auto ISO?

[brickftl]

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I'm soon to be a new M11-P owner. I like the idea of auto ISO on a rangefinder but didn't like it on my M10 because I though too often I had blown out highlights.

What's your experience using auto ISO on the M11. I'm wondering if the supposedly better sensor metering of the M11 will give better information to the camera in terms of choosing proper ISO.

Thoughts?

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[lct]

I can just say that auto iso M mode works perfectly on my early M11 body but i have no experience with either M10 or M11-P cameras and i never do full auto iso in practice so you may wish to ask other colleagues about that.

 

[hdmesa]

4 hours ago, brickftl said:

I'm soon to be a new M11-P owner. I like the idea of auto ISO on a rangefinder but didn't like it on my M10 because I though too often I had blown out highlights.

What's your experience using auto ISO on the M11. I'm wondering if the supposedly better sensor metering of the M11 will give better information to the camera in terms of choosing proper ISO.

Thoughts?

You likely used the M10 at the time Leica had base ISO set to 100, which would tend to blow highlights. Later, Leica changed Auto ISO on the M10/M10-P to be the true base ISO, which is 200.

– – –

The M11 has a "Highlight Weighted" metering mode which prioritizes exposure for the highlights over shadow detail. But it's not foolproof, and you still sometimes have to use negative exposure compensation.

– – –

Ultimately, it's up to the shooter to protect the highlights by either checking Live View and the histogram before the shot or by reviewing the shot afterward and adjusting the exposure accordingly. 

Edited July 7, 2024 by hdmesa

[elmars]

I second hdmesa and would like to add: the m11 has a different way of metering; multifield on the sensor instead of center weighted. The latter is easy to fool by bright sky or dark foreground. So metering is superior in the M11. And auto  ISO is controlled by the metering system. 

[MaxGor]

As precaution I am shooting with -1 EV compensation, in raw and auto iso works pretty well.  Had only a couple of instances where highlights were blown and I could not recover them in LR.

[ianforber]

I use Auto ISO with Highlight weighted metering. I can’t recall ever having blown-out highlights. 

[Viv]

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On 7/6/2024 at 9:30 PM, brickftl said:

I'm soon to be a new M11-P owner. I like the idea of auto ISO on a rangefinder but didn't like it on my M10 because I though too often I had blown out highlights.

What's your experience using auto ISO on the M11. I'm wondering if the supposedly better sensor metering of the M11 will give better information to the camera in terms of choosing proper ISO.

Thoughts?

Having shot film for years, I never use auto-ISO on my M11 or any other digital camera.

I see no advantage in doing so.

[SrMi]

27 minutes ago, MaxGor said:

As precaution I am shooting with -1 EV compensation, in raw and auto iso works pretty well.  Had only a couple of instances where highlights were blown and I could not recover them in LR.

The nice thing about using -1 EV with Auto ISO is that it does not affect noise when shooting at ISOs above native ISO, as it lowers the ISO but not the exposure.

[MaxGor]

1 hour ago, ianforber said:

I use Auto ISO with Highlight weighted metering. I can’t recall ever having blown-out highlights. 

Holy grail - I did not know Leica M11 has it - this must have been added with recent firmware update(at least, I hope so).

 

[DadDadDaddyo]

I've finally started to use Auto ISO, in certain circumstances, after a long period of stiff skepticism about the whole idea. It seems helpful in maintaining a "middle" of the ISO/Aperture/Shutter speed triangle - something I've done manually forever. "Manually" means there are three things to keep track of and potentially fiddle with to find the balance desired for a particular shot. So, "Auto ISO" seems more like "Cruise Control ISO" in this sense.

And in the same vein, after years of the slow use of spot metering to evaluate the illumination range of a scene in detail, I also started employing Highlight weighted metering as well, especially in situations where it's important to work quickly.

If I think about and break it down: in the past, I've typically performed metering first, focus and composition second, Aperture selection third, and then brought the shutter speed in to make it all work - unless that pushed something else out of range, necessitating, for example, an ISO adjustment to maintain selected Aperture and shutter speed. 

Yeah, slow, I know...

But there's more; I've even begun to use Aperture Priority Auto Exposure - sometimes.

Sheesh! If this keeps up I might end up in the latter quarter of the 20th Century!

[brickftl]

18 hours ago, DadDadDaddyo said:

I've finally started to use Auto ISO, in certain circumstances, after a long period of stiff skepticism about the whole idea. It seems helpful in maintaining a "middle" of the ISO/Aperture/Shutter speed triangle - something I've done manually forever. "Manually" means there are three things to keep track of and potentially fiddle with to find the balance desired for a particular shot. So, "Auto ISO" seems more like "Cruise Control ISO" in this sense.

And in the same vein, after years of the slow use of spot metering to evaluate the illumination range of a scene in detail, I also started employing Highlight weighted metering as well, especially in situations where it's important to work quickly.

If I think about and break it down: in the past, I've typically performed metering first, focus and composition second, Aperture selection third, and then brought the shutter speed in to make it all work - unless that pushed something else out of range, necessitating, for example, an ISO adjustment to maintain selected Aperture and shutter speed. 

Yeah, slow, I know...

But there's more; I've even begun to use Aperture Priority Auto Exposure - sometimes.

Sheesh! If this keeps up I might end up in the latter quarter of the 20th Century!

I agree - I'll use auto ISO coupled with highlight weighted metering. However I'm not sure I'd trust the camera to pick the right shutter speed on aperture priority, so I'll continue to shoot manual aperture and shutter.

[lct]

14 minutes ago, brickftl said:

I agree - I'll use auto ISO coupled with highlight weighted metering. However I'm not sure I'd trust the camera to pick the right shutter speed on aperture priority, so I'll continue to shoot manual aperture and shutter.

Works well but i cannot report a single issue in auto iso M mode + auto shutter so far.

[DadDadDaddyo]

Yup - I have to laugh at myself slowly feeling it out... 

But how many times have I caught myself going back to adjust ISO manually while setting aperture and shutter speed manually? 

I'm just kind of slowly getting used to the idea of letting the camera do it. 

And per lct: yes - I've also had pretty good luck with Aperture Priority/Auto Shutter Speed used in combination with Auto ISO and Highlight-weighted metering. For those times when I don't want to take the time, this combination works pretty well. 

Edited July 9, 2024 by DadDadDaddyo
(Grumble) Auto "correct". See why I mistrust this stuff?

[Knightspirit]

Back in the point and shoot days - where pretty much everything was automated, the trick to getting correct exposure was to point the camera away (like the darker ground) half press and then bring it back to the subject and shoot. I have to confess that I use this all of the time in Auto mode on the M11. The benefit here is that the focus doesn’t change - just the exposure. It’s infinitely quicker than fiddling!

[marchyman]

The only times I've used auto-iso on the M11 to date is when I'm range focusing and shooting-from-the-hip, so to speak.  I'll use a fixed aperture (probably f/8) and speed (probably 1/500s).  My metering is almost always set to highlight weighted.

I rarely do this, but sometimes it is the only way to get the shots I want.