Minimum Shutter Speed Setting ??

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
OK, this came up in an Off Topic thread I started. In the ISO menu setting where you select ISO Auto On or Off, there is a minimum shutter speed setting also. If it is set to 1/500s for example, should the shutter speed ever drop below that setting in any modes other than Manual or of course Shutter priority where it can be set to anything? The setting does not seem to have any effect on my D5300. The shutter speed will go to 1 or 2 s if that is what is required to get the proper exposure. Do I have a camera problem or am I missing something?

Thanks
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Its a long time since i tried that but i think on the D7000 at the time the speed would drop below if needed,never thought i would say this but i am now really taken with auto iso up to 3200 and manual,its not happened yet but it looks as though nothing will change in this setting unless i change it.
 

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Its a long time since i tried that but i think on the D7000 at the time the speed would drop below if needed,never thought i would say this but i am now really taken with auto iso up to 3200 and manual,its not happened yet but it looks as though nothing will change in this setting unless i change it.

That is what is doing with the D5300, so what's the point of a minimum setting? I know it does give a set point for the ISO to increase up to the max you have it set for to get the required exposure, but I assumed (I know I'm not supposed to do that) it would never drop below the minimum setting and just leave an underexposed picture at that point.

Oh and I have been doing the Manual with auto ISO too. The moon thing and Don's settings are what moved me into the P mode and minimum shutter settings.
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
I have never used P but i thought it was designed to give what the camera thinks is correct exposure any time no matter what,i could be wrong though :D
 

Lawrence

Senior Member
The shutter speed will drop below the minimum set once the maximum ISO has been reached.
Because the camera has reached maximum ISO it uses the only other thing "available" (even though you have said it isn't available) to produce a well exposed photo. It's up to you to keep it steady! :)
 

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
@mikew P is an automatic setting that does let the camera do it's thing almost like the Auto Mode. The reason I was trying to set the Minimum Shutter speed in P mode was a discussion on Moon shots in the thread in Off Topic. See Don's comments here: #2
 

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Thanks Lawrence for that explanation. That was the conclusion I was coming to. In the settings that Don was using, the best bet would be to switch to S priority. Set the Shutter speed to 1/500s, auto ISO...

In his setup for the moon shot, maybe the mood was bright enough for the shutter speed to be at 1000 like his photo exif data stated. I didn't have a moon to try it tonight. Too many clouds.
 

Scott Murray

Senior Member
@mikew P is an automatic setting that does let the camera do it's thing almost like the Auto Mode. The reason I was trying to set the Minimum Shutter speed in P mode was a discussion on Moon shots in the thread in Off Topic. See Don's comments here: #2
Manual is the only way to go with moon shots if you ask me.
 

wornish

Senior Member
Definitely agree with Scott - go manual. You can always tweak the settings to tune them to the best combination for the circumstances you are in, i.e. do some manual EV bracketing by adjusting the shutter speed or aperture.
 

J-see

Senior Member
I usually do moon shots on A. I set to spot metering, aperture to its sharpest, and then shoot one, check the histo for clipping. If it doesn't clip, I shoot a couple. If it does clip I set -EV to push exposure down.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
The shutter speed will drop below the minimum set once the maximum ISO has been reached. Because the camera has reached maximum ISO it uses the only other thing "available" (even though you have said it isn't available) to produce a well exposed photo. It's up to you to keep it steady!
@Lawrence is correct here regarding how Auto ISO works.

Program Mode is fine when your shooting conditions are perfect, or near perfect, but not for something like moon shots. That kind of contrast-y shot is going to require YOUR brain being in control, not the camera's because the camera's brain will rely on the meter and the meter's job is NOT to nail perfect exposure; the job of the meter is expose your shots based on middle grey.

Start thinking of your meter as a "Medium Grey Meter" because in practice, that's what it is. Under ideal shooting conditions we GET perfect exposure so frequently we start thinking the meter is failing when we get anything less than perfect exposure but that's our fault, not the meter's. The job of the light meter is to give us a consistent baseline of exposure from which we calculate the correct exposure for the shot. The key word there is "consistent"; the meter wants (and will, if you let it) expose EVERY shot the exact same way: by exposing for middle grey. If this wasn't the case, we'd constantly be in a tug-of-war with our light meters. Instead, the light meter does one thing and one thing only and we manipulate the camera settings based on knowing the meter is exposing for middle grey. If we want that snow to look white, or the moon to look something other than middle grey, we have to adjust our exposure to match what we want out of that particular shot. The meter doesn't know what we want out of any particular shot (since every shot will be different) but it does give us a baseline to help get the exposure we want.

Just remember: The light meter wants to expose for middle grey... Every. Single. Time.
.....
 

WayneF

Senior Member
OK, this came up in an Off Topic thread I started. In the ISO menu setting where you select ISO Auto On or Off, there is a minimum shutter speed setting also. If it is set to 1/500s for example, should the shutter speed ever drop below that setting in any modes other than Manual or of course Shutter priority where it can be set to anything? The setting does not seem to have any effect on my D5300. The shutter speed will go to 1 or 2 s if that is what is required to get the proper exposure. Do I have a camera problem or am I missing something?

Thanks

The Minimum Shutter Speed in the Auto ISO menu is NOT a minimum shutter speed. It is only the minimum speed in Auto ISO before Auto ISO increases.
It is the shutter speed threshold for Auto ISO increase (when the shutter speed drops that low, shutter stops there, and then Auto ISO starts advancing.)
Therefore it is obviously the shutter speed that most Auto ISO pictures will generally always use, so it is very important, choose it wisely.
If you set it slow or fast, then it likely is always that slow or fast (anytime ISO is between Minimum and Maximum ISO, shutter will be that setting).
But when Auto ISO maxes out at Maximum ISO, then shutter speed automation has to go lower if you expect a proper exposure.

Auto mode is a little different, in that it is always Auto ISO, cannot turn it off. No user settings for anything, including not for Minimum or Maximum ISO, or for Minimum shutter speed. No bets on what happens then. :)


See a past posting: http://nikonites.com/d7000/29008-au....html?highlight=minimum+shutter+speed&post=#4


For a few of the recent less expensive camera models, Nikon ships a skimpy manual, but has a full Reference Manual online, which is much more complete.
(at Nikon Product Manuals available for download | Nikon Knowledgebase )

For the D5300, it is at Reference Manual - D5300 | Nikon Knowledgebase

Page 181 says: In modes P and A, sensitivity will only be adjusted if underexposure would result at the shutter speed selected for Minimum shutter speed.

That is Nikon speak for what I said :)

Says in S or M mode, the shutter speed selected by user serves the same function.
 
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cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Thanks to all who responded to this. I get how it works now and after looking through the manual numerous times I had almost come to the conclusion as WayneF stated. So many settings, so little time. Ha!
 
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