This video is helpful and practical. I will always use Auto ISO unless I am in studio or scene where the light intensity, direction of light relative to my camera, AND the direction of light relative to the subject doesn't change. Rarely (if ever) in a sports setting will all three of those variables align. Even if you were to manually adjust your exposure to center field or court, depending on where you are kneeling or standing, the exposure will be "incorrect" due to the direction of light once the players move from center both laterally and depth-wise. Added to that, the provided light will get swallowed up by the subjects as you zoom closer or as they come closer to you, resulting again in an "incorrect" exposure if stuck on a manual setting. This is especially the case if I need to switch from action on the field to something happening on the sidelines or snapping pics of fans celebrating in the stands. Another tip: you can set your preferred range for Auto ISO, then use Exposure Compensation to raise or drop that range on the fly. For instance, for outdoor night football (while using Matrix metering), I would have my Auto ISO range be 100-12,800, but if I see that white uniforms or helmets are being blown out when they're at certain parts of the field, then I'll quickly turn my EC dial down 1/3 or 2/3 or even 1 full stop. It is essentially me telling the camera to bring the top threshold down, but keep the (now lowered) range. And of course, I can readjust it on the fly as needed. At it's core, Auto ISO saves your ideal exposure (whether it includes grain or not) by allowing you to keep your attention on the action.
UK shooter here (predominately rugby), and I’ll set shutter speed and aperture manually and use auto ISO. Even shooting during the day, we’ll normally have the sun in and out behind clouds, so using auto ISO is one less thing to think about and allows me to concentrate on other things.
The measurements on the field were super interesting. I also watched your shooting with high ISO video. I was a afraid to use auto ISO because I thought that the better photographers didn't use it, and because of the possibility of grain in the images. You've helped with both of those. Thanks for your work.
I always use auto ISO at football games. For that matter, I'm also almost always shooting between 1/400 - 1/800. Aperture is usually 2.8-4...... maybe sometimes 5.6 it I want a wider field of focus and have time to go back and forth. So, as he mentioned the triangle.... fiddling with ISO is one less thing to worry about. Even if I tweaked it, it's already gonna be high in the thousands. I trust the camera at that point to get me close enough while I adjust the other two exposure triangle factors myself.
Hi Jack. Thank you for such a well researched and experienced viewpoint on Auto ISO, I am not a sports photogrpaher but I do use it often in wildlife photography. If, for example I am shooting warblers in a forest setting where the light is fairly consistant and the birds (which warblers do) are moving from a bare branch with perhaps background of green to a branch with a background of brown, Auto iso is very useful and efective in getting good exposure in those situations. Almost always, I will be in manual when in those scenarios. Where I find it does not work as well is when I am in situation where the bird (for example and Osprey) may rapidly fly across an area with a sandy background, to a green forested background and then to a background with water or sky. In such senarios Auto Iso is not as reliable and you don't have time to apply compensaton for example. In scenarious such as this, I will meter for white via the metering scale and histogram (since Ospereys have a lot of white in them) to make sure the bird remains metered correctly across all backrounds and not be too dark or blown out! That said, Auto ISO at times is a great tool. Iut was great to get your perpective and the folks here in sports sceanrio! Thanks for your great educational info!
I use auto ISO most of the time. I photograph my Grandson's outdoor soccer games and it would be a nightmare trying to take pictures in manual ISO. I also use auto ISO when photographing the great outdoors. With auto ISO I have one less thing to worry about when photographing landscapes or wildlife. The only time I turn that feature off is when I need to use a certain ISO setting like astrophotgraphy.
Great vid Jack, as always. Have been there with late season afternoon 6:23 soccer games that quickly turned into night games. What a mess, even with a 2.8. So, the question I’d have is what the possible value-added to fixing an ISO might be? Do some photogs feel that the cameras jump up 10:22 the ISOs too high in AUTO? Interesting.
Auto ISO can be thrown off, I acknowledge that. I especially see it at dusk when my subject is in shadow and the background is still bright behind them. Then, I "manually" set the compensation.
I am in two or three gyms a night during January, February, and March. Most of them are inconsistent. I leave my setting on auto ISO, give it a speed of at least 1/500, and just shoot.
Auto iso (within limits) is brilliant. On my camera it's much easier to use together with exposure compensation than setting the iso. If there was a dedicated dial available, it might be a different situation. Also, exposure has become less critical, as has noise. With raw files, modern post processing including denoise etc. Exposure just has to fall within a "bracket" and we can focus on shutter and dof.
With my Canon 7D Mark II I would never use Auto ISO as I had to control it due to noise issue with higher ISO photos. Since I have obtained my R6, I shoot in manual setting the Aperture and Shutter to where I want it, and let the camera adjust the ISO based on it being so good in the higher ISO ranges. I have less post production now :)
Yes, my normal operation is to set shutter and aperture and let Auto ISO float. If I think it's giving me consistently incorrect readings, I'll make compensation adjustments to fix the problem.
The Only Auto setting I would use because you set the aperture and the shutter to maintain the look you want the camera just changes the index up or down But like any Auto setting it can go awry But on those rare occasions this is the one I go to
Yes, my standard set up for night or low light sports is to set the shutter and aperture and let ISO go auto. Yes, it's not perfect, but most of the time, it hits the mark.
In lowlight or shade, shooting lifestyle portraits in changing light, I often use auto iso in manual exposure mode at 1/250 sec Shutter to stop movement. Can I successfully add Off Camera Flash in TTL mode on a Sony A9 camera.
I usually shoot all manual once the sun goes down. If I did shoot auto ISO I think I might adjust exposure compensation -1 or 2 thirds of a stop. Jack do you shoot with no comp?
Oh no, I always use some form of compensation. Usually I like my high ISO jpegs to have about +0.3, although I’ll bump that up or down depending if I can tell the camera is getting thrown off by something (usually a very bright, or very dark background).
Is it best to use auto iso if going from 120mm up to 600mm with f_stop 4.5 to 6.3. I find when I zoom in or out my stop when set at 6.3 then I zoom out my stop is still at 6.3.. Is this OK to shoot this way of should I reduce stop down to 4.5.. I mainly shoot motorbikes and racing cars.. Thanks
Those variable aperture zooms do make things interesting. I think I would set the aperture as wide as it will go, shutter fast enough to stop the action and let the ISO float on auto.
I've had people explain to me that they do not use auto ISO because they are "real" photographers and don't trust the meter. What they do instead is set everything manually while looking at "the little arrows" inside the viewfinder. Get that to the middle and the exposure is perfect. OK..... I find daytime field sports can very 3-4 stops just with cloud cover and a game that starts under the sun, and ends under lights can vary by much more. I am a big fan of Auto ISO.
My camera's auto ISO skips a lot of the in between values, like jumping from 1600 to 3200 but not going to 2000 or 2500. Because of this, I prefer to set the ISO myself to get the ISO I want for the shutter speed I want.
I haven't specifically used the D780, although I did have its predecessor, the D750. Assuming the D780 has similar specs to the D750, with perhaps a better sensor and a little better autofocus, I would say that it would be a fairly decent entry into sports photography. I would definitely get the battery grip to aid in shooting verticals. Its autofocus and frame rate won't be as quick as higher-end cameras, but I believe you'd still have some good success with it. As for other photography genres (portraits, landscapes, weddings, etc.), it'll do great.
I use matrix. It's generally pretty good, although I ran into a situation yesterday where my subjects were in shadow and the background was well lit, which threw it off.
I have found I could set the shutter and aperture i want for a shot and then manually play with the ISO to get the exposure right. OR I can set the shutter and aperture I want and let my very expensive, computer controlled camera pick an ISO to get the correct exposure. I can always monitor what ISO it is picking and adjust the other two to get what i would like. We pay for all this wiz bang, why not use it? Then a gain, for a "happy snap" why not just use "Full Auto" for a reliable ordinary photo? Really, Aperture priority and Shutter priority is ok, why not use Auto ISO as well?
I mostly use full manual exposure when shooting outdoors. Living in Colorado, days are often full sun. I never use shutter or aperture priority. I will use auto ISO under certain conditions. Daytime: When the sun is going quickly in and out the clouds or as the sun gets close to settling. When I need to quickly take shots in sunny vs shady areas. One example is a ballpark where home plate is often shaded by trees. For when I don't have to act quickly I will use an alternate manual exposure I've assigned to custom settings (C1, C2, C3 on Canon). I shoot at some ballparks where the orientation is such that players tend to be either heavily in shade or heavily in sun. Depending on where I'm positioned, I will use manual settings assigned to custom settings. Nighttime: mostly football, some baseball/softball. Football between the 20's: full manual. 20 to endzone: take a little off shutter (eg, 1/800 vs 1/1000) and auto ISO with ISO range restriction. Restriction because the background can range from moderate light to black. Black can cause light uniforms to wash out. Indoors: Manual for localized sports like wrestling. For more spread out sports like basketball: auto ISO with restrictions because of the perimeter areas. I shoot JPG with medium noise reduction. I have a 7D and a 7Dii. I'm not happy with their high ISO performance. I'll go as high as 5000, with reluctance. I hope to get an R6 in the next year, mainly for the autofocus but also for the low light. I have a Canon 70-200/2.8 L II, a kit Canon 28-135/3.5-5.6 and a nifty fifty. I also hope to get a 24-70/2.8 for gymnasiums.
This video is helpful and practical. I will always use Auto ISO unless I am in studio or scene where the light intensity, direction of light relative to my camera, AND the direction of light relative to the subject doesn't change. Rarely (if ever) in a sports setting will all three of those variables align. Even if you were to manually adjust your exposure to center field or court, depending on where you are kneeling or standing, the exposure will be "incorrect" due to the direction of light once the players move from center both laterally and depth-wise. Added to that, the provided light will get swallowed up by the subjects as you zoom closer or as they come closer to you, resulting again in an "incorrect" exposure if stuck on a manual setting. This is especially the case if I need to switch from action on the field to something happening on the sidelines or snapping pics of fans celebrating in the stands.
Another tip: you can set your preferred range for Auto ISO, then use Exposure Compensation to raise or drop that range on the fly. For instance, for outdoor night football (while using Matrix metering), I would have my Auto ISO range be 100-12,800, but if I see that white uniforms or helmets are being blown out when they're at certain parts of the field, then I'll quickly turn my EC dial down 1/3 or 2/3 or even 1 full stop. It is essentially me telling the camera to bring the top threshold down, but keep the (now lowered) range. And of course, I can readjust it on the fly as needed.
At it's core, Auto ISO saves your ideal exposure (whether it includes grain or not) by allowing you to keep your attention on the action.
I’m with you Tony, I set a preferred ISO range that I feel my camera can handle, and let auto ISO do it’s thing within that range.
It’s a game changer for fast moving subjects. Don’t worry about possible grains at least you will have the shot!
i use it all the time. i like having control over both ss and f-stop and let the iso finish it off for me.
like your videos!
UK shooter here (predominately rugby), and I’ll set shutter speed and aperture manually and use auto ISO. Even shooting during the day, we’ll normally have the sun in and out behind clouds, so using auto ISO is one less thing to think about and allows me to concentrate on other things.
Agreed!
I use auto in situations like you described in the video. Fast action and highly variable light. Good video, as usual. Thanks!
Thanks for watching!
The measurements on the field were super interesting. I also watched your shooting with high ISO video. I was a afraid to use auto ISO because I thought that the better photographers didn't use it, and because of the possibility of grain in the images. You've helped with both of those. Thanks for your work.
thank you!
I always use auto ISO at football games. For that matter, I'm also almost always shooting between 1/400 - 1/800. Aperture is usually 2.8-4...... maybe sometimes 5.6 it I want a wider field of focus and have time to go back and forth. So, as he mentioned the triangle.... fiddling with ISO is one less thing to worry about. Even if I tweaked it, it's already gonna be high in the thousands. I trust the camera at that point to get me close enough while I adjust the other two exposure triangle factors myself.
I’ll put it in auto ISO if I hand my camera to someone else to take a picture. But good luck with back button focus! 😂😂
Hi Jack. Thank you for such a well researched and experienced viewpoint on Auto ISO, I am not a sports photogrpaher but I do use it often in wildlife photography. If, for example I am shooting warblers in a forest setting where the light is fairly consistant and the birds (which warblers do) are moving from a bare branch with perhaps background of green to a branch with a background of brown, Auto iso is very useful and efective in getting good exposure in those situations. Almost always, I will be in manual when in those scenarios. Where I find it does not work as well is when I am in situation where the bird (for example and Osprey) may rapidly fly across an area with a sandy background, to a green forested background and then to a background with water or sky. In such senarios Auto Iso is not as reliable and you don't have time to apply compensaton for example. In scenarious such as this, I will meter for white via the metering scale and histogram (since Ospereys have a lot of white in them) to make sure the bird remains metered correctly across all backrounds and not be too dark or blown out! That said, Auto ISO at times is a great tool. Iut was great to get your perpective and the folks here in sports sceanrio! Thanks for your great educational info!
Thank you! Yep, it’s not a perfect tool but I find it works pretty well in most situations.
For sure Jack. It is a great tool to have at our disposal!
I use auto ISO most of the time. I photograph my Grandson's outdoor soccer games and it would be a nightmare trying to take pictures in manual ISO. I also use auto ISO when photographing the great outdoors. With auto ISO I have one less thing to worry about when photographing landscapes or wildlife. The only time I turn that feature off is when I need to use a certain ISO setting like astrophotgraphy.
Great vid Jack, as always. Have been there with late season afternoon 6:23 soccer games that quickly turned into night games. What a mess, even with a 2.8. So, the question I’d have is what the possible value-added to fixing an ISO might be? Do some photogs feel that the cameras jump up 10:22 the ISOs too high in AUTO? Interesting.
Auto ISO can be thrown off, I acknowledge that. I especially see it at dusk when my subject is in shadow and the background is still bright behind them. Then, I "manually" set the compensation.
@@JackBeasleyMedia Thanks!
I am in two or three gyms a night during January, February, and March. Most of them are inconsistent. I leave my setting on auto ISO, give it a speed of at least 1/500, and just shoot.
Auto iso (within limits) is brilliant.
On my camera it's much easier to use together with exposure compensation than setting the iso.
If there was a dedicated dial available, it might be a different situation.
Also, exposure has become less critical, as has noise.
With raw files, modern post processing including denoise etc. Exposure just has to fall within a "bracket" and we can focus on shutter and dof.
On my cameras, it’s a simple button press on top of the cameras to change either the compensation or the ISO - which is probably why I like to use it.
04:50 I mostly use A mode instead of M mode and always Auto ISO with min. shutter time.
With my Canon 7D Mark II I would never use Auto ISO as I had to control it due to noise issue with higher ISO photos. Since I have obtained my R6, I shoot in manual setting the Aperture and Shutter to where I want it, and let the camera adjust the ISO based on it being so good in the higher ISO ranges. I have less post production now :)
Yes, my normal operation is to set shutter and aperture and let Auto ISO float. If I think it's giving me consistently incorrect readings, I'll make compensation adjustments to fix the problem.
The Only Auto setting I would use because you set the aperture and the shutter to maintain the look you want the camera just changes the index up or down But like any Auto setting it can go awry But on those rare occasions this is the one I go to
Yes, my standard set up for night or low light sports is to set the shutter and aperture and let ISO go auto. Yes, it's not perfect, but most of the time, it hits the mark.
In lowlight or shade, shooting lifestyle portraits in changing light, I often use auto iso in manual exposure mode at 1/250 sec Shutter to stop movement. Can I successfully add Off Camera Flash in TTL mode on a Sony A9 camera.
You should be able to, I know I've done it with Nikon cameras and Neewer TTL off-camera flashes.
I usually shoot all manual once the sun goes down. If I did shoot auto ISO I think I might adjust exposure compensation -1 or 2 thirds of a stop. Jack do you shoot with no comp?
Oh no, I always use some form of compensation. Usually I like my high ISO jpegs to have about +0.3, although I’ll bump that up or down depending if I can tell the camera is getting thrown off by something (usually a very bright, or very dark background).
Is it best to use auto iso if going from 120mm up to 600mm with f_stop 4.5 to 6.3. I find when I zoom in or out my stop when set at 6.3 then I zoom out my stop is still at 6.3.. Is this OK to shoot this way of should I reduce stop down to 4.5.. I mainly shoot motorbikes and racing cars.. Thanks
Those variable aperture zooms do make things interesting. I think I would set the aperture as wide as it will go, shutter fast enough to stop the action and let the ISO float on auto.
@@JackBeasleyMedia thanks
I just try to use lowest iso in daytime for best picture possible. 100 our 200 if possible.
I've had people explain to me that they do not use auto ISO because they are "real" photographers and don't trust the meter. What they do instead is set everything manually while looking at "the little arrows" inside the viewfinder. Get that to the middle and the exposure is perfect. OK.....
I find daytime field sports can very 3-4 stops just with cloud cover and a game that starts under the sun, and ends under lights can vary by much more. I am a big fan of Auto ISO.
I’m with you! I shot a game late yesterday that started at ISO 200 and ended up at 12,800.
My camera's auto ISO skips a lot of the in between values, like jumping from 1600 to 3200 but not going to 2000 or 2500. Because of this, I prefer to set the ISO myself to get the ISO I want for the shutter speed I want.
Exactly why I always use manual ISO
Hi, do you think the d780 is good and professional enough?
thanks and best regards
I haven't specifically used the D780, although I did have its predecessor, the D750. Assuming the D780 has similar specs to the D750, with perhaps a better sensor and a little better autofocus, I would say that it would be a fairly decent entry into sports photography. I would definitely get the battery grip to aid in shooting verticals. Its autofocus and frame rate won't be as quick as higher-end cameras, but I believe you'd still have some good success with it. As for other photography genres (portraits, landscapes, weddings, etc.), it'll do great.
I love auto ISO but I’m still faced with Nikons that only go up to 6400.
Any suggestions?
It may be time to upgrade. Unfortunately, it’s a hard,cold fact for sports.
What metering mode do you use when shooting auto ISO?
I use matrix. It's generally pretty good, although I ran into a situation yesterday where my subjects were in shadow and the background was well lit, which threw it off.
What light meter is that???
Sekonic LiteMaster Pro L-478D-U
I have found I could set the shutter and aperture i want for a shot and then manually play with the ISO to get the exposure right.
OR I can set the shutter and aperture I want and let my very expensive, computer controlled camera pick an ISO to get the correct exposure.
I can always monitor what ISO it is picking and adjust the other two to get what i would like.
We pay for all this wiz bang, why not use it?
Then a gain, for a "happy snap" why not just use "Full Auto" for a reliable ordinary photo?
Really, Aperture priority and Shutter priority is ok, why not use Auto ISO as well?
I mostly use full manual exposure when shooting outdoors. Living in Colorado, days are often full sun.
I never use shutter or aperture priority. I will use auto ISO under certain conditions.
Daytime:
When the sun is going quickly in and out the clouds or as the sun gets close to settling.
When I need to quickly take shots in sunny vs shady areas. One example is a ballpark where home plate is often shaded by trees. For when I don't have to act quickly I will use an alternate manual exposure I've assigned to custom settings (C1, C2, C3 on Canon).
I shoot at some ballparks where the orientation is such that players tend to be either heavily in shade or heavily in sun. Depending on where I'm positioned, I will use manual settings assigned to custom settings.
Nighttime: mostly football, some baseball/softball.
Football between the 20's: full manual. 20 to endzone: take a little off shutter (eg, 1/800 vs 1/1000) and auto ISO with ISO range restriction. Restriction because the background can range from moderate light to black. Black can cause light uniforms to wash out.
Indoors:
Manual for localized sports like wrestling.
For more spread out sports like basketball: auto ISO with restrictions because of the perimeter areas.
I shoot JPG with medium noise reduction.
I have a 7D and a 7Dii. I'm not happy with their high ISO performance. I'll go as high as 5000, with reluctance. I hope to get an R6 in the next year, mainly for the autofocus but also for the low light. I have a Canon 70-200/2.8 L II, a kit Canon 28-135/3.5-5.6 and a nifty fifty. I also hope to get a 24-70/2.8 for gymnasiums.