Auto ISO? What's your cap?

Do you use auto ISO? I've just started using this over the past few months and I like it most of the time. Of course it will depends on the application, venue, client, etc. But in general, what's your cap? And camera?

Mine is ISO 3200 on a 5D4.

I usually use it for outdoor, night, sports photography on a 1DX. I go up to ISO 25,600.

I set the MAX ISO on my 6D to 25,600. The MAX ISO on my 80D is 16,000. I find both cameras useful there. That said, I rarely shoot at those levels. The 6D usually doesn't go any higher than 6400, and it is quite good there. JPG good. The 80D hasn't ever been used higher than 3200, except for testing. It is my daytime athletics/action camera. The 80D is quite excellent at 3200.

Ascenta wrote in post #18395493
Do you use auto ISO? I've just started using this over the past few months and I like it most of the time. Of course it will depends on the application, venue, client, etc. But in general, what's your cap? And camera?

Mine is ISO 3200 on a 5D4.

I used ISO 3200 on the 1D3 often enough, the 5D4 is lightyears better,. you must have lots of light to use this feature on that camera and cap it so low?

I'm shooting a 50D, on which the AutoISO mode is pretty pointless, since you can't use it to set a shutter speed and aperture value and have the ISO float, while retaining EC. Having EC available is pretty important, since I have never had any issues with using any of my DSLRs at the maximum non-expanded ISO value. The important thing with ISO is that you still need to maximise exposure for best results. Back when I was shooting a 300D I would happily shoot Expose To The Right, or a variation of it, at ISO 1600 and be happy with the results, compared to shooting at ISO 100 and underexposing by a stop or so, necessitating boosting the Exposure and shadows in post.

Personally I see no point in using AutoISO in an exposure mode situation where the camera is controlling more than one corner of the exposure triangle. This is because you can never be very sure about what choices the camera is going to take to balance the exposure. Having safety shift enabled is useful though, as it can allow you to not have to worry about running out of adjustments on controls and getting under/overexposure, at least in certain circumstance. Being able to control the points that safety shift cuts in at is even better of course.

Alan

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18395666
I used ISO 3200 on the 1D3 often enough, the 5D4 is lightyears better,. you must have lots of light to use this feature on that camera and cap it so low?

I think I tend to limit myself too much and end up with fewer keepers. I'll bump it up and see how I like it.

I don't know about the 5D4, but all my other cameras have required good exposure, and some degree of processing talent, when using high(er) ISO settings. Raw and ETTR are almost essential.

sometimes we get used to what we had and dont take advantage of what we have..

I've done it

I usually set a limit to one stop below max non-Hx ISO levels. The expanded levels are just purely mathematically enhanced results anyways.

rantercsr wrote in post #18395769
sometimes we get used to what we had and dont take advantage of what we have..

I've done it

Between shooting my 1D3 and the 5D3 I had a pretty long break in any serious time photography (marriage, adoption, buying a home, new job etc.)

So when I got that 5D3 I was still eeking by with the lowest shutter speeds I could manage, and lowest ISOs just as I had done with the early digitals. It was a truly shocking thing to realize I could shoot 1/500-1/1000 in a dark setting due to the lower noise as opposed to always shooting around 1/250 or lower and timing. Took me a while to get used to this new world.

Now with the 5D4, I'm like "pfft, ISO 3million? sure thing"

Ascenta wrote in post #18395493
Do you use auto ISO? I've just started using this over the past few months and I like it most of the time. Of course it will depends on the application, venue, client, etc. But in general, what's your cap? And camera?

Mine is ISO 3200 on a 5D4.

I'll shoot at up to ISO 12800 by choice with a 5D3, although I will prefer to stay at ISO 3200 and lower as I start to use a heavy handed NR above that.

I don't impose a hard limit on things like ISO because I don't want the camera to take exposure decisions out of my hands. What I mean is this:

My normal shooting method for 90%+ of what I do is to shoot in M mode and select the exposure myself. I find most situations have very consistent light levels and this approach gives me the least post-process work.

In the remaining <10% of situations where light is variable, I still use M mode and I enable auto ISO, creating what I think of as shutter and aperture priority mode. I don't place a limit on ISO, because if I do and the lighting demands more than that limit to achieve a correct exposure, then the camera will have no choice but to under-expose the shot. I'd rather have ISO 12800 exposed correctly than ISO 3200 underexposed by two stops.

I have 6400 set on a 7D2. This can get noisy, but underexposing at a lower ISO would probably be worse.

My 70D manages ISO 3200 easily. The attached picture was pulled from FB so is noisier than the original Jpeg. I will go up to 35 on NR in Lightroom .

I don't use auto ISO because ISO is such an important decision and I don't want the camera to be making a decision of that magnitude - I want to make that decision myself.

When I shoot with my 1D4 I limit my ISO to 1600 or less. If I go any higher, I end up being able to see some fine grain in the out-of-focus parts of the image......and that is not ok with me.

With my 50D my limit was/is 400 ISO, and with my 5Dc my limit was/is 800 ISO.

Every now and then with the 50D I would try to shoot at 800 ISO, but I would ramp the exposure way way up to where it was as high as I could go without blowing highlights. . And even doing that I would still be able to see some grain.

If I used auto ISO I would cap the limits to the numbers I stated above - the same limits that I use when shooting without auto ISO.

.

I shoot manual mode but auto ISO pretty much all the time for general shots. I've left it on the default setting of 12800 Max.
If I'm doing long exposure landscapes then of course I control the ISO.