Using auto
Q Is it a good idea to use your camera on Auto ISO? Vern Rutley
A You can find lots of conflicting opinion on the use of Auto ISO ,
Vern. I think it’s important that you make up your own mind on whether it’s useful or not. To be fair, there are some compelling reasons to put it into action, especially as ISO performance improves with each new generation of camera.
The main reason is obvious: it takes some of the hassle out of exposure and enables you to achieve the combination of shutter speed and aperture you want, without having to manually change the sensitivity of your camera. That speeds things up a lot, and in a situation where things are happening quickly – wildlife or sport, for example – it makes some sense to free up some of the technical thought process to leave you clear to concentrate on getting the shot!
Auto ISO shouldn’t just whack the ISO ridiculously high just to achieve a usable exposure, but the control freak in me doesn’t completely trust it. I’d still rather change the ISO myself, as required, simply because I want to make sure I am doing it for the right reasons. As photographers, it’s this deliberate control of the settings that hopefully gives us the best results.
On the occasions I have used it, I’ve always dialed in a maximum ISO range that I am happy with the camera using. This might vary from situation to situation, but by putting a ceiling in that’s based on the camera’s high ISO capabilities, I know that my results won’t be adversely affected by an image being shot at an ISO that is so high there will be too much noise in it.