Auto ISO---Who Uses It?

[bob williams]

One of the features that I really looked forward to when I bought my 7D was the Auto-ISO. Well, I used it for the first time yesterday to shoot over a thousand pics---and lets just say I am not impressed. I normally shoot manual so I am frequently checking my meter and histogram --no problems, except those I make. But yesterday I was shooting in a lot of different and changing lighting conditions and decided to give Auto-ISO a try. When in the field, evrything looks pretty good, histogram is balanced and shots look ok on the viewer. But when I got home and downloaded all of my shots I was dissapointed to find out that when enlarged to full screen the noise was not tolerable, it seems that I let my aperture tighten down to f14, didn't notice it and the resulting ISO was 3200---way beyond my satisfaction level. Most of my shots looked ok in an average loupe view, but when cropped, or placed in full screen---no good. Now I know most of this was my fault because I was'nt checking settings frequently, but unlike the other auto settings that show significant errors in camera, the auto ISO does not. I still think it is a great feature for the right situation, but use it wisely.


I am curious what others think about Auto-ISO?---Someone mentioned in another string that you should be able to limit the AUTO-ISO---I agree. Maybe we can get canon to inlcude that on thier next firmware update [:P]


Here is one I had high hopes for, but the noise is just too much---even after heavy post processing.


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[Firestarter]

In my opinion, the auto ISO feature, as it is implemented today, is a great crutch for those situations when we have to shoot in extreme hurry and with widely differing lighting conditions, when we have no control over constantly changing circumstances and no time to play with camera

[Sean Setters]

I

[Carlos Lindado]

I never use Auto ISO. The greatest level of automation I use when shooting (Canon XSi) is putting the camera in Av mode and letting the camera choose the shutter speed.

[tkerr]

I never use Auto ISO. The greatest level of automation I use when shooting (Canon XSi) is putting the camera in Av mode and letting the camera choose the shutter speed.
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Ditto,
I am getting to where I prefer to shoot everything in full manual mode, even shooting Birds In Flight. Once you get used to keeping one finger on the shutter button and a thumb on the dial to make exposure adjustments. Set the ISO and Aperture and then you can easily make exposure adjustments on the fly.





Bob, I see the noise your talking about in your picture, some of it looks like a side effect from sharpening. Did you do any sharpening to that picture in PP, or how is the Picture Style set up in camera?


On my monitor the white balance looks off. looks blue(cold)!


Otherwise the focus and DOF look great.

[andnowimbroke]

Someone mentioned in another string that you should be able to limit the AUTO-ISO-

I think they were talking about the 60D as having it. Surely they can fix that with the update. Hate to have the 60D with more features than the upper class one.


I've used the auto-thing and got lazy with it.Picking up the ISO setting after the fact when I was in a rush sucked. Don't get me wrong, it's waaay better than the AutoISO on the 40D. It started at 400 and jumped to 800 pretty easy. Never used it after it did that trick. I think the Nikon cameras had it a long time ago and it worked better. Not for sure though. I do wish I had a button or lever rather than pushing one of the small dots on top (hard to find with gloves) and then adjusting the wheel and then finding the dot again...


I'm surpised the noise wasn't easier to remove on your picture. I do some sharpening with a huge mask (keeps the background left alone)and then do my noise removal. On pictures similar to yours, it comes out okay for an 8x10. Which programs are you using again for PP?

[neuroanatomist]

Someone mentioned in another string that you should be able to limit the AUTO-ISO-

I think they were talking about the 60D as having it. Surely they can fix that with the update. Hate to have the 60D with more features than the upper class one.

Yes, there is a new feature that allows the user to specify a max value that Auto ISO will use. The 60D has it. The Rebel T2i/550D has it. Even my PowerShot S95 has it! I sure wish my 7D had it...


Personally, I do use Auto ISO sometimes, especially for rapidly changing lighting in run-and-gun situations. It's great that the 7D finally has a functional Auto ISO in M mode, but I really don't like ISO 3200, and the 7D will frequently end up there, especially indoors with ambient light. The Auto ISO on the 5DII also goes up to 3200, but there at least the noise is acceptable.


Bob - one thing you might want to try is a different RAW converter. I'm playing with DxO right now, and I find that it does much better with ISO noise than DPP (forthcoming post on that later today).


--John

[bob williams]

Bob - one thing you might want to try is a different RAW converter. I'm playing with DxO right now, and I find that it does much better with ISO noise than DPP (forthcoming post on that later today).

Hmm, Good Idea, I have seen some of you guys talk about it, but have never tried it my self. I'll check and see if they have a trial version.


Thanks,


Bob

[neuroanatomist]

I'll check and see if they have a trial version.

They do, that's what I'm using for now. Plus, it's on sale through 12/25 - the standard version is $99, and the elite version is $199 (same features, but you need the elite for the 5DII and 1-series bodies).

[neuroanatomist]

Even my PowerShot S95 has [a user-selectable max auto ISO]...

Forgot to add that the S95 also has a setting that controls the rate of ISO progression (slow, normal, fast), so not only can you set a cap, you can also control how quickly it rises. So with it set to slow, the camera will slow down the shutter in Av or open up the aperture in Tv preferentially over raising the ISO. Not sure if the T2i or 60D have that feature in addition to the cap.