Question/help regarding Auto ISO settings

Guys
Quick question regarding auto ISO settings for wildlife photography;
I am heading to Tanzania in January for my first Safari and want to try and get my head wrapped around the auto ISO setting for Nikon. I know how they work I am just trying to get a feel for what you guys use when you first set off into the wilderness meaning low light to midday light to low light. What I am thinking for anything bigger than a dog;

Max ISO 800 for a D800 with 1 x focal length
Max ISO D4s 1600 with 1 x focal length

For small birds ISO 400 max

What do you think recommend???

Hi Neil - I am moving this to the General Photography Forum as it does not belong in the critique forums. Personally I don't use auto ISO and instead shoot in full manual most of the time. The best advice I can give you is to keep your shutter speeds up high enough. A lot of the best action in Africa happens when the light is low and I think you'll find that you need to shoot at higher ISOs to keep your ss higher. I'm a Canon shooter but if you check out posts by Morkel, Gabriela, Andre and Marc in Wildlife, you'll see that they all use Nikon and regularly shoot at much higher ISOs then you list.

Rachel

Auto ISO is not in general recommended for wildlife photography. The camera sets exposure for the entire frame as opposed to the subject that usually occupies only part of the frame, usually a smaller precentage . For wildlife against dark BG, the subject will be over exposed while for subject against bright BG (e.g. bird against sky) it will be underexposed and result in too much noise. if you want to get the best results learn how to use manual exposure at all times. Also it seems like you are still struggling with high ISO, if you Africa trip isn really dear to you I recommend taking a workshop to get yourself more familiar with exposure and post processing. Once you are there, it will be too late to acquire these skills before missing the action

Best,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi

Auto ISO is not in general recommended for wildlife photography. The camera sets exposure for the entire frame as opposed to the subject that usually occupies only part of the frame, usually a smaller precentage . For wildlife against dark BG, the subject will be over exposed while for subject against bright BG (e.g. bird against sky) it will be underexposed and result in too much noise. if you want to get the best results learn how to use manual exposure at all times. Also it seems like you are still struggling with high ISO, if you Africa trip isn really dear to you I recommend taking a workshop to get yourself more familiar with exposure and post processing. Once you are there, it will be too late to acquire these skills before missing the action

Best,

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Arash
Thanks for the reply........I have booked myself into a three day one on one PS class the week before I go on Safari so I am sure that will help with the PP. As for the exposure triangle I am cool with that you can see some of my other stuff here www.neilsphotography.co.uk and agree that I would probable be better of just shooting in manual mode and take full control of the end result.
Thanks again for your feed back

Neil

Hello Neil. For what it's worth I do use auto ISO with a Canon 7D Mk2 for BIF. With this camera you are able to add or subtract from the set iso on the fly while keeping shutter speed and aperture constant. I usually set up with +1 as I find this good for average coloured birds. For black birds eg Cormorants, I increase to 1and 2/3 and for white birds eg Swans, I go down to the set ISO. The trick is to remember to add or subtract as the bird is approaching. I find that these settings are good for blue or light sky and keeping the histogram to the RH side.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Neil Williams

Arash
Thanks for the reply........I have booked myself into a three day one on one PS class the week before I go on Safari so I am sure that will help with the PP. As for the exposure triangle I am cool with that you can see some of my other stuff here www.neilsphotography.co.uk and agree that I would probable be better of just shooting in manual mode and take full control of the end result.
Thanks again for your feed back

Neil

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nice work Neil, I hope you make the most of your Africa trip.

Neil, I don't think anyone would disagree with any of the comments listed in any the previous panes. The settings of a camera cannot always be entirely prescriptive but I would suggest the settings you indicate in pane 1 are self limiting. When out in the field I think the majority of experienced photographers would instinctively gauge the light and guess that at that particular time of day it is an ISO 100 200 or 400 or 800 sort of day. Then they would ask themselves what settings would be required to render the required image for example does it require a slow, moderate or a fast shutter speed, does the subject require a narrow or wide depth of field, then they may or may not have to revise the initial ISO setting contemplated.
In general the advise would be to use the lowest ISO setting that would be consistent with the aperture and shutter speed range required. Having said that we need to ensure that the exposure is correct for the subject as opposed for the whole of the frame captured, here the usual advise is to expose for the highlights and when shooting in raw remember that you generally shoot to the right. As a consequence you may need to over or underexpose the subject depending upon it's tonality range.

Since going to a full frame camera I have found a whole new world and I no longer think that ISO 1600 is my maximum ISO setting, in fact for most subjects in now use Auto ISO because in most instances my camera affords me the luxury of deciding which shutter speed and aperture combination I desire. So for say a perched bird that is small I may decide say 1/600 sec at f8 for example. Now if the conditions dictate ISO 100, 200 400, 800, 1600 or 3200 then so be it, I know I will get a good quality image.
Equally I still know a lower ISO will give a better quality image so I may decide to take a risk and shoot a few images at a lower shutter speed knowing that the ISO will fall.

For a bird in flight the circumstances are different, here I think many would work the opposite way round to what I do (but that doesn't really matter) I would have in the back of my mind a shutter speed of say 1/1600 sec and say f5.6. Having set the camera to Manual mode with those values I would point the camera to something neutral say grass and see what the indicated ISO was, then I would set that ISO manually.
Sometimes you get to know an area for example when photographing Short eared owls over a local marsh I have found that I get good exposures buy using Auto ISO and overexposing by 1/3 of a stop, this is because the owl is generally against the ground or the sky and because the sky has always been relatively dull I know the compensation would be about right. I also know that even if the lighting condition do change and I am taking images with the marsh as background the +1/3 still holds.
If the sky was significantly brighter then I would revert to manually setting the ISO and the shutter speed/aperture.
For macro work again I have found ISO setting not to be anywhere near as critical as it used to be so if the subject permits the use of a tripod I would always go for a low manually set ISO equally if I was using flash. If I was wandering about and hand holding I would often goes for Auto ISO but have to remember that in most instances manual override of the exposure would be required.
The way people decide on their preferences does in many cases not really matter what does matter is getting the correct exposure in the shortest possible time, it is to this end that I have swung toward using Auto ISO.
There are lots of guidelines to bare in mind and there also a few givens, being able to implement them in the most expeditious manner is I think the the overriding factor. Sometimes it is preference for Auto something and in some cases it is essential to work entirely manually.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jonathan Ashton

Neil, I don't think anyone would disagree with any of the comments listed in any the previous panes. The settings of a camera cannot always be entirely prescriptive but I would suggest the settings you indicate in pane 1 are self limiting. When out in the field I think the majority of experienced photographers would instinctively gauge the light and guess that at that particular time of day it is an ISO 100 200 or 400 or 800 sort of day. Then they would ask themselves what settings would be required to render the required image for example does it require a slow, moderate or a fast shutter speed, does the subject require a narrow or wide depth of field, then they may or may not have to revise the initial ISO setting contemplated.
In general the advise would be to use the lowest ISO setting that would be consistent with the aperture and shutter speed range required. Having said that we need to ensure that the exposure is correct for the subject as opposed for the whole of the frame captured, here the usual advise is to expose for the highlights and when shooting in raw remember that you generally shoot to the right. As a consequence you may need to over or underexpose the subject depending upon it's tonality range.

Since going to a full frame camera I have found a whole new world and I no longer think that ISO 1600 is my maximum ISO setting, in fact for most subjects in now use Auto ISO because in most instances my camera affords me the luxury of deciding which shutter speed and aperture combination I desire. So for say a perched bird that is small I may decide say 1/600 sec at f8 for example. Now if the conditions dictate ISO 100, 200 400, 800, 1600 or 3200 then so be it, I know I will get a good quality image.
Equally I still know a lower ISO will give a better quality image so I may decide to take a risk and shoot a few images at a lower shutter speed knowing that the ISO will fall.

For a bird in flight the circumstances are different, here I think many would work the opposite way round to what I do (but that doesn't really matter) I would have in the back of my mind a shutter speed of say 1/1600 sec and say f5.6. Having set the camera to Manual mode with those values I would point the camera to something neutral say grass and see what the indicated ISO was, then I would set that ISO manually.
Sometimes you get to know an area for example when photographing Short eared owls over a local marsh I have found that I get good exposures buy using Auto ISO and overexposing by 1/3 of a stop, this is because the owl is generally against the ground or the sky and because the sky has always been relatively dull I know the compensation would be about right. I also know that even if the lighting condition do change and I am taking images with the marsh as background the +1/3 still holds.
If the sky was significantly brighter then I would revert to manually setting the ISO and the shutter speed/aperture.
For macro work again I have found ISO setting not to be anywhere near as critical as it used to be so if the subject permits the use of a tripod I would always go for a low manually set ISO equally if I was using flash. If I was wandering about and hand holding I would often goes for Auto ISO but have to remember that in most instances manual override of the exposure would be required.
The way people decide on their preferences does in many cases not really matter what does matter is getting the correct exposure in the shortest possible time, it is to this end that I have swung toward using Auto ISO.
There are lots of guidelines to bare in mind and there also a few givens, being able to implement them in the most expeditious manner is I think the the overriding factor. Sometimes it is preference for Auto something and in some cases it is essential to work entirely manually.

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Hay Jonathan
Thanks for the essay :) No seriously thanks for the explanation and I am 100% in that camp where if its going to be a fast action or sudden changing lighting why would you not use auto ISO and basically AUTO everything.
My thinking is this;
Go into the field thinking worst case scenario, in other words low light and fast action. So set the camera at the widest Aperture i.e. f4 on the 600mm f4 set the auto ISO to the highest value that you think your camera can handle (for me with the D800 ISO800 and my D4s ISO1600) these values are for potential print quality IQ. Then when a photo opportunity presents itself you are ready to start shooting. Now then if that photo opportunity happens to be say a bird sitting in a nice back lit position then you can quickly fire off a few initial shots at your auto ISO settings then if the opportunity stays putt then you can make fine adjustments and tweak ISO SS EV whatever you want.
I just cant imagine shooting a bird in flight with a long lens and being able to make any manual adjustments...........everything is just happing way to quickly in front of you.
So to sum up I will stick with Auto ISO at the above values off the get go and make adjustments as and when necessary :)
Neil

Shooting birds in flight, I generally go into the field thinking of ISO 800 as a default, in order to get shutter speed up in the 1/2000 to 1/3200-sec. range. If it's really bright, or I'm shooting white birds in any sun, then I'll pull down to ISO 400 and maybe stop down a little. If it's overcast, then ISO goes up to 1600 and ISO 3200 and shutter speeds under 1/1000-sec. are reserved for really great subjects in crappy light. Above ISO 1600 I start thinking about going from my 7D MkII to the 5DsR. You have great bodies, so there's no need to see you max ISOs so low.

Hi Neil

I use 2 D3S bodies, think they can handle noise fairly well. Had a lot of experiments over the last few years, spent a lot of time in bush shooting Wildlife.
My personal (only MY take, might not be the right way) view is to shoot ONLY manual with Auto ISO. Unless you shoot FULL manual, the camera will decide DOF, S/S, or ISO, depending on the Mode used.
What do you prefer- a shallow/too wide DOF with bothering BG, soft image due to S/S or noise? I can deal with noise, or rather the body can. I always shoot ETTR to preserve details in darks, might blow a few, but no choked blacks. Always check histogram and "blinkies", adjust EV accordingly.
Have found NOT to shoot at intermediate ISO values, noise more than set values.

If you have to shoot fast action, moving action and even stationary wildlife images, I found Auto ISO works for me- I decide S/S, DOF, EV.. the camera that can handle noise get the logarithm to balance. No minimum/ 12 800 max.
The Histogram is NORMALLY well balanced without left or right peaks.
I rather deal with a SHARP, noisy image than a soft non-noisy image shot at 400 ISO.

Just my take.

Out of interest... 10 000 ISO NO NR done http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...est?highlight=

Thanks guys for all the feedback.........only 17 days to go and I will be in Tanzania for my first Safari and put some of these practices into practice :)

Why do you limit the D800 to ISO 800?