Auto-ISO on Nikon D-SLRs?

Mark.A

Mark.A

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Do you use the Auo-ISO feature or not? If you do use it, why do you use it and what do you use for the maximum ISO and for the minimum shutter speed settings? If you don't use it then why not? :shrug:

Just wondering what the pros and cons of using it are and if its a worthwhile thing to use.
 
I have it on all the time unless I want to select a specific ISO.

Max sensitivity usually set to 800 - above that I get a bit more noise than I would like.

Min shutter speed is set depending on the lens I am using from my experience of how slow a spped I can use and avoid camera shake - for the 18-55 kit lens this is 1/30.

The benefit is that if I need to grab a shot in lowish light and don't want to use flash I know that it will up the ISO for me so that I don't have to fiddle with the settings and miss an opportunity.
 
Just last Saturday I was shooting a youngsters ice skating competition under very poor flourescent lighting.

Clicky here

I did half the day with ISO 1600/2000 and the rest of the day I chose to enable auto ISO.

Max ISO was set to 3200, a minimum shutter speed of 1/500th and my aperture was a constant f/2.8 by adding a +1 EV exposure compensation.

I found that I got as low as ISO 1000 in the brighter area's of the ice hall and 2500 in the worst area's. The ice hall had these awful dark spots caused by either too much space inbetween lights or lights that were broken.

Overall I was pleased with the results, Auto ISO granted consistent exposures without compromising my chosen shutter speed or aperture.

I like to have as much control as possible, but I found that auto ISO allowed me to concentrate on getting better shots instead of getting better exposures as well.
 
Sgt_Major said:
No, I manually set my iso - I prefer the control over the settings.
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Are you saying that you never use auto ISO? I am curious to know if you also focus manually, set a custom white balance for each shot, use an external spot meter and set the aperture and shutter speed manually.

Control is good, it is why all the settings are available on serious cameras but never using the automation that you have paid for is like buying a dog and barking yourself!

I want to know that when I pick up my camera be it digital or 35mm it is ready to go. Auto ISO is a significant advance over 35mm in that regard as I can go from one extreme of lighting to another and still have some expectation of getting a usable image and am not locked into one ISO for a whole roll. I will go further and say that my default setting includes program mode for exposure - I can always shift it with a twiddle of my right thumb. If required it doesn't slow the process much to dial in some exposure compensation. This is perfectly good enough for the vast majority of shots that most people will take. For the remaining few, if there is time, the other modes and options are there.

I am fortunate that I have a range of cameras at my disposal so I can choose the degree of automation. If I know that I will be taking shots where I want the highest possible quality and will be able to take my time the digital and 35mm gear stays in the bag and I lug the 2 1/4 square kit out. If I expect to have 20 minutes for each shot I clamber up into the loft and blow the dust off the Sinar. That's the option where I really have control over the settings!
 
I set it manually unless I am doing fast action sports for example where shutter and aperture are more important than ISO.

Max setting is usually 800 for me
 
Nicos Rex said:
Are you saying that you never use auto ISO? I am curious to know if you also focus manually, set a custom white balance for each shot, use an external spot meter and set the aperture and shutter speed manually.

Control is good, it is why all the settings are available on serious cameras but never using the automation that you have paid for is like buying a dog and barking yourself!

I want to know that when I pick up my camera be it digital or 35mm it is ready to go. Auto ISO is a significant advance over 35mm in that regard as I can go from one extreme of lighting to another and still have some expectation of getting a usable image and am not locked into one ISO for a whole roll. I will go further and say that my default setting includes program mode for exposure - I can always shift it with a twiddle of my right thumb. If required it doesn't slow the process much to dial in some exposure compensation. This is perfectly good enough for the vast majority of shots that most people will take. For the remaining few, if there is time, the other modes and options are there.

I am fortunate that I have a range of cameras at my disposal so I can choose the degree of automation. If I know that I will be taking shots where I want the highest possible quality and will be able to take my time the digital and 35mm gear stays in the bag and I lug the 2 1/4 square kit out. If I expect to have 20 minutes for each shot I clamber up into the loft and blow the dust off the Sinar. That's the option where I really have control over the settings!
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It's quite plausible to never use auto ISO, when I got my D80 I wondered what the hell was going on until I found it in the menu and disabled it. I was glad when I got the D300 that the bloody thing was disabled!

Like you've mentioned, I want the highest possible quality, so ISO generally stays on 200/250 and then I choose the important factor in the shot, i.e. Aperture or Shutterspeed and away I go. If the SS gets too low for hand held then I might tweak it, but at least I make a conscious choice of how many stops to dial in and therefore what compromise I'm making.

Thinking about it the only time I might be tempted to use it is if I'm in a hurry and BOTH aperture and SS must be in a specific region. Can't think of a real life example, though. Even for motorsport the shot is already pre-composed because of panning etc so I'm not really in a hurry.
 
Nicos Rex said:
Are you saying that you never use auto ISO?
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I never use auto ISO :)

Nicos Rex said:
I am curious to know if you also focus manually
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If the shot is not time critical, then yes I focus manually. This isn't always possible when shooting things that are moving fast, but I try that now and again

Nicos Rex said:
set a custom white balance for each shot,
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Not custom, no. I use the presets or a couple of preset customs.

Nicos Rex said:
use an external spot meter
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If I had one, I'd use it.

Nicos Rex said:
and set the aperture and shutter speed manually.
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Yes, I shoot in Manual now, recently I used Aperture priority and set that for every shot.

:)
 
In addition to my last post, I think you're more likely to use it with a high end body because of the 'reletively' low impact ISO variation will have on the final shot. On my old D80 the ceiling for ISO before noticable graining was probably very small, hence the auto-avoidance. With the D300 I could get away with it though if I wanted to.
 
Never use the auto iso here either.
 
I see taking a pic like an artist painting a picture, he/she will make an informed choice on what paints to use, what style brush strokes to employ and also the depth of scene they're dipicting. The artist isn't then going to get someone to pop down to Wilkinson's and pick up any canvas they feel like.

If it affects the final product, then it's worth making an informed decision about. JM2C.
 
kalibre said:
I see taking a pic like an artist painting a picture, he/she will make an informed choice on what paints to use, what style brush strokes to employ and also the depth of scene they're dipicting. The artist isn't then going to get someone to pop down to Wilkinson's and pick up any canvas they feel like.

If it affects the final product, then it's worth making an informed decision about. JM2C.
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But some photography is about speed, just grabbing the moment whilst it exists for that split second. And if you look at those Ice Rink shots, it has worked for Tomas, big time. Thats nothing like painting a picture, its more like firing a well aimed gun.

Gary.
 
EdinburghGary said:
But some photography is about speed, just grabbing the moment whilst it exists for that split second. And if you look at those Ice Rink shots, it has worked for Tomas, big time. Thats nothing like painting a picture, its more like firing a well aimed gun.

Gary.
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That's true but the principle is the same. If the shots are taken from one spot then you can still capture the split second in time, but with a pre-configured/considered ISO. However I do agree that if the conditions and/or positions are changing constantly then you'd be silly not to use the only function that will (almost) guarantee a good exposure.

But like I said, for me, that situation has never really come around. Not to say in the future it won't though. ;)
 
I use it, but mainly because on the D40 its a pain in the bum to change it manually. There are a fair few times I turn it off though.
 
I'd love auto ISO on my Canon 30D, being able to have fixed DOF when doing motorsport would be nice :)
 
So far I've been setting my ISO manually but yesterday I was out and about around dusk, just snapping away street style shots. Didn't get anything great but was getting a feel for the camera. I was constantly having to adjust the ISO though which made me wonder about using the Auto-ISO feature. I tried it with an ISO of 1600 max and various minimum shutter speeds. I found the ISO 1600 shots too noisy. A bit off topic, but what ISO would you generally consider to be the highest ISO to use for reasonable noise in low light shots on the D80?

I imagine the Auto-ISO feature can be a good thing if you are shooting street style shots and want to maintain a minimum shutter speed or for sports as already mentioned. It wouldn't be much good for studio portraiture with flash though, so I guess it is something you would turn on or off depending on what you're shooting?
 
I take my camera everywhere and have auto ISO enabled and use AP because if there is something that needs to be shot quickly - it's more important for me to get the shot than not. I would rather have a sharp grainy shot than a blurred shot that has less noise (due to camera shake/slow shutter).

However, for any planned shots I turn it off and set manually.
 
Depends on the lens and what I'm shooting. If i am shooting the 600mm with wildlife I have a couple of times used auto ISO and left the rest in manual, that way I know I can control the shutter speed myself depending on what action is happening in front of me, and I can control the DoF quickly depending on what the subject is that i'm shooting.

Brilliant feature!
 
Mark.A said:
So far I've been setting my ISO manually but yesterday I was out and about around dusk, just snapping away street style shots. Didn't get anything great but was getting a feel for the camera. I was constantly having to adjust the ISO though which made me wonder about using the Auto-ISO feature. I tried it with an ISO of 1600 max and various minimum shutter speeds. I found the ISO 1600 shots too noisy. A bit off topic, but what ISO would you generally consider to be the highest ISO to use for reasonable noise in low light shots on the D80?

I imagine the Auto-ISO feature can be a good thing if you are shooting street style shots and want to maintain a minimum shutter speed or for sports as already mentioned. It wouldn't be much good for studio portraiture with flash though, so I guess it is something you would turn on or off depending on what you're shooting?
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Thats the EXACT situation that got me using it, low light, hand held, street snaps.

Gary.
 
Mark.A said:
Do you use the Auo-ISO feature or not? If you do use it, why do you use it and what do you use for the maximum ISO and for the minimum shutter speed settings? If you don't use it then why not? :shrug:

Just wondering what the pros and cons of using it are and if its a worthwhile thing to use.
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What camera have you got?

Edit: Whoops - didn't notice - D80.

I have a D80 and don't use the auto ISO ever. I keep it at ISO 100 unless I need a faster shutter or smaller aperture then I will use the minimum ISO I can get away with for what I'm shooting. I find the D80 too noisy at higher ISOs.
 
Just been shooting a bit more with the Auto-ISO and I think it is something that I will use but not something that I'll use exclusively. I'll probably just turn it on when doing street shots and sports type shots. I do need to practice more with it though.
 
I never use auto ISO.

D300/200 and 70s ( if the 70s has the function.......:thinking:..........)
 
Ive never used auto ISO and have had it available for over a year.

I couldnt imagine it setting itself when I didnt really know !!

I set it myself and that way it is a habit to keep an eye on what the ISO is at each shot

And in answer to Nicos Rex... I also use spot meter in manual and set aperture and shutter speed myself as well as ISO. Wouldnt trust the camera to get it right and I like to know what Im doing.
 
Foggy said:
I use it, but mainly because on the D40 its a pain in the bum to change it manually. There are a fair few times I turn it off though.
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can help you here (I think!)

I generally use manual ISO just because I'm still on the steep bit of the learning curve and don't really know what to set max ISO at. So instead I will learn through taking the same shots with different settings but found the ISO adjustment a little long winded!

HOWEVER - on the D40 you can change the use of the timer button (on the left side of the body)- using this, you press and hold it and roll the thumb wheel to change the ISO. Happy days :)
 
I use auto-ISO most of the time, unless I need to have manual control (long exposure, panoramas etc)

Set it to 200-1600, min shutter speed 1/60s....
 
Isn't that what the Auto-ISO feature does too though, try to use ISO 100 where possible? It just saves you having to change the ISO to a higher setting yourself when it is necessary.
 
Just shove the camera into P mode, it does everything for you then............:D

Seriously, you know where,what and generally when you are going too shoot,so I preplan, meter, check aperture/shutter speed and adjust ISO accordingly. I take mainly wildlife, so perhaps other stuff is different.
 
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