elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

A good friend of mine and I are experimenting with Auto-ISO. He's using an upper end Nikon, and I'm using an upper end Canon. Until now i've never considered the Auto mode.

At a zoo I frequent, I've moved from outdoor shots in bright sun, and low light creatures in the primate house. I'm using aperture priority, fixed at f4. So far I'm very impressed with the results. Have others of you tried Auto-ISO? And if so, what results have you found?

Yooper 2 Loc: Ironwood, MI

I use Auto ISO a lot. Saves me a lot of guesswork. I have gotten excellent results using it.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I prefer to set it myself, usually at the low default value. I can always adjust the shutter or even the ISO, if necessary. I've read in many places about the wisdom of setting the ISO manually to avoid unpleasant surprises.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Auto ISO can be handy when you need to make quick decisions in fast changing light situations and have only limited time available for adjusting camera settings. Sometimes I use auto ISO with fast-paced travel photography. But in most shooting situations I prefer manual ISO to ensure the lowest amount of image noise. With newer cameras this isn't so much an issue, but with older cameras ISO values can make a significant difference concerning noise level.

Erik_H Loc: Denham Springs, Louisiana

Hell, I don't even know how to turn it on :)

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Elliot, welcome to the Hog.
I'm a big proponent of Auto ISO, and I will explain exactly why.
A-ISO is just another mode available in the camera to help us in some situations. It has nothing to do with control, or not having control. It has to do with knowing what modes to use and when. Every photographer should know how to use any mode to their advantage, be it Auto ISO, Tv, Av or Full manual etc., etc.
In situations where the light can change very quickly, as in shooting a band, or a dance show, or a Nascar event where a car is coming at you into the sun then going away from you, away from the sun.
Especially in situations where the speed is critical and must be maintained in order to avoid motion blur.
I such situations, to balance the triangle, we may need ISO's between 3200 and say 200. Setting the ISO manually we have NO CHOICE but to go with the highest common denominator, which is 3200. At 3200 we WILL have noise. No matter how well you clean it up, it's at the expense of sharpness. But maybe half of the shots could be shot at between 200-400 which produces VERY CLEAN shots. If we set it ourselves, every shot would at a noisy 3200.
On Auto ISO, the camera will ALWAYS pick the combination with the LOWEST ISO, within the parameters that you have set yourself.
Of course, auto ISO isn't for everything. But a good photographer knows when to use what, and it is exactly that that you are learning, if you allow yourself to learn.
Elliot, if you are interested, I might be able to find some examples.
Again, Welcome, and good luck with your experiments. ;-)
SS

GPS Phil Loc: Dayton Ohio

I started to add to that SS, but I don't think I can. I think you nailed it.

Phil

cntry Loc: Colorado

Auto ISO is good...

If you do like to adjust it yourself, make sure to check it each time you pick up the camera...

A little story...
I was trying to everything full manual on my new A65. I told myself I paid too much to use it as a P&S. One night we had a beautiful sunset, I grabbed my camera and trotted the block and a half I had to go to get a clear shot. I took several shots, all proud of myself because I hadn't switched to full Auto. Came home, downloaded them to the comp - holy moly, they were grainy as he**! What the ---! Checked the camera, the ISO was set to 3200 - I had been trying to shoot the blood moon a couple nights before and had cranked the ISO trying to get a shot (my sleep deprived frozen brain never thought to take the 2x converter off and switch to a smaller zoom so I was shooting at f13 or something equally ridiculous). Now, you would think I would've noticed the picture was bad in the EVF, but I had been staring at a computer screen for several hours and my eyes don't focus well for an hour or so after I get off the computer. Anyway, back to my story, after soundly chewing myself out, I switched the camera to Auto ISO and haven't touched it since. If it's a little off, I'll fix it in post.

bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

I generally set my iso for the situation, however I can see how in some situations it would be better to let the camera do it.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

I have, though not much. Fuji's X camera implementation of Auto-ISO is very good.

As a side note, I shoot manual about 100% of the time and when I shot at a zoo a few years ago, I just had the "outdoor in sun" setting and the "primate house" setting and set them accordingly when I moved locations.

Just another approach.

cmc4214 Loc: S.W. Pennsylvania

On my D90 I sometimes use auto ISO, but I can set a limit to how high it will go to help prevent ugly "surprises"

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

I use auto ISO with an upper limit. On the D4, D800 and S610 my upper limit in ISO is set to 6400. For my D7100, D7000 and D2X my upper limit is set to 3200.

mikedidi46 Loc: WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA

I have talked to a few street photographers and they use AUTO ISO when walking around so that they never have to worry about getting a clean shot. Some of them also use it in conjunction with Program mode.

wingclui44 Loc: CT USA

I have been using auto ISO on my Df with manual mode since I got the camera. I took advantage of it's low light ability. I am happy with the result! I had never used it on my D200!

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

I float back and forth between auto and manual iso. I used auto iso on an overcast day at a dragboat race. I was shocked that my iso ranged from 3200 to 6400 mainly because I was using a small aperture and a fast shutter speed. I made some fairly good shots but the noise factor (possibility) bothered me alot. I would have liked the iso's to be a little lower. I didn't pay much attention at the time because I was trying very hard to capture the fast boats. I think I should have reduced my shutter speed and increased the aperture from f/16 to f/8. Still, the shots came out okay but not wonderful.