Is using auto iso cheating?
Q Is it okay to use Auto ISO so that it is one less thing to worry about? Don Cready
Andrew says The simple answer is yes, using Auto ISO is perfectly OK. There are times when I’d say Auto ISO is actually very handy because you are right: it gives you one less thing to worry about when you are busy shooting your image.
Your camera’s auto settings are already doing this for you anyway. For example, if you were to shoot in your camera’s Sports mode, your camera would increase the ISO setting to give you more shutter speed when it couldn’t open up the aperture any more.
On a lot of occasions, though, you don’t need Auto ISO. When the lighting conditions are relatively even or speed isn’t of the essence, I’d still stick to manually controlling the ISO you shoot at. However, there will be occasions – such as when the light is constantly in and out, or you are shooting both indoors and outside within minutes – when setting Auto ISO can really help you get the right exposure without having to constantly stop and alter the ISO manually.
If you do decide to use Auto ISO, I would strongly recommend that you control the upper and lower limits of what ISO it can choose – particularly the upper limits, when noise may become an issue. You can do this on most cameras, and it means that you still have some control over what ISO the camera is setting.
I often do this when I am using a CSC. I’ll check the performance of the higher ISOs, then set Auto ISO to the upper limit of what I’m happy with. Then away I go, with one less thing to think about. The shot above was taken in exactly this way while in holiday in Cuba. I was in and out of the shade, so I simply let Auto ISO (limited to ISO 1,600) do its job.
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