Auto ISO---Who Uses It?

[iso79]

Manual all the way.

[bob williams]

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 [...], but unlike the other auto settings that show significant errors in camera, the auto ISO does not.

Are you sure that is a good reason to avoid using AutoISO?In the same way you let your aperture tighten down to f14 without noticing in AutoISO mode, wouldn't it be possible to let your ISO setting go to 3200 in manual ISO mode without noticing? To me, it seems like they're both the same type of mistake (changing the settings by accident), so I'm not sure it's a good reason to avoid using AutoISO.

Daniel, as usual, you are absolutely correct, and "no" it is not a good reason to stop using AISO---I was just venting when I first started this string. What bothers me most is my own "air-headedness" is that even a word? Anyway, I still think that AISO is very valuable in many situations---but it should be closely monitored, as with any auto setting. With me personally, If I am shooting full manual, then I am normally very cognizant of my settings, but when shooting auto anything I seem to forget about my settings and fail to monitor them. It's just another lesson learned the hard way. But......I will try again. Sometimes, I just need to know that I am not the only idiot that makes these kind of mistakes and often blow a potentially great shot.


Thanks for keeping it real Daniel- I have yet to be able to argue with your logic.


Bob

[PaulM]

One post back there left me wondering "have the camera check the histogram and shift just before taking the photo" (or words similar to that effect).


The in-camera meter is trying to meter something (depending on your meter setting) to mid-grey. How about instead something tailored for the capabilities /limitations of digital sensors that instead checks the brightest and darkest points and ensures they fit best in the dynamic range of the sensor with, to my understanding, a bias towards not blowing out the highlights if the dynamic range of the scene is too large for the sensor.


The correct "exposure" based on the colour, actual scene brightness or photographer's preferencecan be set in post processing but at least you know the camera fit the scene into its sensor's dynamic range without pixels climbing up the left or right of the histogram.


Or perhaps that is what that "highlight tone priority" on a 1D mk4 does, but I've not read-up on that....


By the way - I don't have auto-ISO, but that previous post got me wonderring.


Paul.