# Auto ISO



## mw (May 29, 2013)

Just curious if many of you use auto iso out there? 

I've been mainly set it manually on the 5D3, but read through a few articles and the authors recommended auto iso.

If you use it, how do you like the result?


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## bdunbar79 (May 29, 2013)

A big problem with auto ISO is that the camera is exposing "everything 18% gray mode" as I've come up with my own patented phrase. So when I'm shooting soccer, and the Ashland U team irritates me by wearing white jerseys on their day games, exposing 0EV with CWA will make the jerseys look gray, like the camera is supposed to do. Likewise, you'll get an overexposure with black jerseys at 0EV and CWA. 

So I cheated. I first bought a 1Dx so I could do this. Then I just shot in Tv mode with a custom function, auto ISO and +1 EV. or -1EV, or whatever, using CWA. I think I set Tv mode to 1/3200s, max aperture f/2.8, min aperture f/3.2, auto ISO, +2/3 EV on white jersey day, and used CWA. So I actually did use auto ISO, I just also exposed to the right.


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## wickidwombat (May 29, 2013)

bdunbar79 said:


> A big problem with auto ISO is that the camera is exposing "everything 18% gray mode" as I've come up with my own patented phrase. So when I'm shooting soccer, and the Ashland U team irritates me by wearing white jerseys on their day games, exposing 0EV with CWA will make the jerseys look gray, like the camera is supposed to do. Likewise, you'll get an overexposure with black jerseys at 0EV and CWA.
> 
> So I cheated. I first bought a 1Dx so I could do this. Then I just shot in Tv mode with a custom function, auto ISO and +1 EV. or -1EV, or whatever, using CWA. I think I set Tv mode to 1/3200s, max aperture f/2.8, min aperture f/3.2, auto ISO, +2/3 EV on white jersey day, and used CWA. So I actually did use auto ISO, I just also exposed to the right.



Unfortunately I think the 1Dx is the only canon camera that makes auto iso work properly none of the others do and as such i dont use it


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## Harry Muff (May 29, 2013)

I use it all the time on my 5D2. I just set the camera to shutter priority and whatever minimum speed I need for the lens I'm using. If I need any more control, I just adjust exposure compensation to suit.


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## J.R. (May 29, 2013)

Rarely. I shoot manual 99% of the time and Auto ISO + M is usually a fail.


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## funkboy (May 29, 2013)

I'm in auto ISO and Av most of the time on my 6D. I generally try to ETTR and check histograms regularly. I've also got the Auto ISO "minium shutter speed" menu in my quick menu as I fiddle with it fairly often, esp. in low light.

The camera needs a way to change that from a physical control on the back (just like you can scroll through WB, etc).


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## Dylan777 (May 29, 2013)

Auto ISO @ all times. Still, I would keep an eye on it and try to stay below ISO6400.


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## vargyropoulos (May 29, 2013)

Shooting wildlife on my 7D, I've been using manual shutter and aperture settings with auto ISO (limited to max 1600). this works fine for cloudy days but on sunny days I find that it over exposes the image (colors are washed out, too bright for my taste). I've taken what I learned from the "camera's mentality" and lately I've been trying to shoot in Av mode and adjusting exposure compensation as I see fit


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## pierceography (May 29, 2013)

I'm with Dylan777. I'm almost always on Auto ISO, but I have it limited to 12,800 and will try to keep it below 6400. If I do happen to go above 6400, I'll consider rendering the photo in black and white so the grain will look more natural.

I used to almost always set the ISO myself, but that was back when I was shooting mostly architecture and landscape. Now that I go for more "candid" shots of my family, I need to be faster. So 95% of the time I'm in Av with Auto ISO. I can't really complain about the results. Any strange colors or exposure I can almost always correct in PP. But, of course, if I want to have full control I'll go manual. However that's usually limited to architecture/landscape or "studio" style work.


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## awinphoto (May 29, 2013)

For everyday shooting (kids, pets, life, etc) I have the ISO on auto... It's important to understand auto ISO but more important to know the rules of auto ISO and Exposure compensation, as the camera will innately try to make everything 18% gray. Not all scenes are 18% gray, so adding some compensation or taking it away as needed when applicable and knowing when you need it is just as important. When I'm shooting clients in studio I always set my ISO at 100 and I let my strobes control the exposure. Likewise if im in the same area for any length of time, if the situation isn't changing, your exposure shouldn't be changing (for similar shots), so at that time I set everything manual and set things to taste.


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## M.ST (May 29, 2013)

I don´t use Auto-ISO and I don´t like the results.

Funny that the camera (with Auto-ISO on) dial ISO 5.000 in, if I use the 70-200 2.8 II IS lens in Av mode with an aperture of 2.8 at 200 mm in an bright indoor scene.


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## chauncey (May 29, 2013)

I just discussed auto ISO with customer service as I'm considering a new 5D3 to replace my current Ds3 for better ISO performance...
I generally use manual mode in LV, with all-color histogram, to adjust exposure as I'm an avid ETTR enthusiast.

Anyway...they told me that the Auto ISO function is dependent upon the specific metering mode that you have selected, true/false?


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## dexstrose (May 29, 2013)

I'm usually in manual. I wasn't sure if I can trust the camera to expose right. 

Over the weekend I tried auto iOS All day and was surprised it worked well on my 6d. Even with sun backlit images it didn't underexposed. 

I'm going to keep this on my C1 mode with AV for times I just want to shoot fast and not think about settings.


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## bchernicoff (May 29, 2013)

90% of the time I shoot my Mk III in Aperture Priority and Auto ISO (max 6400). I review the histograms and rarely have to make adjustments. Like someone else said, white shirts really throw off the AE though.


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## Skirball (May 29, 2013)

bdunbar79 said:


> A big problem with auto ISO is that the camera is exposing "everything 18% gray mode" as I've come up with my own patented phrase.



+1 If there was an exposure control for the auto ISO it'd be a very handy tool with M. But as I don't have a 1DX to do this workaround, I never really use it.


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## bchernicoff (May 29, 2013)

Skirball said:


> bdunbar79 said:
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> 
> > A big problem with auto ISO is that the camera is exposing "everything 18% gray mode" as I've come up with my own patented phrase.
> ...



Exposure compensation works fine with Auto ISO as long as you aren't in Manual.


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## Skirball (May 29, 2013)

bchernicoff said:


> Skirball said:
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> > bdunbar79 said:
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Yes, I recognize that, but that's not what is discussed above. Auto ISO, in Av, with eTTL... At that point you might as well use the green square. There are times that I want to use a specific aperture and shutter speeds; having an auto-ISO to fine tune changes in the scenes exposure would be handy, but without exposure compensation it's worthless to me unless I want gray photos.


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## bdunbar79 (May 29, 2013)

bchernicoff said:


> Skirball said:
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> > bdunbar79 said:
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You MISSED the point. The point is, with a 1D-series body (1Dx/1D4) you can shoot in M with auto ISO and do EC if you know the custom function workaround. Skirball is saying he can't do that, so he doesn't use auto ISO because he wants to/needs to shoot in full manual mode, not Av, not Tv, but M. 

I don't prefer either. I actually almost always shoot in M mode and have scrapped the custom function b/c it gets complicated when you want to keep narrowing or widening aperture.


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## bchernicoff (May 29, 2013)

Skirball said:


> bchernicoff said:
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> > Skirball said:
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Yes, sorry I missed that you said "with M". My mistake. 

I have used Auto ISO in Manual with decent results. It was a pro motocross race and I needed to control DOF, shutter speed, but still have the flexibility to follow a rider as he passed from the shade of trees to open track. The open track shots came out perfect and the shaded ones were close enough to fix in post. If I had the ability to also use EC, I would still have to choose which I wanted to look better...the shots in shade or the shots in open track.


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## Skirball (May 29, 2013)

bchernicoff said:


> Skirball said:
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> > bchernicoff said:
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Absolutely. You can certainly get good results with it; but it's just if your scene happens to expose well at 18%. If you don't have a lot of whites or darks to manage it could do well. But if you're looking for moody, you're going to get moody with the results. It's a shame, because I'm sure it'd be easy to do, and I think it could be a very useful shooting mode.


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## Viggo (May 29, 2013)

My 1d X is 95% set to auto-iso and I have the "Shutter speed limit" on My Menu, choosing, in Av, which shutter speed I won't go below. I found it to produce very good consistent results for me. Shutter usually MUCH more important than noise to me. Outdoor in daylight I Limit my shutter to 1/2000s-1/8000s and auto iso, and EC is dialed in with the rear wheel independently.


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## rpt (May 29, 2013)

M with auto ISO. And now after reading all the explanations I realise why I need to do a lot of post processing...

May. Be I should go back to my AE-1 days of Tv...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (May 29, 2013)

I use it when I'm shooting TV, but it can mess things up. When I'm taking a lot of shots in a theater where spot lights and lighting in general rapidly changes, one shot might be ISO 1000 and the next 25600. Setting it manually is not practical. This means I have to use exposure compensation and recognize the types of scenes that need more or less.
If manual mode on my 5D MK III had exposure compensation, I'd use that.


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## J.R. (May 29, 2013)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> If manual mode on my 5D MK III had exposure compensation, I'd use that.



My thoughts exactly ... +1


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## TexPhoto (May 29, 2013)

I use it sometimes. You can even use it shooting in Manual. (At which point it's not really manual, but hey...)

I use it when shooting night sports and trying to keep the apature open full, and the shutter speed set to 250/500. Works with flash too.


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## J.R. (May 29, 2013)

rpt said:


> M with auto ISO. And now after reading all the explanations I realise why I need to do a lot of post processing...
> 
> May. Be I should go back to my AE-1 days of Tv...



Maybe you should get the 1DX


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## rpt (May 30, 2013)

J.R. said:


> rpt said:
> 
> 
> > M with auto ISO. And now after reading all the explanations I realise why I need to do a lot of post processing...
> ...


 
I guess one can dream!


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## mw (May 30, 2013)

Thank you all. Seems like there are more people using auto iso than I thought. Will test it out over the weekend and see how it goes.

Maybe this is off topic, for those who like to shoot video, would you use auto iso when doing video as well?


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## bdunbar79 (May 30, 2013)

mw said:


> Thank you all. Seems like there are more people using auto iso than I thought. Will test it out over the weekend and see how it goes.
> 
> Maybe this is off topic, for those who like to shoot video, would you use auto iso when doing video as well?



Without exposure compensation, it'll do just what it's supposed to do: 18% gray mode.


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## funkboy (May 30, 2013)

Skirball said:


> Auto ISO, in Av, with eTTL... At that point you might as well use the green square.



Av generally Does Not Do What You Want when using speedlights. Make sure you have read & undersand this:
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index2.html#flashmodes

I haven't used the 6D with flashes much yet, but when I was shooting lots of flash stuff with the 40D, the way I preferred to work in low light with flash was:


shoot in M mode
set ISO as high as tolerable (maybe 1000 or so)
user a wide-aperture lens & set shutter speed as low as tolerable (can be 1/30th for easy stuff with an IS lens, but more like 1/100 for dancing etc.
aperture one click off of wide-open
[*]set flash up for bounce off ceiling or 45° diffusion with a softbox, and use a color filter on it to get it close to the color of ambient light. Leave flash in auto e-ttl2.
[/list]

In M mode the flash becomes your 4th exposure parameter after ISO, aperture, & shutter, and it's automatic. Adjust flash exposure compensation to get ETTR where you want it.

This method augments the ambient light with the flash & gets very natural looking shots (if you get it right, many non-photographer people don't realize that they're flash photos). If you've got a decent amount of ambient light it also keeps the flash power down so that your batteries last longer & your speedlight recycles faster.

On the 6D I'd probably set the ISO to 6400 and be a little more conservative with the shutter speed, but so far I haven't needed flash as long as I stick to fast primes.

BTW I've got a little 270EXII that lives in the bag now, which compensates nicely for the lack of built-in on the 6D. I leave lithium batteries in it as they're as light as you can get & they don't fade.


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