Using ISO on a digital camera

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Fred99

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#1448551 11-Dec-2015 09:16

joker97:
andrew027: Thanks for all the replies - some useful stuff there from everyone, especially @Item, @Fred99 and @joker97. And @timmmay I am familiar with the exposure triangle. I wasn't really thinking about locking the ISO at a set value, rather whether I need to set it myself or if I can worry about aperture and shutter speed and let the camera choose the ISO.

As an FYI, I don't have the camera yet - I couldn't resist giving myself an early birthday present of a Sony a6000 for $599 in Dick Smith's fire sale, which should arrive today - but I've read some articles about the camera where people have posted their preferred settings for the multitude of menu options. Most of them are using auto ISO, with many saying to set a minimum and maximum value. Once I actually have the camera in my hands I'll probably take hundreds of boring shots of a sculpture in my back garden and trying to capture the tui and kereru that swoop over my house, using different combinations of aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings to get a feel for the results and how that particular camera performs. Right now though, I'm looking to see what other people are doing, and understanding why. And people are doing different things, which I expected.

Leave it to do its thing is my default. That means leaving the computer to expose your photo.

If you set the shutter speed and the aperture, that's the only time you want to even think of setting the iso.

"P" on the PASM mode selector dial stands for "professional mode", according to Ken Rockwell.
I guess unless you have a need for shot to shot consistency, then program or scene modes are okay.
But if you do that most of the time, then you don't get familiar with using shutter or aperture or ISO adjustments, so you're in a catch 22 as if it's not instinctive / muscle memory you have to think about what you're doing - which is too much hassle, and if you don't then it'll never become "automatic" to you.
As @timmmay says above - he never uses the camera menu etc. Helps having a larger form-factor FX body which actually does have the controls you need, and in the right places, but a nuisance if you want to fit your camera and other assorted paraphernalia in a carry on bag. Everything is a compromise.

Batman

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#1448672 11-Dec-2015 12:13

Haha the pro Nikon body have a button each for just about any setting under the sun! The Canon ones have dials ... Of course no need to use Menu

Item

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#1448775 11-Dec-2015 15:03

joker97: Haha the pro Nikon body have a button each for just about any setting under the sun! The Canon ones have dials ... Of course no need to use Menu

It was one of the reasons I went for the Fuji X-T1 - I love the fact that it has:

1) Proper Aperture ring on most the XF lenses
2) Dial for shutter speed
3) Dial for ISO
4) Dial for exposure compensation
4) dial/Selectors for metering, drive type etc, etc.

Combined with the back/shortcut buttons and the fact you can re-program almost any function to any of the body buttons it means you can do pretty much anything important on the fly without ever delving into the menus.

andrew027

1286 posts

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#1448813 11-Dec-2015 15:59

That would be my one complaint about Sony (not just cameras - pretty much everything) - I love the hardware but the software/UI is almost always terrible. They really need to invest in that area and get someone in who knows what they're doing.

Fred99

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#1448846 11-Dec-2015 18:48

I don't know why you'd want an aperture ring on a lens, unless your "muscle memory" was trained decades ago. A single finger movement on a thumb-wheel without changing hand position on the grip is much simpler, faster, more precise.

RileyB

247 posts

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#1461226 4-Jan-2016 22:03

Noise caused by ISO is so good in cameras these days, I normally use Manual or "M" with Auto ISO. I set the Shutter speed and Aperture I want, and the camera uses the ISO to change the exposure. All I do is occasionally check on the ISO, and if it starts getting higher then I would like, decide if I want to comprimise the Shutter and aperture I want, to reduce the ISO. Most full frame cameras these days can shoot ISO6400+ without to much worry.

Word of caution on using ISO 50, most cameras native ISO is ISO100, and to achieve ISO 50 they half the signal, meaning you clip the highlights of the image, and reduce the dynamic range. If at all possible, good quality ND filters are probably a better option.

RileyB

247 posts

Master Geek

#1461227 4-Jan-2016 22:08

Fred99:
"P" on the PASM mode selector dial stands for "professional mode", according to Ken Rockwell.
I guess unless you have a need for shot to shot consistency, then program or scene modes are okay.
But if you do that most of the time, then you don't get familiar with using shutter or aperture or ISO adjustments, so you're in a catch 22 as if it's not instinctive / muscle memory you have to think about what you're doing - which is too much hassle, and if you don't then it'll never become "automatic" to you.
As @timmmay says above - he never uses the camera menu etc. Helps having a larger form-factor FX body which actually does have the controls you need, and in the right places, but a nuisance if you want to fit your camera and other assorted paraphernalia in a carry on bag. Everything is a compromise.

"P" is essentially a slightly less automatic "auto", it still controls the shutter/aperture and sometimes ISO, but starts giving you control over certain things. It might be different brand to brand, but normally things like flash and ISO can start to be controlled rather then auto. Some cameras only let you use JPEG in full auto, so using "P" lets you continue being in "auto" but starting using RAW, and moving focus points around etc.

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gzt

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#1461252 4-Jan-2016 23:31

Keeping the ISO as low as possible gets more colour information into the shot. This is what I found by experience with my now ancient nikon DSLR so it may not apply to later equipment. Landscape photography.

timmmay

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#1461273 5-Jan-2016 07:29

gzt: Keeping the ISO as low as possible gets more colour information into the shot. This is what I found by experience with my now ancient nikon DSLR so it may not apply to later equipment. Landscape photography.

This is far less important for new cameras, but still you should try to use the lowest ISO that will do the job. I very rarely use 100, only when my subject is in direct subject, which I try to avoid as it looks pretty bad generally. Indoors with flash I'm at 400 to 1600, depending on a few things like light balancing and flash use.

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