thively61 Loc: Robinson, Texas

I used my D750 yesterday to take pictures of the family opening gifts. My setup was manual, with auto ISO, upper limit on ISO was 8000. Using the Nikkor 24-120mm f4 lens with it.

The room was not particularly dark, it had light coming into it from several directions, and lamps on with ceiling lights, and light coming in from a window and a glass door.

I was trying to use shutter speeds of 1/120 usually, and varying from 4 - 6.3 on the f stops. Perhaps predictably, pictures without using flash were darker than I wanted.

But, what I noticed when looking at the ISO level of my pictures is that most of the ones taken in the room had maxed out on the 8000 ISO. This is what is surprising to me, and I have notice this on other pictures I have taken with the D750, the camera seems to hit the upper range on whatever I set for the ISO limit.

I'm not that experienced a photographer, and certainly still learning the d750, but I'm wondering if there is something I'm doing wrong that is causing the camera to use the high ISO setting in a room that didn't seem to be dark. With the high ISO I am noticing more noise that I would like to have in my pictures. My wonder/concern is whether the camera is correctly using the appropriate ISO on auto ISO.

No flash, 8000 ISO

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flash fired 8000 ISO

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Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

The Exif data from each shot is interesting. It pretty much says there just isn't enough light there, absent the flash, to get a good shot. Your eyes adjust and it doesn't look dark, but it is.

Otherwise, you've got exactly the right idea! Nice camera, nice lens, and you are using it appropriately as far as exposure goes. You were using AF-C with 51 point dynamic focusing though, and in three or four years that's exactly what it will take to nail the fella down. But in this circumstance he is pretty much a static subject, and AF-S would have been a better choice. In fact though, it probably didn't make any difference at all.

Either have more lights in the room, or work on flash photography. The flash shot you posted looks pretty good! Using a diffuser and bouncing off the ceiling will tend to fill the room with light, so you might like that better. It's hard to do with a builtin flash though. And particularly at a child's birthday party type situation you may find a single flash unit inhibiting.

One fix is to pick up 2, 3, or even 4 inexpensive flash units. They can be older ones because you don't need fancy functionality, but you do want to add a (cheap) optical trigger to each one. Then you can position all of them in a room, perhaps at 1/8th or 1/4 power, with diffusers aimed into the corners of the ceiling. Trigger them with (at very low power) the on camera flash. That provides enough light, and since none of them are near full power the recycle time is very fast too. Hence you can on occasion fire of a 5 or 6 shot burst and still have flash for each exposure!

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

@Apaflo is correct - human vision is exponential in nature while machinery like cameras (and film) are linear. What this means is that it is very hard for us to really understand when it is "too dark" - when experiments have been done with subjects viewing two identical rooms (through side-by-side windows) who are instructed to turn the lights down in room #2 so it is half as light as room #1, invariably it turns out that what they perceive as half as bright is actually 1/10th the light amount. This translates into you thinking it's "not really that dark" but this is thanks to the amazing nature of human vision; in truth there was just not enough light there.

thively61 Loc: Robinson, Texas

Thanks for the responses. I should have brought my Nikkor 50mm f1.8 G. I'm sure a faster lens would have helped, I wanted the convenience of the zoom in that situation.

No doubt my inexperience talking here, but I had hoped that camera would do better in the light available. Also, do both of you agree that the camera going to the upper ISO of 8000 was reasonable?

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

Given that you manually set the shutter speed and were limited to f4, one can only assume that the camera did its best to create a proper exposure and since you limited the ISO to 8000 there was nothing more it could do. Had you used a slower shutter speed then more light would have gotten to the sensor but of course that risks motion blur.

Using the f1.8 lens would have offered another 2+ stops worth of light coming through the lens (over 4x as much light) - assuming you kept it at f1.8 - and it seems that the first (non-flash) exposure is just a stop or two underexposed so that might have done the trick.

Perhaps the other lesson is - ATGATT - take "All The Gear All The Time" since you don't know when you might need something...

thively61 Loc: Robinson, Texas

Yup, good points. I didn't want to drag my camera bag over to my parents house along with all the Christmas presents we were bringing. But, I should have. Will do next year.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

The camera worked perfectly.

I'd have opened up the lens a bit. The 24-120mm f/4 isn't the greatest lens around, but at half or two thirds of a stop down it's good enough. And I would have used at least ISO 10000 and maybe 12800. And a shutter speed of either 1/80 or 1/100 is probably fast enough. A little bit of motion blur on a guy that size gives it some realism (on flailing arms and legs, but not good if he's running across the room and his whole body is fuzzed). All together it adds up to about the same as what your flash gave you.

Using a 50mm f/1.8 is problematic for this type of photography.

Note that you took those with a 95mm focal length in one case and 120mm in another, and the framing is nice. If you get close enough to fill the frame with the boy using 50mm, you are also so close that perspective distortion is unattractive. And at those distances the DOF at wider apertures is counter productive too. I would consider using an 85mm fixed lens, but really would prefer the 24-120mm (it's a lens I use a lot). For just closeups like that a 70-200mm f/2.8 is a good lens too, but more than likely there were times when you did need a wide angle to catch entire rooms, groups of adults, etc.

Frank47 Loc: West coast Florida

I have the D750 and 24-120 as well. Over the last three or four days of holiday merriment I did not use the flash a single time. With the VR lens and reasonable ambient light, ISO 3200 was high enough to produce amazingly good results. I'm not sure why, but I never use auto ISO. By the way, I was stunned at how good the D750 auto white balance was under different types of lighting.

thively61 Loc: Robinson, Texas

I'm a little dismayed at the noise I am seeing in my pictures, I think I will try your ISO setting. What shutter speed were you using indoors?

TJer Loc: Colorado

I have the D750 as well and found the AUTO feature a tad confusing as well until I spent some time with it. It would appear that while in this mode, the image can still be over or underexposed and that the ISO shown may be the one you input and NOT the calculated ISO necessary for the best exposure using the aperture and shutter speed desired. Keep an I on the Compensation gauge at the bottom of the EVF and/or the "ISO Auto" indication on the right of it. If the ISO Auto is blinking you may be out of the specified ISO range you input in the Menu. If the Compensation range is flashing and showing the need for Compensation, then the criteria you input may need to be tweaked to give you the needed image exposure. You may have to use Compensation to bring the image in to the best exposure OR change your Menu settings.

Mine are pretty comfortable with Menu Settings; ISO Sensitivity settings: ISO Sensitivity 100; Auto ISO Sensitivity Control "ON";MAX. Sensitivity 6400; Minimum Shutter Speed 1/30.

The Villages Loc: The Villages, Florida

Probably way off base, but even though though you are in ISO Auto, what do you have your ISO set at? I think it could have an affect on the ISO in affect at the time the picture is taken???

martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

I think you missing the point just a little. By using manual and Fixing the exposure your camera has no choice. If you want to choice aperture and shutter speed then you have to leave the ISO in auto so it may float up and down to give proper exposure.. Not only will the photo be properly exposed but most of the Noise will disappear as a result/properly exposed photos show less noise, more noticeable in under exposed photos. You also have an exposure meter in your camera. This will help you set the proper exposure if you learn how to use it. You might want to break out the manual and read about your cameras functions. Google "Exposure Triangle", this is the key to photography. Understand this and your journey begins.

Shutter Bugger

Hmmm, possibly you would have got better results
if you used program mode and let the computer adjust
the shutter as well as the aperture and ISO.

The lens you used is pretty "slow" and apart from that,
Ken Rockwell puts it in the list of the "Top 10 Worst
Lenses" Nikon has produced.

No doubt though, you'l get the hang of it and produce
some wonderful images soon.

Frank47 Loc: West coast Florida

Your comments are well taken. I read many of those reviews as well balanced by a lot of very happy users' reviews. In spite of Rockwell I went ahead with the 24-120. I am not sorry as I have had excellent results far exceeding my APS-C Nikkor 18-200. 100% of what I do is 16x20 prints or smaller . . . or watching on our 4K HDTV. For my use, the lens' flexibility is perfect and 95% of anyone reviewing my work (again, for MY use) would have a hard time being critical. As for the f4 slowness, you are right again but I'm looking ahead to a prime Nikkor 35mm f1.8. So far, the amazing high ISO capability of the D750 offsets the f4. I get as good results (maybe better) at ISO 3200 or even ISO 5000 as I did at ISO 600 with my former D90.

Peanut_the_cat Loc: Bradenton, Florida

Don't take Ken Rockwell too seriously - the 24 -120mm is an excellent lens. As a photographer of 50 years I am finding quirks in the D750 {me not the camera}. I'm finding a bright light in the view finder, that is no where near the single focus/exposure point, sometimes dramatically effects the exposure. I'm sure it's me not the camera but there is a learning curve. I think in a situation where it's dark an f4 lens is not ideal but if that is all there is use Program and auto ISO. You may find the camera still likes the higher ISO instead of first changing the shutter speed or aperture. I have a Canon that always picks the widest aperture when in program mode. I'm not sure yet where the Nikon falls in the choice range. Whatever its still one of the great Nikon cameras of all time. Just get to be friends with it - thats all it wants.