Auto ISO Question

I wanted your all's thoughts on this question. First when I was using my D3200 I rarely if ever used Auto ISO. It is a good camera, but there was just more noise than I could deal with so I always set the ISO to the limit I could live with an minimize motion blur etc. I take a lot of pictures at church and a flash is inappropriate.

Now that I have had time to play with my new D7200 I am amazed at the low light capability. 6400 has very little noise and what it has I can get rid of in post. The last couple Sundays I used Auto ISO and was pleased. Now I look at it a bit differently.

I like to shoot in manual I will occasionally use Aperture priority, and Shutter Priority but only now and than. Manual works fine. I always looked at ISO as something you had to set manually every time I took a shot. But now I am thinking I could use it in a similar fashion to the Aperture and Shutter and if I want to under expose or over expose, use Exposure Compensation.

Is anyone already doing that? How is it working for you. I have not tried it yet; just considering it.

These two photos were shot with Auto ISO and only candle light. the room was dark before the candles were lit.

I would mainly need exposure compensation in the + value so i have U1 and U2 set to +1 and 2,both still on manual and auto iso.

mikew said:

I would mainly need exposure compensation in the + value so i have U1 and U2 set to +1 and 2,both still on manual and auto iso.

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Thanks, that is a good idea.

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I shoot in Manual mode with Auto-ISO enabled pretty much all the time myself. Exposure Compensation works just like you would expect it to. These settings allow me to control the shutter speed and aperture which are the crucial aspects creatively speaking. ISO Noise, if it shows up, I can deal with in post processing.
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I do it the wrong way round as i use +1 the most its on U2 so its the nearest to M

Danno said:

I like to shoot in manual I will occasionally use Aperture priority, and Shutter Priority but only now and than. Manual works fine. I always looked at ISO as something you had to set manually every time I took a shot. But now I am thinking I could use it in a similar fashion to the Aperture and Shutter and if I want to under expose or over expose, use Exposure Compensation.

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I'm old school too, I prefer to set ISO first. But of course, high ISO performance is greatly better today, and Auto ISO is popular now. I am Not knocking Auto ISO, however Shutter Priority seems specifically ill suited for Auto ISO... because the aperture will always be wide open if Auto ISO is active.

Because Auto ISO works as last resort, when the automated settings have no more range to go, and increasing ISO is the last resort.

In S mode, we set shutter speed, and as the light falls, the aperture opens wider. When it hits the limit wide open and can go no more, then Auto ISO starts increasing. That means if Auto ISO kicks in, the lens aperture will be wide open, possibly not the best general choice for every picture.

In A mode, we set aperture and as the light falls, shutter speed slows. The concept is when it hits maximum limit, then auto ISO starts increasing. But since 30 seconds is unworkable and unusable, the Auto ISO menu adds an intermediate Minimum Shutter Speed setting, to be the threshold for increasing ISO. We can set any shutter speed as minimum, meaning this is the shutter speed active Auto ISO will always be using. So note that this Minimum Shutter Speed is sort of a replacement for S mode with Auto ISO, since it is the shutter speed that active ISO will always use (but we can still choose aperture). Shutter speed will of course go even slower if Maximum ISO is not sufficient.

In camera M mode, we set both shutter speed and aperture. Which is likely usually not precisely correct for the metered light, so then Auto ISO tries to be enough to make it be right, at that selected shutter and aperture. That is cute, and it makes Manual be an auto mode, but this method has less range than the others (others can also change some settings).

I would suggest considering that setting aperture and minimum shutter speed for Auto ISO in A mode is essentially the same thing as setting same values in Manual mode with Auto ISO, but with greater possible range, allowing a faster shutter in the brighter light, and able to force a slower shutter when max ISO simply is not enough. The only alternatives (other than greater user attention) are a bad exposure.

Yes I am experiencing this now. With my D300, I always struggle to achieve the correct speed without having to up ISO above 400 while having max aperture. I ended with many not usable shots.

With the newer sensor, iso up to 6400 is quite clean for my D610. I think it is the same sensor as your D7200. This leave's you to focus just on S & A. I shoot 99% on M. Therefore it is very useful. I would say maybe for environment you have full control and does not have low light issue, then setting a lower iso to achieve clean sharp images maybe the reason for not using auto iso.

I often use auto ISO..........