First outing for the D500

[billtils]

For various reasons - mainly the fast burst capability - I bought a D500 body to add to the trusty D810. We are currently in lockdown and the weather's not been great so I had to make do with a walk through the local park and its surrounding wooded area and take what ever turned up.

A bit frustrating in regard to the opportunities that presented themselves - a group of 5 deer that didn't want to play fair, and some rooks hard at work on nest renovations, but at least I got something to kick things off.


1: The best I could get with the deer. In addition to the new body I had a first time go at shooting on manual aperture and shutter with auto ISO, rather than aperture priority and tweaking the ISO to give the desired shutter speed.




2: The ravens. Not the most photogenic birds but I quite liked the ones where the green foliage has been caught against the black body - absolutely a win for the D500's burst mode.

[Wavelength]

Waaw. Great!!!

[pnodrog]

. In addition to the new body I had a first time go at shooting on manual aperture and shutter with auto ISO, rather than aperture priority and tweaking the ISO to give the desired shutter speed.

Thanks for reminding me. I tend to leave my camera on aperture priority with a set ISO that I play with. My last walk through bush and clearings had me tweaking the ISO far too often. I have used manual with auto ISO and you have just reminded me of the usefulness of it so I will try it as my default option for the next few weeks. I can't actually think of any down side to it.

Obviously for BIF photography the D500 is very useful. A great start.

[billtils]

Thanks Nandakumar and Paul.

[purplehaze]

Bill! I just bought myself a D500, too, and for the same reason! I may take it out for a trial run this aft, tomorrow for sure. It will be good to have company in my explorations. I have been absent from the forum these many months for family reasons, but am hoping to slide back in again in the weeks to come.

[xpatUSA]

1: The best I could get with the deer. In addition to the new body I had a first time go at shooting on manual aperture and shutter with auto ISO, rather than aperture priority and tweaking the ISO to give the desired shutter speed.

I never use auto-ISO on any of my cameras and they are all super-glued to the base ISO position- so please excuse my ignorance, Bill.

If one selects manual aperture and shutter what does auto-ISO do, actually?

I ask because, in my simple world - if the aperture and shutter are fixed then so is the sensor exposure for a given lighting condition.

P.S. I am hoping that nobody here believes that

"ISO speed: controls the sensitivity of your camera's sensor to a given amount of light"

Source: https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...a-exposure.htm
.

[Manfred M]

If one selects manual aperture and shutter what does auto-ISO do, actually?

It adjusts the ISO value so that a "correct" exposure is made for the given shutter speed and aperture setting. Quite a hand feature in some circumstances.

[xpatUSA]

It adjusts the ISO value so that a "correct" exposure is made for the given shutter speed and aperture setting. Quite a hand feature in some circumstances.

No, Manfred, you and I both know that the exposure of the sensor does not change.

I suspect that the correct answer is that the gain between sensor output and the ADC gets adjusted so that converted image is suitably bright, eh?

[DanK]

Yes


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[Manfred M]

No, Manfred, you and I both know that the exposure of the sensor does not change.

I suspect that the correct answer is that the gain between sensor output and the ADC gets adjusted so that converted image is suitably bright, eh?

I don't recall saying any of that Ted. I said the ISO is changed, which is saying that the gain is changed. One cannot change a sensor's sensitivity.

Pro video equipment that I have used does not say anything about ISO, but in those cameras changes in gain are noted in dB.

[xpatUSA]

I don't recall saying any of that Ted. I said the ISO is changed, which is saying that the gain is changed. One cannot change a sensor's sensitivity.

Pro video equipment that I have used does not say anything about ISO, but in those cameras changes in gain are noted in dB.

Ok, I fold, como siempre.

[pnodrog]

No, Manfred, you and I both know that the exposure of the sensor does not change.

I suspect that the correct answer is that the gain between sensor output and the ADC gets adjusted so that converted image is suitably bright, eh?

To try and match your pedantic point I suspect that once above about ISO 400 or 800 depending on manufacturer that the only thing that effectively changes in a RAW file is the value stored for ISO....

[xpatUSA]

Originally Posted by xpatUSA I suspect that the correct answer is that the gain between sensor output and the ADC gets adjusted so that converted image is suitably bright, eh?

To try and match your pedantic point I suspect that once above about ISO 400 or 800 depending on manufacturer that the only thing that effectively changes in a RAW file is the value stored for ISO....

Yes, Paul, thank you.

I have two DSLRs:

One is completely "ISOless". The raw data is proportional to what I call exposure ... the lux-sec applied to the sensor. The ISO setting does not affect the raw data at all in manual mode. The ISO setting is passed to the converter in meta-data which acts as a multiplier which affects the brightness of the converted image.

The other has a programmable gain amplifier between the sensor and the ADC but plays no tricks such as you mentioned. In manual, the ISO setting does affect the raw data in-camera. Some users find to their amazement that raw highlights can get blown at any ISO quite easily as a result whereas, with the first camera, the higher the ISO - the more the headroom.

I had forgotten that Manfred has a different view of what is meant by 'exposure', as do others, which is why I folded.

In my world, exposure is proportional to shutter time and ambient luminance, and inversely proportional to f-number squared, but others think of exposure as the brightness of a developed image.

As with many things photographic, in the end exposure means what Chuck Norris says it means.

[billtils]

Welcome back Janis, and enjoy the D500!

[billtils]

I never use auto-ISO on any of my cameras and they are all super-glued to the base ISO position- so please excuse my ignorance, Bill.

And please excuse mine Ted.

For me it was not a first-principles issue, but a practical question of how you manage the exposure triangle to get the best results in wildlife (and sports) shots of moving targets. Basically you want a high enough shutter speed to freeze the action and a sufficiently wide open aperture to isolate the target (bird in flight, racing car, footballer, whatever) from the background. I used to shoot on aperture priority and adjust things manually from prelminary test shots to give the best compromise.

However, extensive reading before and after the purchase of the D500 body revealed that a clear majority of shooters preferred manual shutter and aperture and auto-ISO so that's the set-up I'm using. If/when there are enough shots in the bank I'll have another look.
.

In summary - a pragmatic choice based on how several expert shooters do it and I'm not overly fussed if there are any theoretical issues as long as they remain theoretical

[pschlute]

I too use fixed shutter and aperture with auto ISO when shooting wildlife or my dogs running around. On my camera there is a dedicated mode called TAv, which is the same thing as Manual with auto ISO.

I find it very useful as the amount of DOF and action "freeze" remains constant for all shots (assuming same subject to camera distance).

I do understand the point Ted makes that the amount of light that hits the sensor each time does not change, and that it is the electronic wizardry that boosts or reduces the apparent exposure for each shot as the auto ISO adjusts.

The result I get is what I want, however it is achieved.

[purplehaze]

As someone who has been using Auto ISO in Manual mode for some time now without understanding where that little boost was coming from, this has been useful for me. Thanks again, friends!

[DanK]

I use it occasionally as well. However, I think it’s important to keep in mind that Ted’s point isn’t unimportant pedantry. Amplifying the signal is not the same as increasing exposure, and it has costs. For that reason, I use it sparingly, either when the increased convenience is worth the price or when the nature of the scene makes the price small or negligible.


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[billtils]

... I think it’s important to keep in mind that Ted’s point isn’t unimportant pedantry. Amplifying the signal is not the same as increasing exposure, and it has costs...

Indeed, however in this specific application the alternatives have costs too. It's very early days yet but I've not had any issues with the IQ even when auto ISO resulted in something higher than I would have chosen in Aperture priority - this one was at ISO 3200.

[Wavelength]

So pretty