only using sports mode for wildlife

gaddypaid

gaddypaid

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gary
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when im out trying to capture wildlife i can only use sports setting to get half decent shots. Because im constantly walking about the environment changes and the lighting does so its very hard for me to go into shutter or aperature mode since i would have to constantly change the iso settings or other setting to balance out the exposure once this is all set up the wildlife has gone and missed a chance to capture rare wildlife. So for me the only way is to stay in sports mode. Is this wrong or would you do the same ?
If i was stationary or in a hide i suppose it would be different and fire off a few shots to get set up.
 
first theres nothing wrong with using any mode you want if it does the job... but there are other ways... for example my camera doesnt have any modes sport or otherwise.. neither do a lot of peoples cameras... so alternative ways exist. (maybe better, maybe not).. some sort of hint as to what camera your using would help :)
 
Which camera are you using pal?
 
it does have auto iso in sport mode but not in aperture or shutter priority. So you have to stay with whats given otherwise pictures wont come out. Alot of the time i can get the shutter speeds but only with high iso which gives me soft images even with ev alterations. But have to change them for every situation which take precious time and find the sports mode easy just point focus and click no hassle.
 
Does it have auto ISO in manual mode Gary?
 
im not sure will have to check , do you have a theory?
 
Set the camera to manual mode, with a aperture off f/5.6, adjust the shutter speed to say anything between 1/400 & 1/2000 depending on the light, around 1/1000 should be ideal. Set the auto ISO between say 100-800 or 100-1600 depending on how you feel is necessary for the light, that should be a good base of settings to work from
 
i will try tomoz if the weathers any good and thanks for the link Huffy.
 
ok been out today with camera, There was no auto iso is manual so i put it upto 800 with my aperature on 5.6 and shutter speed at 1/400. It was a fairly sunny morningas i walked through the nature trail. Spotted my first bird in the tree lifted my camera the sun was behind me shining on to the tree and camera said it was way under exposed So i tried my ev but still no joy. then went onto my iso which i moved upto 1600 which made a bit of differance, inthe end had to bring my shutter speed down to 1/15 to grab a shot which came out blurry not enough shutter speed. I quickly switched back to sports mode which i then carried on with for the rest of my pictures.
 
> "I quickly switched back to sports mode which i then carried on with for the rest of my pictures."

What ISO, aperture and shutter speed did your camera choose? Did you get a good shot? If so, try using the settings your camera chose in sports mode as a starting point when you try more manual settings in similar circumstances.

If you are happy with the sports mode results then stick with them, but at some point it will not be able to do what you want it to and you will get better results by taking more control - but only if you have practised.
ps. Your camera does have auto ISO in A priority mode and you can set a max ISO too.
 
Do you see any other Nikon users when you are out on your walks. I'm sure if you approached one of them and asked if they knew how to put your camera into auto ISO then they would gladly show you.
 
Sadly, the PSAM modes do not have auto ISO on the D5200. So you have to take a bit of a different approach.

What I would do is use Aperture priority mode. Set the aperture to your ideal/sharpest (not wide open) and set the ISO so that it gives you a reasonably high SS (at least 2x your minimum) I would probably want roughly f/8 and 1/1200 (3x "minimum").

Set this way you get f/8 1/1200 at ISO800 (pretty bright day). The light get's better and the SS increases (usually fine for wildlife). The light get's worse and SS decreases. When the SS get's down to your minimum (i.e. 1/300) you can turn the wheel and open up to f/5.6 to get the SS back. You've got 2 stops of automatic adjustability, plus another one with the aperture, for decreasing light. And almost 3 stops of automatic adjustability, plus another one manually (using f/16 as max for diffraction) for the scene getting brighter.

You could do essentially the same thing using Shutter priority... but I never want to give control of the aperture to the camera.
 
> "Sadly, the PSAM modes do not have auto ISO on the D5200. So you have to take a bit of a different approach."

I have a D5100. It has auto ISO in PASM modes. I thought it strange that Nikon would remove the feature in the D5200, so I checked the manual:
http://download3.nikonimglib.com/archive1/y7kK600SazO3017Gdqs10BBHRw14/D5200VRRM_(En)01.pdf -

Page 50 says:
"See Also
For information on enabling auto ISO sensitivity control in P,S,A, or M modes, see page 154."

Page 154 says:
"Auto ISO Sensitivity control

If Off is chosen for Auto ISO sensitivity control in P,S,A, and M modes, ISO sensitivity will remain fixed at the value selected by the user (p49). When On is chosen, ISO sensitivity will automatically be adjusted if optimal exposure can not be achieved at the value selected by the user."

You have to turn auto ISO on by going into the Shooting Menu and selecting ISO sensitivity settings. If auto is selected a max ISO and a min shutter speed can also be selected.


Personally I don't generally use auto ISO - My function button is assigned to ISO and I select with the thumb wheel.
 
i managed to get around this my changing my set up menu to change the iso settings to auto and a minimum and maximum iso setting so now i can set my aperature and shutter and my iso will choose the best iso for these settings.
 
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