Manual exposure with ais Nikon lens without cpu: Just purchased a beautiful 400mm 3.5 ais manual focus lens to use with d800. Works perfectly fine in aperture priority mode as it...

Archiefamous Loc: Manhattan

Just purchased a beautiful 400mm 3.5 ais manual focus lens to use with d800. Works perfectly fine in aperture priority mode as it should. Is there any reason not to use auto iso in manual mode? Will experiment later today.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

Archiefamous wrote:

Just purchased a beautiful 400mm 3.5 ais manual focus lens to use with d800. Works perfectly fine in aperture priority mode as it should. Is there any reason not to use auto iso in manual mode? Will experiment later today.

Though I’ve never had a reason to use auto ISO, I see no reason why you cannot. Wouldn’t mind owning that lens myself.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

The auto ISO feature is a feature of your camera, not the lens. If your lens/camera combo work in aperture priority, then the Auto ISO feature should work as well.

John Sh Loc: Toronto, Australia

"I’ve never had a reason to use auto ISO"
I was like you until I read Steve Perry's books. Auto ISO is one of those things that makes life so much easier, especially in rapidly changing light conditions. It is not suitable for flash photography. Give it a go, you might be surprised.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

A 400mm prime lens, f3.5, in a Nikon ais series or even the latest model, is a big plus. Your camera is suited for it too. Using auto ISO is an option that DSLRs have today. It wasn't available on a Nikon SLR. If, you got a good deal on it, which I'm sure you did. You may be able to live without Auto ISO. But, I don't know why you can't use it? I had in my hands, a 400mm Canon "L" lens that a NFL pro photographer showed me a few years ago. But, it was f2.8, and pretty heavy as well. Enjoy your Nikon Legacy lens.

Archiefamous Loc: Manhattan

Thanks for all your input. Anxious to get out and use my old manual focus skills. Perhaps I’ll dust my F2as off as well

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

I use manual with auto ISO 95% of the time beause I like to choose the fstop/shutter speed. You can set the ISO limits on the low and high end.

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

There are times when auto ISO is not suitable and will raise the ISO to the limit you set, this usually happens in low light such as night photography or early or late evening photography. When this happens you will find more noise in your image than you want. I usually take it off auto ISO in the late evening or early morning and either lower my shutter speed or increase the aperture or both.

srt101fan

Brucej67 wrote:

There are times when auto ISO is not suitable and will raise the ISO to the limit you set, this usually happens in low light such as night photography or early or late evening photography. When this happens you will find more noise in your image than you want. I usually take it off auto ISO in the late evening or early morning and either lower my shutter speed or increase the aperture or both.

Bruce, your concern that Auto ISO can raise ISO to unacceptable levels has also been expressed by others in UHH discussions on Auto ISO.

But why turn Auto ISO off, when all you have to do is watch the ISO value selected by the camera. If it goes too high, you change shutter and/or aperture, or you abort. Depending on the type of photograph, supplemental lighting might also be an option. You still have total control, no?

BebuLamar

If you leave one or more parameters for the camera to choose and not monitor it then there will be time it set those parameter to extreme that you don't want.
I want the auto ISO to raise when it's dark. That's the purpose of auto ISO. What choice do I have? Picture with high ISO or no picture.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

John Sh wrote:

"I’ve never had a reason to use auto ISO"
I was like you until I read Steve Perry's books. Auto ISO is one of those things that makes life so much easier, especially in rapidly changing light conditions. It is not suitable for flash photography. Give it a go, you might be surprised.

I understand its purpose, and agree there are times when it can be useful. I tend to use a particular feature when the need arises, rather than to create a need just to use it.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

RWR wrote:

I understand its purpose, and agree there are times when it can be useful. I tend to use a particular feature when the need arises, rather than to create a need just to use it.

Pentax has a 'TAv' mode which they describe as being equivalent to 'M' mode with auto ISO. I don't have to contrive a need for it; I use it regularly when photographing wildlife, because it allows me to control both shutter speed and aperture while still keeping the 'exposure triangle' satisfied.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

rehess wrote:

Pentax has a 'TAv' mode which they describe as being equivalent to 'M' mode with auto ISO. I don't have to contrive a need for it; I use it regularly when photographing wildlife, because it allows me to control both shutter speed and aperture while still keeping the 'exposure triangle' satisfied.

I’m pretty sure a situation will come up when I’ll be happy to use it.

odujim Loc: New Jersey

cameraf4 wrote:

The auto ISO feature is a feature of your camera, not the lens. If your lens/camera combo work in aperture priority, then the Auto ISO feature should work as well.

htbrown Loc: San Francisco Bay Area

Archiefamous wrote:

Is there any reason not to use auto iso in manual mode?

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of manual mode? Consider this scenario:

Photog takes a picture.
Photog: Hmm, that's too dark. I'll open up the aperture.
Camera: Hmm, that's going to be too light. I'll adjust the ISO.