Rongnongno Loc: FL

I use ISO in manual most of the time (if not always). The camera is always on full manual so I can only blame myself for the garbage that comes out of it.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

What he said :thumbup:

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Ha! Me too. ;)

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Swampy, I use auto ISO where my speed is critical, but my DOF is less important, and the light conditions are changing quickly. Sometimes it's for sports in low light, or for dance shows or night clubs etc.
My camera ALWAYS gives me the lowest ISO possible. Only after my aperture is wide open, will it start to ramp up my ISO.
In my experience, my camera, a Canon 5Dll, has NEVER been,"all over the place".
Admittedly, I've never used it for nature or landscape or portraits. When those need high ISO, its time to stop shooting and go home, as ANY amount of noise would render those useless(in my opinion). ;-)
SS

architect Loc: Chattanooga

Of course I am competent enough to select the appropriate ISO. Your example is strange though. When you select auto ISO, you also select a minimum shutter speed. You must have had a fast minimum shutter speed selected without knowing it. Auto ISO is a very useful tool once one learns how to use it. And as sensors have less and less noise at high ISOs, it will even more valuable.

amehta Loc: Boston

The camera is smarter than me at somethings, I'm smarter than it at others.

I have not used auto ISO (yet). I, like most former film shooters, am used to picking my ISO, because it's part of picking the film I would load in the camera. As Swamp Gator said, it's the first thing I decide when starting the set. I know the general amount of light, and how important high shutter speeds will be, so that's enough to set the ISO. It's also really easy to adjust it if I'm not getting the aperture/shutter speed values I want.

From some discussions here, I have learned that I can set the auto ISO range to be very small, down to 1-2 stops. I will probably try that next time I'm shooting indoor volleyball, with a ISO 800-3200 range. But I'm not sure if that's quite the "auto ISO" mode you are referring to, it's really more of a "flex-manual" mode.

I know the D800 does pretty well at high ISO, MT Shooter and kymarto have current topics with examples. But I still don't like going over ISO 800 if I can avoid it, and I'll stay at ISO 100-200 as much as possible. I will also put the camera on a monopod if the shutter speed will get in the 1/15 - 1/60 range, and the camera would likely increase the ISO to pick a faster shutter speed. I'm almost always using aperture priority, but if I used program, I don't think the camera would select f/1.4 - f/2.8 very often, but I am happy to use those apertures for many situations.

MW

Sometimes. My D5100 lets me constrain the range of auto-iso so makes sure results are not unreasonable. For example with PP noise reduction I can set the max iso to 1200 and know noise will not be a problem. At the same time I can specify the slowest permissible shutter speed so I can stay within the 1/(focal length) rule.

In the D5100, manual mode plus auto ISO is no longer really manual but an AE mode where only ISO changes. If you go back to film days this is very weird and alien feeling but can be very useful in some circumstances.

chiya Loc: Wellsboro, Pa.

Bryan Peterson, I just got his book Understanding Exposure and am 3/4 of the way through it and have only had to resort to asking a question about something in it one time, so I highly recommend it,

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I never use auto ISO. I just keep an eye on aperture, shutter speed and ISO to make sure I am getting the best combination for the shot. Been doing it this way for 48 years, no reason to change now.

Jiminyclicket

I can walk into a area I'm going to shoot at and mentally select ISO, F stop and shutter speed and usually be within a half F stop of the picture I want. If you shoot a scene often enough you can usually manually select all of your exposure settings in your head. That is what I did in the 1950s until now. I like to look at a scene guess my exposure setting and then shoot in full auto just to see how the camera interprets the scene. The camera doesn't know what I want, ie stop the action, maximum or minimun depth of field etc.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

I use both auto and manual - depends on what I want to accomplish. At times I'll shoot a scene in one mode then change over and do the same scene at the other setting.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

quote=Nightsky] My current camera (D800) does not have an 'auto' setting for ISO, You have to choose it just like in the days of film.
I also have a D800 - it does have automatic ISO - see the Shooting menu, ISO Sensitivity Settings

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I generally leave it on 100 unless I have to raise it.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

that's the way I work, mostly out of habit, and still stuck in my old film ways.

Tried it once, forgot it was set, and couldn't figure out why my hand held light meter kept giving me bad readings. Wasn't the meter, it was that my camera kept changing ISO. Too confusing for me.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Exactly! I don't like ISO jumping around. "Fool me once, shame on me..."