Hi,
This is for DSLR shooters. We have more options than were ever possible in the days of film (or, as my neighbor John called it, "fillum").

I use a Pentax K10D (a near dinosaur ) and recently I've been playing with the mode called "TAV". This mode lets me select shutter speed and aperture and the camera selects the correct ISO. With the Pentax you can assign a range of ISOs to be considered "automatic". It's sort of like "pushing" film, only it happens on a frame-by-frame basis, and it's automatic.

Here is a pretty good example of the kind of result that's possible. This shot was made with shutter speed 1/1250 sec, aperture f5.6 and ISO 1250.

Plenty of speed to freeze old Claude in midair and just a touch of Neat Image (love that program ) and you can get a pretty decent shot.

This is a great mode for action, obviously. I suppose that most DSLRs have something equivalent.

Have fun,
Steve

Great photo, Steve! You caught him good. I will have to check and see if my FZ7 can do that.

Steve,

At first I thought you had a typo, then took a look at the manual on-line.

Looks like the Pentax has a feature that is not available, at least in my Canon 30D.

Ah well, I am a Canon guy and cannot change!

Steve, incredible capture. Like John, I am a Canon person so oh well on the setting.

That's a very interesting feature, Steve,
I can think of a number of times I would like to be able to use it. Not an option on my Nikon.

Rusty

PS - nice tree rat picture

Steve,

My Nikon D80 has a feature called "Auto ISO" which sounds similar to what you're describing.

I haven't played with it much...

Great action shot!!

Byron

My D70s has an Auto ISO mode. To do what TAV does, I would have to shoot in either program or manual mode, with Auto ISO set to ON. Program mode would set the exposure automatically, allowing you to adjust shutter and aperture and keeping the same relative exposure at all settings by adjusting ISO as needed. Manual mode will allow you to adjust shutter and aperture independently, and Auto ISO will adjust to maintain a proper exposure. The difference is we Nikon users have to set Auto ISO via the menus, not the dial.

Hi,
Byron and Gene, it sounds like you've got pretty much the same feature. There are times when it's nice to be able to focus on the shot (heh heh) and forget everything else. It's kind of weird watching the ISO change in the viewfinder, though.

Our cameras are so versatile that it takes some time and a lot of reading to find all the features. A lot depends on the camera's manual, too, I think. I have the Magic Lantern Guide for my camera and it's explanations of the features/functions are a lot easier to understand than Pentax's. It seems to be written by somebody who understands photography and understands that camera users want to shoot pictures, rather than read manuals.

Steve

The only problem with auto ISO is that the camera doesn't really know what subject you are photographing. It can pick an extremely high ISO giving you a photo with allot of noise. While auto ISO is probably O.K. in a pinch it is a better idea to preset your ISO and control the photo with aperture and shutter speed adjustments

When I got my D80, I had enabled Auto-ISO based on my reading of Ken Rockwell's guide, and set the maximum at 1600... again, based on Ken's guide.

This, combined with a bone-headed mistake on my part, caused me to capture some once-in-a-lifetime pictures at my parents' 50th anniversary party at 1600 ISO - the noise in the images just kills me when I see it.

The problem was my inexperience with the camera and my new SB-600 speedlight. I had not pushed the flash's retractable diffuser back into its slot until it clicked into place - so the flash was in close-up, low-power mode. So the camera dutifully upped the ISO to compensate for the lack of light.

While the fault was mine, once I figured out what caused my images to be recorded at 1600, I turned off Auto ISO --- and have never tinkered with it, again.

I can see how having the ISO auto-adjust could be a boon - but I'd recommend careful thought as to the maximum you allow it to select.