Steve Carlson

90% of the time I shot in manual with auto ISO. I always take a test shot of subject, look at histogram and make adjustments with aperture and shutter speed. Yesterday in LR I was making adjustments to a photograph I stood in the middle of a cloudy day and noticed ISO was went to 2500. Seems really high. Should I do more in manual ISO?

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Was the result the exposure you desired? If yes, what setting could you/would you have changed if manually adjusting ISO in order to achieve the same exposure?

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Steve Carlson

Yes, but seemed a little grainy.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

The camera was only doing what you wanted it to do; it didn't select ISO 2500 randomly

That was the point of my second question earlier. If an ISO of 2500 "seems really high" but you are happy with the resulting exposure, then you need to evaluate what you used for shutter speed (could you have changed it to a slower speed?) and f/stop (could you have used a wider aperture and still produce a satisfactory depth of field?). Slowing the shutter speed and/or setting a wider aperture would lower the ISO.

You may find it easier to go fully manual so that you are more aware of what's happening with the ISO based on your other choices.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

I think you should try it for a while and see if it works for you. Of course it would be helpful to first familiarize yourself with what ISO settings are ideal for which situations, as well as how much noise and other artifacts you can expect with each ISO value.

Personally, I like to keep the ISO value between 100 and 400, but will occasionally go higher if the situation calls for it.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Yes - If on the other hand, shutter speed was of little importance, you could have gone to a fixed ISO, and slower fixed speed in Aperture Preferred mode. If DOF was of little... You get the picture (no pun inteneded )

It is up to you to judge, preferrably in advance, which mode is appropriate for the situation.

bleirer

You should be using exposure compensation if you want the histogram to change.

I think what is happening is the auto ISO is going to give a standard exposure, so changing the shutter speed or aperture dial just forces the ISO to adjust, until it reaches the max range you have set for auto. So the histogram won't change as you adjust the shutter or aperture until you exceed the max ISO. The histogram will always go back to standard because the auto ISO will force it back to standard.

If you use EC, it will cause the exposure value and the histogram to change.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

The OP is already using manual mode so I'd keep it simple and not introduce priority modes. More experience to achieve a solid understanding of what situations warrant changing which settings seems like a good plan.

Bleirer raised an excellent point about the histogram when in auto ISO.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Not just which ISO is ideal, though. Shutter speed can only go "so slow" when shooting moving subjects or hand-holding, aperture can only go "so wide" if significant depth of field is important to one's result. Compromise may be necessary.

As you suggested, familiarization is important. Controlled testing can help a lot in learning all this stuff too

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

There are times when something automated is needed, but I get your point.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Birds in flight, going in and out of shadow and light 😁

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rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

My D850 tends to slew AutoISO up to 12000 at the press of a shutter button, so I prefer manually setting ISO. Unless I was in a fast-moving, low light situation, I'd leave it that way.

d3200prime

Use manual ISO if at all possible. Set it at 100 and only move it up when you can't get the proper exposure using aperture and shutter speed. This is generally speaking but when shooting BIF or your location is changing lighting quickly and randomly auto ISO is absolutely necessary in my book.

Grahame Loc: Fiji

If in manual control of speed and aperture with Auto ISO, altering speed or aperture based on the histogram you have viewed will not change the camera 'suggested' exposure (brightness/darkness of the produced image).

EC would be used to alter image brightness.



An ISO of 2500 would be perfectly normal for a cloudy day scene IF you had settings of say, speed 1/640s and aperture f/11.

Without knowing your settings and lighting circumstances it's impossible to advise.



Absolutely not. Persevere with your manual + Auto ISO, learn how speed and aperture selected by you will affect ISO and always keep an eye on the ISO value that the camera has chosen and consider if you can lower it without compromising DoF or movement.

One other piece of advice, do not be misled by those that say 'I always keep my camera at this or that ISO', or 'I have no control of ISO if it's in Auto'. The reality is that if your lens is say wide open and you need a speed of 1/1000s to freeze the motion in the scene you are taking the ISO needed for best exposure will be exactly the same as that which would be needed using any other mode available to you.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

If you're using the camera by manually setting the shutter and f/stop then auto ISO makes perfect sense. The shutter controls the rendition of motion including your possible body motion holding the camera. The f/stop provides a control for DOF in the scene. Those are both creative concerns where your judgement matters. ISO only controls the lightness of the camera's output image (JPEG) which your camera should allow you to tweak with the EC adjustment (some older cameras maybe not). In that sense ISO isn't giving you any creative control: those controls are shutter, f/stop, and EC (assuming auto-ISO).

If you're concerned about noise then you need to change shutter and/or f/stop because those are what determine noise, not ISO.

Joe