donaldejose said:
Perhaps this isn't quite kosher on NR but I accidentally ran across this wedding photographer's website and was very impressed by his creative and unusual compositions. If you scan through his site you will find lots of ideas you can try yourself. He was a sport's photographer who now shoots weddings, perhaps giving him an unusual perspective.

http://www.dazzlephotography.com/#

VERY, very nice post, thanks so much, seriously. Wow. Wow, wow. It once again shows how much it's the photographer that makes the picture. I just saw 10 pictures until now, but they were truly great, simple, touching, perfect. This link should be posted as an auto reply to "which camera should I get, A or B" questions.

TaoTeJared said:
I have always used Auto ISO all the time.

That does not mean that I don't control it. I change it for each situation, lens, topic/subject, lighting, and end goal of the image. Sometimes that even means turning it off.........it has saved my bacon when I thought It went too high. Better to have something, than nothing at all.

Me too!

I'm a fan of auto ISO in most cases.... mostly because I'm generally too darned forgetful when manually setting ISO and prefer to only worry about setting one variable at a time by myself (usually aperture). I do tend to adjust the max of the Auto ISO though. Now that I'm shooting full frame I don't mind letting it max out at 6400 but I tend to limit it to lower values such as 800 when I'm shooting outdoors.

I generally only set the ISO manually when I'm working with off camera flash because generally I have a model that's not going anywhere for a bit in those cases.

Wow - I'm really surprised at how many people "never" use Auto ISO. As someone that just switched from Canon the Auto ISO capabilities of Nikon cameras are one of the reasons I switched.

On my D600 I almost always use Auto ISO... with only two situations where I don't:

1. Landscape photography. I have this mapped to U1 where ISO is pegged at 100 among lots of other Landscape specific options.
2. Flash photography. In this case I choose ISO depending on how much background light I want (higher ISO for brighter backgrounds).

Other than those... I use Auto ISO. I have it set to keep the shutter speed at double the focal length (so 50mm shoots at 1/100s). This is something that is not possible on most Canon bodies and I love it. Combined with the awesome high-ISO capabilities of the D600 I let the ISO range up to 6400 without issue.

When walking around I'm almost always shooting in Av mode to choose my DoF... and it's awesome to know that the camera is just taking care of balancing ISO and the shutter speed to keep things sharp.

If I'm trying to shoot anything moving then I don't switch to Tv mode. Instead, I still use Av (to select the DoF I want still) BUT I set a minimum shutter speed in the Auto ISO menu that is fast enough to freeze the motion (if that's what I'm after). Usually something like 1/800th to 1/1250th of a second. This is AWESOME! It means that if my subject moves into the sunlight my shutter speed can automatically go above my minimum to get the right exposure... and if my subject moves into the shadows my shutter will hit the minimum but the ISO will go up to get the correct exposure. This is EXACTLY PERFECT... and something not possible on even really high end Canon bodies (like the 5DIII).

When I'm in Manual mode (which isn't often... only usually for flash photography) I don't generally use Auto ISO. That said, I don't understand getting upset over Auto ISO in Manual... it's an option just like in any other mode... just turn it off (on my D600 it's one button hold plus one click on the front wheel... it takes about 1/1000th of a second)

I use auto ISO 99% of the time because I shoot birds 99% of the time, the other 1% I never use Auto ISO. It is handy, I normally have it set at 1/1600th and ISO max 400 ( I hate noise and it destroys feather detail if I have to crop at all with my consumer 500). I then only change my EV based on the bird color... I also don't have VR so it keeps my shutter speed as high as possible..

On a side note, many of my friends shoot Canon (5dm3, 7d and 60D)and the auto-iso sucks as you don't have the control of Nikon...

It seems like the users of Auto ISO in Manual are divided into two. Those who like the camera keeping the correct exposure ( that it thinks is OK ) by changing the ISO and those like me who find it frustrating to see the camera controlling the exposure even in fully Manual mode.

A firmware addition to the menu - as suggested by some in forums - giving a choice to the user like

- Auto ISO stays ON in Manual Mode
- Auto ISO turns OFF in Manual Mode

would have satisfied everyone as each option has its merits.

Awhile back DigitalRev did a vid about bad glass on a good body vs good glass on a bad body. Short verdict was good glass always wins.

I would tend to agree.

I would also add, GOOD LIGHT and good glass can produce fantastic results even on the older, less capable bodies. A decent lens and the right light with even a lowly body like a D40 can make some stunning images.

tcole1983 said:
Hmmm my ratio of lens money to body money at this point is about 10:1 and if I ever upgrade my body will be around 4:1...so sticking with lenses here. Now you still have to keep up with the lately technology I think. Several generation newer bodies can do wonder for picture quality from what I have seen, but at the same time putting junky glass on an expensive body seems like a moot point also.

But now for years to come I can still use my glass I have invested in already...and my body is already out of date and needs (or I want to) upgrading.

I am with you as far as my own personal purchases go, tcole.

Only problem for me, is that my money doesn't go as far as my eyes tell me it needs to ;-)

I use Auto ISO in two different situations.

For wildlife and sports, when the subject is moving into different lighting conditions, I use Manual mode and Auto ISO. In these situations I have varied light levels, but need to maintain a minimum shutter speed and specific aperture. I use center weighted metering to drive the ISO selected by the camera. This approach is pretty common. I use it for birding, large mammals in lower light, and for outdoor sports in the late afternoon.

For mixed light levels - at events or similar work - Auto ISO set to 1.5 times the focal length allows me to get some automatic adjustments to offset changing lighting. Here it is more a matter of protecting against too slow a shutter speed. In practice, this one is a little less common as it is so intuitive to adjust settings manually.

Hmmm my ratio of lens money to body money at this point is about 10:1 and if I ever upgrade my body will be around 4:1...so sticking with lenses here. Now you still have to keep up with the lately technology I think. Several generation newer bodies can do wonder for picture quality from what I have seen, but at the same time putting junky glass on an expensive body seems like a moot point also.

But now for years to come I can still use my glass I have invested in already...and my body is already out of date and needs (or I want to) upgrading.

Thanks msmoto, I'll give it a try. I would like to at least approximate the original but if they have something that works that would be good.

AA is indeed famous for his landscapes but early in his career, he could not support his family, solely with his creative work. Like many "creative " photographers he did "commercial" photography and like most commercial photographers, he took whatever work he could get and that included portraiture, see Ansel Adams an Autobiography

sevencrossing said:
Do look up his portaits of Albert Bender, Georgia O'Keeffe & Orville Cox, Robinson Jeffers, Mary Austin, Beaumont Newhall, Cedric Wright, Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston

Yes, I have mispoken....what I meant to say, was, his landscapes generally did not include people....and I believe this was quite intentional in sharing the scene as he saw it. It was to my understanding, the importance in his work was on the natural resources in the landscapes and the portraits he did snap were of far less importance. This is only my understanding and I could be in error here as well. But my knowledge is based on discussions from years ago..

Thanks sevencrossing..

msmoto said:
Probably important to understand, Ansel Adams lived in a time which was technologically limited. ........ he made little attempt to photograph people.......Just a few thoughts to encourage more comments :-)

Do look up his portaits of Albert Bender, Georgia O'Keeffe & Orville Cox, Robinson Jeffers, Mary Austin, Beaumont Newhall, Cedric Wright, Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston

Probably important to understand, Ansel Adams lived in a time which was technologically limited. No digital, no computers capable of what we can do today, and most important, his passion was the landscape. While his images are the highest form of photographic art, he made little attempt to photograph people.

If one is a "paparazzi" and is interested in recording life, then the camera's capabilities become very important. The high ISO, rapid frame rates, rapid interchangeability of lenses, and portability of the camera body are in some cases critical. So, in one senses asking which is more important is like asking which is more important in the car...the engine or the transmission....

Just a few thoughts to encourage more comments :-)

New York wedding location is an elevated rested place which is the collection of beautiful scenes. New York wedding location makes good moments for the coming visitors also.

new york wedding location

For me? I believe in lenses. Fast glass.

I took a note from reading about Ansel Adams some years back and it made sense to me. He said, all other things being equal, the lens is the most important. If it does not get through the glass, you'll never see it on the image.

As an example, I bought the Nikon 70-200mm ED VR II f/2.8 early in 2012. Fast glass. In the middle of shooting a season of local baseball, I could suddenly see very detailed fine dust/dirt particles in my images just as my eye did as the players moved or from the catchers glove. Others were just as amazed at the 'new' images.

Before that I was using an f/4.5 Nikon zoom/tele. Both good lenses, but the VR II f2/8 internal zoom was better from all my reading and seeing it could be f/2.8 through its focal range was something to be said.

I've the same experience with my Micro Nikkor 60mm and two other very good lenses.

Fast glass rules for me as I love hearing people's breath being taken in at the sight of my pictures. :-) It just makes a good camera better.

I'll get a new body in 2013. My investments in glass that I have made will only improve even more then.

My suggestion, if you are in the USA, is to check with Automotive Fasteners. They have supplied all sorts of difficult to find screws, metric and US sizes for my equipment. And, I know what the little screw on the 400mm hood looks like. They may have a very similar one..in an Allen head cap screw. Just Google "Allen head cap screw"

Anybody with a broken lens hood screw (it tightens hood to lens) found a replacement without sending the lens hood to a Nikon repair shop? Nikon doesn't make it easy to find or fix these little (but important) off the wall parts.

D800 I'm also using auto ISO set to one or two clicks (1.5x) faster than 1/focal length. I shoot aperture priority handheld most of the time and figure i'm more likely to lose a shot through camera shake than high ISO noise. I use 200 as base ISO and set the max automatic to 1600. if i want to go higher it's easy to dial ISO up manually but I don't let the camera make that decision.
I feel Nikon bodies tend to overexpose so my default on the old D60 was -1/3 EV. On the D800 I haven't decided if this is still good or if I should use -2/3. I adjust exposure comp a lot to expose highlghlights or shadows as I want them.
I normally go to manual for flash or anytime I want consistency across a set of images. as I never used auto ISO before the D800 I have to remember to switch it off then too :-) and if I want to rely on VR to let me shoot at lower ISO than my default auto settings would choose.

Good subject for discussion - thanks !

I use to be the biggest advocate against using auto iso and now auto iso is all I use unless I'm shooting indoors with strobes or flash.

On the D90 I had problems with auto iso but with my D7000 and D800 it works perfect.

My biggest joy with auto iso is being able to shoot in M mode all the time, free to shoot any setting I wish and know the picture will come out correctly.

DutchNikon said:
I never use auto iso, i do use different ISO settings depending on what i want to shoot, and the available light, like i also never use full automatic shooting. The only thing auto i seem to use is auto focus, but even that i have mostly on manual..

I like this approach as it is more in the keeping with the way we used to do things. But, with the ability to shoot at high frame rates, rapidly changing scenes, the auto ISO can save the exposure. Especially on a day shooting action sports when the sky is partly cloudy and the light level may be changing from one second to the next, and one is shooting possibly 100 exposures in a period of only a couple minutes. There is no time to make exposure adjustments.

On the other hand, the "auto" features tend to make me less aware of the entire process of the image capturing technique. Thus, I like to set up manual mode, fixed ISO and then adjust the exposure in the camera as I compose the subject. This also allows me to make exposure adjustments to control the overall effect in the image, something with an auto exposure one does not have unless using the +/- exposure adjustment.

I never use auto iso, i do use different ISO settings depending on what i want to shoot, and the available light, like i also never use full automatic shooting. The only thing auto i seem to use is auto focus, but even that i have mostly on manual..

I use auto ISO for shooting sports and wildlife, simply because there isn't time to be manually changing settings on the fly. I simply set a range I'm happy with (200-6400 on the D700 or 200-3200 on the D300), pick a minimum shutter speed and go from there. The other option is to use auto ISO in conjunction with manual mode. That way I can set the aperture and shutter speed I need, while letting the camera pick the ISO as needed.

For everything else, landscapes, closeups and portraits, auto ISO is off.

There is little room for ISOs higher than the base one with my D300 in landscape photography . The Auto ISO is off therefore in 3 of my 4 user banks leaving 1 bank with Auto ISO ON for family/street/action/indoors/low light etc. photography where I am not that much worried about the ISO. As opposed to the Manual mode use in the 3 banks, I opt to go for the S mode in this bank. It really is a great feature saving me time ( and many shots ) as long as I am in the automatic modes. However, once I switch to Manual, the little annoyance starts.

Once light conditions get tricky, I very often end up switching to Manual to take things under control. Being used to everything staying manual and set exposure staying same in the other 3 banks, I always keep forgetting that the Auto ISO stays on if it is not turned off - even in manual mode. The problem here is not only the "without consent" increased ISO but the fact that exposure is uncontrollable - the reason I switched to Manual in the first place.

Writing about this, I really feel stupid about how I can't simply remember this one rule - to turn Auto ISO off when I switch to Manual from S or A mode but I do read that I am not the only one and many are fooled by this behaviour.