40D - Theater - I miss Nikon.

I photographed a HS musical last night. For the first time since going from the Nikon D40 to the 40D, I miss my Nikon.

Don't get me wrong, the Canon is better in many ways. It focuses faster, has more control buttons & dials, RGB histogram, and the equivalent lenses are less costly, but there is one area where the Nikon just kicks butt.

Auto ISO.

Last night I really wanted the auto ISO function to pick an ISO between 800 and 1600 as needed to keep my shutter speed at or above 1/125. Many scenes were bright enough to comfortably shoot at ISO 800, some were dark enough to make ISO 1600 not quite enough. Fiddling with the ISO setting was a distraction but I didn't want to have the noise of ISO 1600 when it wasn't needed.

Yea, for the first time, I missed the Nikon. That will all change as soon as basketball season starts.

- Keith -

n1as wrote in post #4269936
I didn't want to have the noise of ISO 1600 when it wasn't needed.

Your Nikon would have had the Canon's ISO1600 noise at ISO800. Expose properly and you have nothing to worry about. Auto ISO is the last feature I'd buy a camera specifically to have. In fact it's not even on the radar as being important.

n1as wrote in post #4269936
...

Yea, for the first time, I missed the Nikon.

- Keith - ...

You get your dome split for making a statement like that around here ...

Kidding ...

I’m not so sure, you have Av and Tv, why not a Iv? It’s the three factors that set exposure. The ability to lock down any two and let the third float just seems to make sense to me.

gjl711 wrote in post #4269993
I’m not so sure, you have Av and Tv, why not a Iv? It’s the three factors that set exposure. The ability to lock down any two and let the third float just seems to make sense to me.

Yeah it's cute and could be helpful, but it's not something to switch brands for.

In OP's situation, ISO1600 is clean enough that I'd leave it there...there's no harm in using a shutter speed that's 2x as fast as "barely enough"

I just realized I sounded like a fanboy...

It's also not hard at all to switch ISO on the fly.

gjl711 wrote in post #4269993
I’m not so sure, you have Av and Tv, why not a Iv? It’s the three factors that set exposure. The ability to lock down any two and let the third float just seems to make sense to me.

I read a review of the new Nikon D3 and the photographer doing the review raved about the auto ISO as he was shooting a football game with varying light from shadow to bright sun and just set his shutter / aperature and let the ISO drift. His claim was that the ISO range on the D3 had so little effect on image quality that drifting 3 or 4 stops of ISO could not be noticed in the images. I think this would be a very usefull feature...Canon you listening?

pixel_junkie wrote in post #4269978
You get your dome split for making a statement like that around here ...
Kidding ...

If it were true, I'd just have to take my dome and go home

- Keith -

I did a HS musical and just set it on ISO 1600 and forgot it. The pictures are phenominal. The good thing about Canon is that you CAN use ISO 1600.

kelleykaptures.smugmug​.com

Gee, I have an old out-of-date 30D where the ISO is on the top LCD, and I have to press a button to change the ISO. But frankly I can change ISO so quickly that I'd never miss a beat. It's more about learning the controls so that they become second nature.

And as noted by others, with Canon you can use ISO 1600 provided you expose correctly.

If and when Auto ISO becomes a Canon feature, I personally hope that feature can be disabled.

I want to control the camera, not the other way around.

Glenn NK wrote in post #4270757
If and when Auto ISO becomes a Canon feature, I personally hope that feature can be disabled.

I suspect (and hope) it'd be another mode on the dial like M, P, Av, Tv, etc.

Sounds like a neat feature! I think Nikon's have had it for a while, its a little surprising that Canon hasn't implemented it yet.

Sheesh, I can't believe how people react so negatively to you saying you missed that feature on your Nikon... what's wrong with an extra feature? I almost never use Tv mode, but its there and if the situation called for it, I'd be glad that Canon included that feature! Sure I can shoot in M and change the aperture my self pretty easily but if I wanted it to be automatic.....

i think the "negativety" isnt directed at the statement about missing his nikon, it might be "directed" at the fact that he has a prosumer camera and he wont just set the ISO himself (which takes all of 2 seconds to switch on a 40D). I'm not sure though, it didnt really bug me all that much but I can see how it could bug others. The ISO performance on the d40 is actually very good compared to other nikons.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Autoiso seems neat but probably LAST on my list of useful features for a body. Maybe I have a limited view but it seems like a point & shoot feature. I prefer controlling sio myself....