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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
OPINIONS: Auto ISO on Nikon D3, D700, D300
Scott Serio, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Colora | MD | USA | Posted: 10:29 AM on 09.07.09 |
->> OK, I will admit when I first heard about this I was a bit skeptical. But after reading about it and playing with it, I am a fan. Forgive me if there is another thread on this. I searched, couldn't find one.
So, for those who do not know, or who were like me and just figured it was for amateurs, here we go. As photographers we always had control over three variables - ISO, shutter speed and and F stop. Well, with film, we had a little less control over ISO and now digital is crazy good.
If you use the Auto ISO function and just turn it on, you can forget about the rest of the settings and go straight to Manual mode. You have a setting you like for sports, use it. If you like 1/2000 at F3.2, use it. The camera will pick the ISO for you. And the plus, instead of 1/3 stop increments that you have control for on the dial, the camera does it in 1/6 stop increments.
I just find this very useful for horse racing because sometimes you have a subject go from the shadow of the grandstand to sunlight. This is not a situation that can be done manually. And in Aperture or Shutter Speed, well, you might get run off of the grid for exposures. With Auto ISO, you get your 1/1250 at F4.0 or whatever and the camera shifts from ISO900 down to ISO300 in a blink. Nice stuff.
It is also great for fill flash outside on the fly. If your shutter speed is above 1/250, it will automatically drop to 1/250 at the F stop you have chosen and find the right ISO. No more worrying about F stops or a shutter speed that doesn't work.
Am I wrong? Am I missing something. With the quality of these cameras at high ISOs, this feature seems to work incredibly well.
Thoughts, opinions? |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Jeff Mills, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 1:26 PM on 09.07.09 |
->> Its an awesome feature. I love it for afternoon games where the field in half in the shade and half in the sun.
Just tell the camera to keep me above 1/1000th of second and I can shoot a run at ISO200 in the daylight and then when the players crosses into shade it bumps the ISO to 800 and I don't have to deal with motion blue from the auto aperture dropping to 1/125th.
I also love it for HS football this time of year. Games starting at 730 have decent light but it fades fast so I can start shooting at lower ISO and manual settings and instead of having to keep track of the fading light, the camera just keeps raising it as needed.
Brilliant feature |
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Will Powers, Photographer
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Denver | CO | USA | Posted: 2:42 PM on 09.07.09 |
->> Jeff,
How does it work with strong backlight? |
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Jeff Mills, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 3:08 PM on 09.07.09 |
->> Will,
Strong backlight is always going to be a problem, auto ISO or not. Its not like an HDR technology that can increase dynamic range.
All its doing is raising the ISO to keep whatever minimum shutter speed you set.
Before when shooting Canon, the choices was either to shoot at a very high ISO and have the Av mode setting the shutter to 1/8000th when the player was in the sun so that when they were in the shade, and the Av mode dropped the shutter speed, you could still get 1/500th or so. Downside was you were shooting at high ISO when you didnt need to be and suffering reduced dynamic range and noise.
Other option was to shoot at a good setting for sunlight, such as ISO200, 1/1000th and F2.8 lets say, but then when in Av mode, if you shoot in the shade it would drop your shutter down to 1/60th or something and while exposed well, it was blurred.
Or I guess a 3rd option was to shoot in manual mode and either expose for the shade or the sun, and either blown out the sunny shots, or have way underexposed shade shots.
All auto ISO does it raise/lower the ISO to give you whatever minimum shutter speed and iso range you tell it.
So if I tell it to always give me at least 1/1000th and it can go up to iso1600 to do so, what it will do is shoot at iso200 when the light is good, and then instead of dropping my shutter below 1/1000th, it will raise ISO instead, up to the limit I set.
I just love it.
Another way its really useful is when shooting manual for night games and having the ends a bit darker. I can have the camera automatically bump the ISO a bit to prevent underexposure in those areas and then return it down a bit for middle of the field action so I'm not shooting at a high iso than I need to. |
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Jamey Price, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Charlotte | NC | USA | Posted: 3:09 PM on 09.07.09 |
| ->> cool. Thanks Scott! |
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Shane Psaltis, Photographer
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Aquebogue | NY | USA | Posted: 5:47 PM on 09.07.09 |
| ->> Auto Iso rocks, I was not a big fan either but I tried it, I set my camera on manual to 1/2000 at f2.8 and auto iso and it rocks, Who cares if you are at 1000iso during the day especially on the D3 it is like 400 iso on any Canon. |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 5:57 PM on 09.07.09 |
| ->> I've been a huge fan the last two baseball seasons. As mentioned it is AWESOME for dealing with zebra fields (light-dark-light-dark) that have shadow issues. |
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Paul Alesse, Photographer
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Centereach | NY | USA | Posted: 7:52 PM on 09.07.09 |
->> The only thing you have to be careful with, as in all other auto-metering settings are dark jerseys vs. white jerseys, heavily backlit walls, etc. Full manual control with the auto ISO turned off is sill your best bet when you know that the lighting is even all around. You don't want the metering to be fooled. With white jerseyed players or strong backlit backgrounds, auto ISO may not be your best bet. I have played around with spot metering, evaluative, and center weighted with varying amounts of center weighting in these extreme situations and I find myself choosing full manual over manual with auto-ISO on the D3.
In most situations though, I agree, auto ISO is a great feature to have on a camera. |
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Shane Psaltis, Photographer
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Aquebogue | NY | USA | Posted: 9:45 PM on 09.07.09 |
| ->> I have used Auto iso in all situations and I find it to be stunning, All I have had to adjust is believe it or not Compensation, sounds crazy right , exposure compensation in Manual, but it works, the auto iso with d-lighting is great, I do not have the issues with different color jerseys, I used to use manual exposure before the auto ISO, not anymore. |
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Jeff Stanton, Photographer
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Princeton | IN | USA | Posted: 10:08 PM on 09.07.09 |
->> I was going through some boxes over the weekend and came across a Nikon D1, circa 1999 model. I also came across a Kodak DCS 520. In my living room there is a D1H body too.
I thought about my D300 in my bag and was so happy that I have that compared to the others I just mentioned. |
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Darren White, Photographer
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Brisbane | QLD | Australia | Posted: 2:08 AM on 09.08.09 |
->> I'm with Paul a bit. Ive used autoiso quite extensively and to me it delivers really well when light is uneven (zebra fields) or rapidly changing but not so well under lights say. Even where lighting is apparently even depending on the af target it seems to fluctuate a stop between similar shots which I don't really like from a consistency POV. In this case I let it help me judge a manual exposure
So like all things use it yeah, but not for all things |
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Jamey Price, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Charlotte | NC | USA | Posted: 10:20 PM on 09.09.09 |
| ->> I tried last night at a afternoon/evening soccer game and I loved the auto ISO. Thanks a millon Scott. Never even thought to use it. |
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Guy Swarbrick, Photographer
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Wokingham | Berkshire | UK | Posted: 9:16 AM on 09.10.09 |
->> I shoot mostly indoor velodromes where the light is poor and pools under the spots. I shoot exclusively with Auto ISO in manual on the D3 and vary the shutter and aperture to get the effect I want.
One day all cameras will be made this way. :) |
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Jamey Price, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Charlotte | NC | USA | Posted: 9:26 AM on 09.10.09 |
| ->> Too bad the noise on the D300 I shoot with gets a bit much at 2000 or so. |
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Guy Swarbrick, Photographer
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Wokingham | Berkshire | UK | Posted: 10:08 AM on 09.10.09 |
| ->> Jamey - I got so addicted to the setup on the D3 that I tried to use it on the D200. Not so great when you have to limit it to ISO400! |
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