ISO settings

[seashoreCM]

Note that if the camera did not adjust the ISO then that shot would probably be blurry when the camera adjusted the shutter speed instead without telling you. Or the picture would be very dark because your chosen ISO, a reasonable speed to avoid blur, and the maxed out lens is not enough to take the picture with.

 

[Marlton Mom]

The ISO shift was driving me ~Insane~ with my Nikon D60! As someone who has shot with film for so many years, ISO variables are not something one thinks of when considering exposure variables like shutter and and aperture.

I was surprised when I checked the EXIF data of some of the pictures I was unhappy with and saw that the ISO was way up there.

I'm "down the shore" this weekend (Ocean City NJ) and I am shooting completely in manual with the ISO chained to 100. I'm bracketing my shots mostly by varying the shutter speed and I have noticed that the D60 tends to default to 1 (or two steps!!!) over exposed (IMHO) when the meter reads as correctly exposed.

It's gotten to the point where I am thinking of naming my D60 "Lindsay" because of the overexposure problem.

(I am so going to ditch this D60 and get a D90 ASAP!!!!)

In my case I am shooting mostly daytime outdoor shots so the 100 ISO is totally workable. Indoor shots like you are working with would probably require more variability with the ISO to preserve shutter speed. One trade off is that you can also open up the lens with a lower aperture.

This is a sticky wicket because you have to have enough experience to forecast what ISO would be appropriate for the lighting conditions and movement conditions you are shooting in. Then add the factor of the vibration reduction lenses that I'm thinking you have and, and, well there ya go.

Can you say Test Shots!!!!

So what I have learned is that when switching to digital photography we must now consider Shutter speed, Aperture and ISO when composing our shots in Auto mode or other ISO variable "modes" our cameras may use.

Those digital cameras are tricky huh?

My family wonders why it takes me twice as long to take a picture these days. I try to explain to them that I have to take the picture, check it and determine what the heck the camera is doing, fix it to the way that I like it and then yell at them for looking crabby in the adjusted picture.

Add to the fact that I can't see dingus because of my 47 year old, bifocal wearing eyeballs and it's no wonder I'm specializing in landscape photography these days!

Best of luck Rob! Keep shooting and working that D5000.
When you get the chance post what you've got.

When I get back I'll run through my shore shots and post the keepers.

~ Joanie

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

I thought all cameras handled that the same as Pentax, I guess not. The Kx has 2 simple ISO options in Any mode even A mode. You can set it to Auto with or set it yourself, in the Auto ISO mode you can adjust what your Maximum ISO will be, like between 100-800 or up to 12800. Just the push of 1 button will make the switch.

It seems so simple once you think about it.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Everything worked out great tonight I played the system and turned out with some pretty good pictures. So far I just checked them on Picasa in RAW format but tomorrow I'll run them through Elements. I'm starting to feel like I almost know what I'm doing. We scoped out the seats right away and scored exactly what I was looking for. I've seen a few pictures from the pocket camera's in the audience, and I'm sure I'll be happy with what comes out of the post processing.

Also with the angle I was at I was able to get most, if not all, of my wife's class getting their diploma and shaking hands on at a time I feel like a little kid when it all starts to come together

Thanks guys, for everything. If it weren't for your help, I would have kept the highest Auto ISO setting at 6400 instead of switching it to 1600 for less noise. I'll post a few when I get them all finished up.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Joanie, we were just in Ocean City last week. If you get a chance, the crabbing is really good right now over there!

 

[seashoreCM]

Overexposure when taking pictures at the beach?

Double check to see if this is consistent versus erratic.

Also double check the metering, whether it is "overall average" or "center spot" or something in between. You will need to do some experimenting but at least if it is consistent, you can correct for it easily. Use the "exposure compensation" if you don't have or don't use full manual settings. Exposure compensation is an across the board lightening (plus) or darkening (minus) applied after (overriding) the automatic exposure that was computed from the scene/subject lighting.

Little idiosyncrasy: At small apertures and high shutter speeds, the exposure is actually greater than you would expect if the shutter (many non-SLR cameras) has blades that open from the center outwards and then close from the outside in. The "middle" of the opening is open for a longer time.

Small aperture and high shutter speed is common for snow or beach scenes.

Digital camera hints: http://www.cockam.com/digicam.htm

 

[dmccarty]

The Auto ISO feature is very nice. Just takes some getting used too. There is also a setting for the minimum shutter speed as well. Since I shoot in Aperture Mode the computer, hmm, camera adjusts the ISO to get the minimum shutter speed based on the aperture. Very nice.

I set the Auto ISO to some high number. I was just shooting at a school play so I set it to 3200 as the maximum. The minimum ISO is set with the camera's external controls. If I am shooting a soccer game in full sun I lower the minimum ISO to 200 and I will also lower the maximum ISO to 1200-1600. Some maximum that keeps the shutter speed up while allowing me to use the aperture I want.

These computer cameras are very flexible. Ye just have to figure out all of the danged controls.

Later,
Dan