want is an ADDITIONAL mode.

This reminds me of the question a while back from someone complaining
that exposure compensation didn't work in manual mode.

MANUAL mode means MANUAL control, ISO included.

No; manual exposure mode means you select the Av and Tv values. ISO,
additionally, may or may not be manual.

Let's just call it TAv mode instead of "Manual with Auto ISO" as the latter term obviously is causing confusion and unnecessary grief. As for exposure compensation, it completely makes sense in TAv mode.

I shoot 95% of the time in Av mode. If light is on the skint side, the process works like this:

1) I decide what the slowest acceptable shutter speed is for the occasion. Let's say e.g. 1/400s for children playing.
2) I select Av mode, set aperture to what I want DoF to be, e.g. f/2.

3) I set ISO as low as possible so that the shutter speed limitation doesn't fail, e.g. ISO 800.

4) I take pictures, but constantly check shutter time. This takes some energy away from actual shooting.

5) If light suddenly changes (stage lights, clouds, whatever), I fiddle with ISO to get the best performance out of the system.

6) Photo opportunities sometimes get lost because I am adjusting ISO when I should be looking at the scene. I'm compulsory in that way that I don't want to use an unnecessary high ISO when light is good and sometimes that bites me in the ankle.

With TAv it would go like this:
1) I select TAv mode.

2) I set the camera to 1/400s and f/2, and perhaps some exposure compensation (on the 5D1 I often use -1/3 or -2/3 stops).

3) I shoot. The camera takes care of ISO and I get every image with the least amount of noise possible because I've been able to set the other constraints to my liking: speed and aperture.

This is by no means a dealbreaker with me when considering the 5D2. Still, TAv surely would be a "nice to have" feature, and implementing it would definitely not be difficult from a manufacturer point of view.

Kind regards,

• Henrik