Questions about Auto ISO and Manual Exposure

[Butlerkid]

Lots of good advice here. I shoot manual with Auto ISO and fine tune exposure using exposure compensation.

BTW - Steve Perry had a great video on this explaining it fully...... Jus' saying......

 

[nikonkelly]

Yes. I recently discovered how auto ISO works (use it with manual mode). I never used auto ISO on my DSLR (D850 and D500), but recently moved to Z8 and started using it. It works great most of the time for wildlife, but I found out over the last month that trying to use exposure compensation does not work (since I am in manual mode). On my DSLR's I used aperture priority with exposure compensation when needed.

The problem with the Z8 is that you have to go into the menu to turn auto ISO on or off (which is annoying - why can't they just put it in the ISO dial: spin down to the lowest ISO and then spin again and the next setting is auto). If someone knows of a custom function that will activate exposure compensation with manual and auto ISO, then please tell us. If not, I may go back to using aperture priority because I like having quick access to exposure compensation.

Simply press the iso button and hold it on your z8 and turn the aperture dial one click and you are in auto iso… no menu to fool with!

 

[MrFotoFool]

Simply press the iso button and hold it on your z8 and turn the aperture dial one click and you are in auto iso… no menu to fool with!

Thanks to someone else's reply, I figured it out. I was turning the rear wheel while pressing ISO but I need to turn the front wheel to get it out of auto ISO.

 

[BLev65]

Lots of good advice here. I shoot manual with Auto ISO and fine tune exposure using exposure compensation.

BTW - Steve Perry had a great video on this explaining it fully...... Jus' saying......

Read Steve's approach in his Z9 set up guide. The latter and a recent podcast by Martin Bailey got me thinking about shifting back to manual exposure.
As I said, I shot in manual for most of my photography life... 1978 to 2017, and shifted to aperture priority when I went on a marine mammals trip with Brad Hill. I've used easy exposure compensation and auto iso to maintain manual control, but one needs to fiddle with dials quickly when birds leave the water or snow and then fly against a dark background.... same for the reverse... flying in against a forest and landing in the snow or on water.
My issue relates to using auto iso in these situations, as it could over-expose or under-expose (depending on the initial state and final state), thus requiring the same finger gymnastics.
My solution is to set exposure mode to Manual and dial in my ISO's in Bank1 and Bank2 for the specific situation I just discussed, I've set Bank 3 for Manual exposure and auto iso, and AE w/ auto ISO for Bank4.

bruce

 

[O]

I mostly use manual auto ISO, i can choose the FStop and SS, for managing the highlights or whites i use compensation adjustment.
Do what ever is fit for purpose, A/P is also very good, if SS is not critical.

Its all just a combination of using the appropriate combination of time light and speed and always has been, you have many options.

Only an opinion

 

[bleirer]

I guess the main thing about ISO that we've been skirting around is that it is an orphan. It is not part if exposure but it impacts exposure. And even though many cameras are iso invariant too much iso can still brighten the raw so much the brights are unrecoverable.

 

[O]

I guess the main thing about ISO that we've been skirting around is that it is an orphan. It is not part if exposure but it impacts exposure. And even though many cameras are iso invariant too much iso can still brighten the raw so much the brights are unrecoverable.

But that's where the Compensation EV comes in, i usually as a default on any camera use -0.7 ev, particularity if their are whites involved, i find it works a treat, a slight touch in processing and the highlights are preserved yet the shadow's can be lifted slightly.

I find different cameras older ones included all have different ISO capability, so some may need less EV or more.

The higher the iso the more dynamic range - colour is thrown out or lost.

I shoot JPEG fine 98% of the time and i usually crank the colour contrast etc as needed.

Cameras and lenses, there only tools dealing with time light and speed in a combination of ways, its been this way since the beginning of time, they just sell it to use over and over in different ways.

Only an opinion