Low Light ISO - SL-2

[LPS1]

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Hello - I've been a lurker here for 2-3 years now and have found it to be a useful and friendly community - thank you.

I was at a theatre event yesterday evening, taking photos afterwards of a panel discussing the play. (A friend who was hosting it invited me to take these.) I had my SL-2 with the APO-SL 90mm and the Sigma 24mm, as well as my Q2. I had set them up with hightlight weighted metering, people/eye focusing (which I later changed to zone/field), auto ISO (with a max of 6400, I think), and using Aperture Priority. I found no issue getting a fast enough shutter speed with enough depth of field with the 90mm but both the 24mm and the Q2 were showing painfully slow shutter speeds, even wide open. Playing with EV didn't change anything. I couldn't get my head around it. Fiddling hurriedly with settings, I changed the starting point for ISO, bumping it up from 100 to 600 but I didn't take it off Auto ISO. The camera then gave me the kind of range I expected with Auto ISO. It was like it had previously been obstinately sticking to 100 ISO.

I'm assuming that it's my ignorance that's to blame here, rather than some unlikely quirk of the camera. What was I not understanding, please?!

Many thanks,

Lucien 

[SrMi]

2 hours ago, LPS1 said:

Hello - I've been a lurker here for 2-3 years now and have found it to be a useful and friendly community - thank you.

I was at a theatre event yesterday evening, taking photos afterwards of a panel discussing the play. (A friend who was hosting it invited me to take these.) I had my SL-2 with the APO-SL 90mm and the Sigma 24mm, as well as my Q2. I had set them up with hightlight weighted metering, people/eye focusing (which I later changed to zone/field), auto ISO (with a max of 6400, I think), and using Aperture Priority. I found no issue getting a fast enough shutter speed with enough depth of field with the 90mm but both the 24mm and the Q2 were showing painfully slow shutter speeds, even wide open. Playing with EV didn't change anything. I couldn't get my head around it. Fiddling hurriedly with settings, I changed the starting point for ISO, bumping it up from 100 to 600 but I didn't take it off Auto ISO. The camera then gave me the kind of range I expected with Auto ISO. It was like it had previously been obstinately sticking to 100 ISO.

I'm assuming that it's my ignorance that's to blame here, rather than some unlikely quirk of the camera. What was I not understanding, please?!

Many thanks,

Lucien 

What Shutter Speed Limit did you set in Q2 and SL2? If you did not hit the max ISO limit, then the shutter speed should never go below the limit. Another possibility is that you accidentally turned Auto-ISO off.

[LPS1]

Thank you. Sitting here in a fairly muted sitting room, the Q2 wide open and at an auto ISO of 1000, won’t give me anything faster than 1/60. Switching to Manual and 125, ISO jumps to 2000 to cope. I have Auto ISO set at 6400. I don’t think the Q enables me to set a min shutter speed? I’m sure I’ve taken photos in this room at faster shutter speeds in the past while in A mode.

You were right - the SL-2 when I looked again just now was no longer in Auto ISO; specifying an ISO knocks it out of Auto. But, prior to me doing that, I was having the same issue as the Q. The max shutter speed was set to Auto on the SL.

Also, the SL and 90mm just now was giving me an Auto ISO of 4000, 1/160 at f2. As noted above, the Q is giving me 1000, 1/60, at f1.4! I can switch to manual but how have I messed up AP?!

[SrMi]

1 hour ago, LPS1 said:

Thank you. Sitting here in a fairly muted sitting room, the Q2 wide open and at an auto ISO of 1000, won’t give me anything faster than 1/60. Switching to Manual and 125, ISO jumps to 2000 to cope. I have Auto ISO set at 6400. I don’t think the Q enables me to set a min shutter speed? I’m sure I’ve taken photos in this room at faster shutter speeds in the past while in A mode.

Q2 allows setting Min Shutter Speed. See page 65 of the manual.

1 hour ago, LPS1 said:

You were right - the SL-2 when I looked again just now was no longer in Auto ISO; specifying an ISO knocks it out of Auto.

It happened to me, too. It is always good to monitor ISO and exposure values.

[LPS1]

Thank you again. I had gone to the Auto ISO menu, selected Auto, and then left the menu thinking "job done". Doh. I hadn't seen the shutter speed option, which of course was largely the source of my difficulty! Learning every day...