Auto iso question

[WPMChan]

Being back to photography after 20 years, directly from films, the best I've found in Digital Cameras is Auto-ISO.

Couldn't agree more. Especially with FX and DX with good high ISO performance.

For cameras with not so good high ISO performance, like my Coolpix A and D5100, auto ISO could raise the ISO too high in some circumstances, when using matrix or center weighted metering, when flash is used. Such problem can be mitigated with spot metering or manually selected ISO.

Auto ISO has been a blessing for me, especially in rapid changing lighting conditions.

 

[Pierre Lagarde]

I have the Nikon z 5 ii camera and shoot in auto iso. I’ve done this with previous Nikon cameras. So I wanted to try something different. I took auto iso off and set it manually. My photos seemed to turn out very nice. The setting I was using was manual. Do a lot of shooters just shoot with auto iso. Does the camera always get the correct exposure or is it touch and go. I will probably go back to auto iso since that’s what I normally use.

Well, to my sense, whatever the mode, manual Iso is still only useful to ground and master the value for static scenes. For instance, keeping ISO to lowest 64 or 100 depending on the camera, for landscape scenes.

For anything else, I rely mostly on camera metering and exposure compensation and exposure checking thru viewfinder/histogram when unsure. And even during DSLR era, I rarely used manual ISO and already prefer being able to just tweak exposure with a dial. Mirrorless is just even easier.

I ended up using almost only Aperture mode with various Auto Minimum Shutter Speed values depending on speed needs. I use Manual mode on Zf on occasion, because it's handy to switch to a faster dialled/mastered speed with just the left thumb when needed (given you don't have U1,2,3 switch or Shooting Menu Bank on it). I also have an instant switch to fast manual mode for wildlife when needed (a trick that Steve Perry shows about "Recall Shooting Function" he called "emergency action button" :

).

On Z5II, I think U1,2,3 is the most simple handy way to switch between modes and speed.

Also, shooting raw helps having not much to worry about regarding exposure variations in most cases.

However, to my sense, the key to prefer auto ISO is that, in most cases, I prefer direct access to exposure compensation, which I find more linked to the scenes than an indirect exposure calculation with ISO.

So yes, I don't care about ISO most of the time..

And last, to my sense, another recent key trick that leads definitely manual ISO to the grave is to have DXO Pure Raw as a demosaicing software... I have to pay me this for Xmas .

 

[olyflyer]

Iso is not part of exposure

Traditionally no, but today yes.

--

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[toomanycanons]

I have the Nikon z 5 ii camera and shoot in auto iso. I’ve done this with previous Nikon cameras. So I wanted to try something different. I took auto iso off and set it manually. My photos seemed to turn out very nice. The setting I was using was manual. Do a lot of shooters just shoot with auto iso. Does the camera always get the correct exposure or is it touch and go. I will probably go back to auto iso since that’s what I normally use.

I never used Auto ISO in 15 years of shooting Nikon...until a few months ago when I tried it. I tried it a lot, with many cameras. It was a "fun" experiment, it worked well, I guess but I just went back to manually setting ISO and that's what I'm going to stick with for 98% of my shooting. I want the lowest ISO that will work for my images and Auto ISO just wanted to shoot at higher ISOs

For stuff like this link Auto ISO worked just fine but, as I say many times in that thread, these were about as "snapshot" pics as I'm ever going to take and I rarely just take snapshots. Setting ISO manually is just muscle memory and no work at all, really

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/68471931

 

[gsmornot]

I mostly use Aperture Priority with Auto ISO and adjust as needed with exposure compensation. I will shoot manual and control the ISO but the vast majority of my photography is for me and remembering moments later so I use more of the auto modes.

 

[mysteryman44]

Yes my Nikon z 5 ii is amazing in low light, Thank u for the reply.

 

[Barleyman]

I shoot in Manual, with Auto ISO. This gives me full flexibility to chose my SS, Aperture, and ISO just using the command dials. If I think I need to adjust exposure, I use the comp button as needed.

With this, I usually try to keep ISO between 100 and 200 for well lit shots, but with the Z6iii, I sometimes let it ride up to 9K or higher.

 

[BudgetTraveller]

I have the Nikon z 5 ii camera and shoot in auto iso. I’ve done this with previous Nikon cameras. So I wanted to try something different. I took auto iso off and set it manually. My photos seemed to turn out very nice. The setting I was using was manual. Do a lot of shooters just shoot with auto iso. Does the camera always get the correct exposure or is it touch and go. I will probably go back to auto iso since that’s what I normally use.

I shoot with my Nikon Z8 for both wildlife and indoor dog agility sports and found that Auto ISO works really well in Manual Mode (my preferred shooting mode). The camera seems to be smart in getting the exposures mainly correct, so much so that I set my EVF to Adjust Ease Of View to mirror my former Nikon DSLRs with optical viewfinder. Sometimes, I would set the ISO fixed and adjust either my shutter speed and aperture and get good results too.

Auto ISO works well with sports and changing lighting conditions and you want to use it to float your exposure while setting the shutter speed and aperture fixed. The high iso capability of the Z5II will allow up to float the ISO higher with good results.

 

[Hendrik_nl]

I have the Nikon z 5 ii camera and shoot in auto iso. I’ve done this with previous Nikon cameras. So I wanted to try something different. I took auto iso off and set it manually. My photos seemed to turn out very nice. The setting I was using was manual. Do a lot of shooters just shoot with auto iso. Does the camera always get the correct exposure or is it touch and go. I will probably go back to auto iso since that’s what I normally use.

When speed is important or I’m lazy, I use Auto ISO. The metering systems in modern cameras are very good these days and almost always deliver a proper exposure. When needed, you can fine-tune it with the ± exposure compensation dial.

The only real reason to use manual ISO is when you want to squeeze the last bit of dynamic range out of your image. Many scenes don’t have a wide DR, but sometimes you want to preserve as much as possible. In those cases, setting the ISO to its base value is a good choice.

 

[rhlpetrus]

I'll chime in as the oddball who shoots full manual. I've been manually setting f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, and white balance since 2018.

I've been doing it since ... 1974 (it was all there was then ). I did ony full manual with D80 and D7000, and spotmetering, as I never trusted Matrix, especially with D80, it tended to overexpose most of the time, except for flash (which worked amazingly well).
But since I got the Zf, I have found its Matrix metering is actually pretty good. So, I have been using Aperture priority, as I like to control DoF first, and exposure comp if needed, observing what histogram is showing (another great plus from Zf comp to my dslrs).

Of course, ISO I like to set manually, so that I know what's going on and what will come in the RAW re noise, DR, etc. I have a good feeling for light to know is 100 is good, or if I need maybe 400, 800 (I stop tere usually, as I can recover shadows if needed later). But, in some situations, like indoors with lots of lighting changes, I have used auto ISO with minimum SS so that I'm sure I'm freezing my hand motion (getting old here).

But I'm curious about how you set WB manually. Do you carry something to give you the white? Thanks

 

[camelguy]

One thing I miss from my D750 is the 'Easy ISO' option that allowed us to change the iso by just turning one of the wheels without pressing the ISO button (at least when in Aperture Priority mode). I know, it was thought of as a 'consumer' feature and wasn't included on pro F-mount bodies (I think) - but why not give the us the option of whether or not we want to enable that feature? (Asking rhetorically, not looking for an answer).

 

[Brian Homer]

Same here I prefer to assess the light and chosse an appropriate ISO.

In gig shooting I go full manual as I’ve got adept at wrking out any changes visually and even aperture priority under such lighting can give weird results.

In other situations it is mainly aperture priority - I rarely shoot anything that needs speed priority.

 

[Bill Ferris]

But I'm curious about how you set WB manually. Do you carry something to give you the white? Thanks

When a DSLR was my primary camera, I'd choose a color temperature based on the weather and occasionally make a test exposure to confirm the setting. Since upgrading to a Z9 in May of last year, the realtime EVF display has been a great reference.

 

[dacrema]

I occasionally use auto ISO but sometimes I get artificially high ISO numbers. This is always my fault, generally because I had just picked up the camera after not using it for a while. If lighting is changing (like at sunset) I will sometimes use auto ISO.

As a rule I am more comfortable using full manual meaning I don't generally use Aperture or Shutter priority settings either.

 

[Dj R]

I’m in full manual mode 98% of the time


But that other 2%? Hopefully this can help someone…

Try Aperture Priority but activate the Minimim shutter speed feature. Here you can select, let’s say 1/200th is the minimum I want the camera to use, so that I stop action properly, or 1/1000+ for a sport scene. Or you can base it on auto or auto fast. Then set Auto ISO (with parameter set for highest acceptable value set). Select SPOT METERING. From here, I would only adjust as needed with exposure compensation. This works very well in most scenarios. I typically use this when I’m handing the camera to someone else.

 

[buildingsights]

what a great site you have there!
the "Self Portrait", the Archives (Paris 1981 caught my attention), and the Jazz (i even recognise some players; Pursglove, Noble, Allsop)
nice one, great stuff!

 

[Dennis]

I have the Nikon z 5 ii camera and shoot in auto iso. I’ve done this with previous Nikon cameras. So I wanted to try something different. I took auto iso off and set it manually. My photos seemed to turn out very nice. The setting I was using was manual. Do a lot of shooters just shoot with auto iso. Does the camera always get the correct exposure or is it touch and go. I will probably go back to auto iso since that’s what I normally use.

Auto ISO is just Auto ISO. If you shoot Auto ISO in manual mode, then it's just a calculation based on your other exposure settings and whatever you've chosen to do for metering. Based on the metering, it's pretty much guaranteed to get the correct exposure. If it's wrong, then it's not Auto ISO - it's the metering or it's your exposure settings.

Auto ISO in P, A or S is another matter. Now you're letting the camera make decisions because it has two variables it can play with. I know Nikon cameras let you set limits on shutter speeds in these modes, so you can have some additional control, but I don't tend to use them. I typically shoot in A or S if lighting is good enough to shoot at base ISO, or I shoot an M with Auto ISO on.

 

[buildingsights]

One thing I miss from my D750 is the 'Easy ISO' option that allowed us to change the iso by just turning one of the wheels without pressing the ISO button

it was quite handy!
on the z7 II and the z8, depending on whether the lens has a customisable ring, one can set it to 'exposure compensation'; in M mode, one sets the Aperture and Speed as needed, and the ISO has -5/+5 stops. it gives us quite a bit to mess around with!
.

(at least when in Aperture Priority mode). I know, it was thought of as a 'consumer' feature and wasn't included on pro F-mount bodies (I think) - but why not give the us the option of whether or not we want to enable that feature? (Asking rhetorically, not looking for an answer).

 

[PHXAZCRAIG]

I suspect I'm typical. I mostly shoot in Aperture priority, with Auto-ISO and some minimum shutter speed settings. That covers the vast majority of my shooting, until I get into specialty stuff.

For instance, underwater photography. But in many ways this is about the same as 'flash photography'.

There are several ways to introduce automatic exposure settings - vary the shutter speed, aperture, or ISO. With flash you often hold those three settings steady and vary the flash power. For underwater photography with flash (usually macro for me), I fix the ISO at 64, the shutter speed at 1/160th, and the aperture to DOF requirements. All of those settings are important so fixed. I mostly set the dual strobe power to 1/2 and then very the lighting by positioning the strobes. In these case, ISO 64 is extremely important for maximum dynamic range - I do a lot of post-processing with extremely wide dynamic ranges. By ISO 200 I've lost most headroom adjustments.

 

[rhlpetrus]

But I'm curious about how you set WB manually. Do you carry something to give you the white? Thanks

When a DSLR was my primary camera, I'd choose a color temperature based on the weather and occasionally make a test exposure to confirm the setting. Since upgrading to a Z9 in May of last year, the realtime EVF display has been a great reference.

Interesting! I'll see if I can manage to do that as well. Thanks.