Auto ISO..

[mobeyone]

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I have searched old threads on this but still a little unsure as to the benefit of this feature.. remember I am still new)

 

I take it in daylight, lowest iso is perfectly fine? and auto is best used in low light? totally understand that this is subjective and depends on your preference but what do you do? and what works for you?

 

Me personally I am looking at using a day and night profile where the former has manual iso and the latter auto?

[jaapv]

I find it a bit of a bother as I feel I lose control of the camera by using it. Only with the 135, where I prefer shutterspeed over everything else, do I use it.

[mobeyone]

135 as in focal length?

 

Have been testing this indoors today with iso at 160 and I see a huge improvement in IQ aswell as limiting iso to 320 in low light.

 

Shutter speed is still a grey area for me) In low light, is it better to have a faster shutter? and what would you recommend if iso is at 320?

[jaapv]

Auto ISO has no advantage in image quality over manual ISO selection, in fact the images are identical. The shutterspeed is needed to counteract camera shake. The limits are dependent on your technique and steadyness of your hands. I have been blessed with very steady hands, I have been known to shoot a 135 mm lens at 1/8th of a second with good results, but accepted lore is that one needs at least 1/125th. With the Apo-telyt, to get the full quality of the lens I would prefer 1/1000nd at least.

[Luke_Miller]

Auto ISO can be useful when you have specific requirements for both aperture and shutter speed. Say you are photographing a social event where people are engaged in animated conversation. The room has illumination that varies depending on location. You want to shoot at 125th/sec to freeze subject motion and at least f5.6 for DOF, so you are in manual mode with those settings.

 

Now you could set ISO to a single value high enough so that 125th/sec & apertures of f5.6 (or smaller) always gave proper exposure when metering for each shot. Alternatively you could use Auto ISO and leave the settings at 125th & f5.6, letting the Auto ISO function select the ISO level which produces the proper exposure.

 

Both approaches should produce acceptable results although the second potentially allows for faster response to photographic opportunities.

[Luke_Miller]

CORRECTION

 

What I should have said is that Auto ISO in manual mode would be most useful with an M9, which (I believe) can adjust ISO in 1/3 stop increments. With the M8 Auto ISO changes in full stops so you often have to adjust either shutter speed or aperture to achieve proper exposure. With my M8.2 I tend to use Auto ISO in Aperture priority (A) shutter mode with my minimum shutter speed set as the floor.

[garygsandhu]

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Auto-ISO frees you (within limits with the Leica M8 and M9) to set shutter speed and aperture as you'd like. (it works a lot better with my D700).

For example, if your photo required 125/f5.6 -- then go ahead and set it, and the auto ISO will take care of the exposure.

Of course, it's quite limited on the M8 and M9, but that's the theory.

[wda]

mobeyone, I use Auto ISO only in extreme lighting conditions indoors when I know that I will need a higher ISO. In my case, I set up a profile which I memorize, with the parameters set for that situation.

 

The advantage of using a profile is that when I start a new session, in daylight for example, I just select my daylight profile with lowest ISO set automatically. If you are unfamiliar with profiles, it is worth reading about them in the manual and trying them. I find it a 'fail-safe' discipline.

[ho_co]

Because of a tremor, I generally use Auto ISO to help keep the shutter speed as high as possible when the camera is set to Auto exposure.

 

In more controlled situations, and particularly when using a tripod, I normally switch the camera to its base ISO.

 

 

 

When I was less flimsy than now, I shot manual. If you can shoot manual, I'd say do it, and forget Auto ISO. The fact that you ask the question implies that you don't need this crutch.

[mobeyone]

Thanks everyone, manual it is ))

 

That said, in low light the benefits are there.. moreso for a novice like me! but points made are great info for me so thanks again.

[george +]

Just like HO CO, my hands are not as steady as they used to be.

 

Auto ISO gives me the needed shutter speeds for action shots when there is no time to play with speed settings. At a price, of course.

 

For good daylight, or for flash, I fix it at 160.

 

It is good to have a few sensible options. Particularly if they can be easily turned off.

[Redridge]

I usually put a cap on low shutter speed and max acceptable iso.....knowing your capabilities and acceptance of iso quality is necessary. This will ensure that auto iso can help you or not.... Then there is always the tripod.

[barcoder]

When walking in NYC I tend to pick an aperture based on lighting conditions. Something like bright sunny day f/8 or more and for cloudy days f/4. This way I can zone focus if needed because of the extra DOF. The problem with walking and photographing people walking is that you need a fast shutter speed at least 1/125 but 1/250 is best. Most of the time when the pictures are made at a moment's notice I use auto-iso and auto-shutter speed but set the min shutter to 1/125 and set the max ISO.

 

At night and I have a separate setting that uses a min shutter dependent on lens and a max ISO of 2500.