Gareth said:
are you sure it is the exact same shot? there are many things that could be happening, most likely it is your error.

if you want to really see if it works, try shooting in M mode at your widest aperture and exposing correctly with shutter speed and matrix metering. auto ISO will try to expose the shot correctly, so if you have the correct exposure from aperture and shutter speed, it should be adjusting to around ISO200. Then the TTL should fire only minimally as you are on matrix metering and already have a correct exposure.

that said, i am never happy with auto ISO with on camera flash, it tends to give less than ideal results. I exposure for the shot and usually need scene/shadow detail, so might manually crank the ISO to get a scene 1-2 stops under exposed, then add flash as needed.

don't blame your camera if you always shoot it on auto, that is why it has manual settings.

Before posting this, I did a poor mans test, hand holding the camera, and aiming at same shots with 2 diff settings. It was easy to see that the P mode was always going to my max setting of 3200.

I almost always shoot M but rarely do flash pics so that's where my lesser understanding came in to play. I'm not an M mode prude tho... not every pic needs to be taken in hopes its the one to knock Ansel Adams off the top list. Sometimes I just want to snap fast and good pics of the family holiday dinner so I have no problem going auto there. I'm sure Steven Spielberg doesnt use a $500,000 movie camera to shoot home videos. :-)

Plus.. I found info on the Nikon site that seems to back up my thoughts?

I'll do another test tonight... same shots, different settings. Bonus is... I bought my wife a 3100 for Christmas and I'll be able to try the SB600 on her camera also (which, if I am reading the nikon site correctly, should auto adjust the ISO)

Thanks for your input and suggestions!!!

Bland said:
How did the picture come out?

Bland said:
How did the picture come out?

Actually... thats what made me notice. I was trying out both P and Auto, and when looking at the pics a few days later the graininess was very noticeable to me in the pic, which made me look to see "What were the settings". Grainier pics were all the 3200 ones.

Can't you set a minimum ISO range for Auto ISO?

I'm not sure if it would work with a speedlight though.

OnTheBandwagon said:
Auto-ISO set to MAX 3200.

1) On full AUTO mode the ISO adjust as I would expect... Say 800ISO

exact same shot...
2) but in P (still with AUTO ISO 3200) and it always goes to 3200

I expected the AUTO ISO to work with the external flash. Seems to ignore.

Is this the correct behavior? Am I missing something?

are you sure it is the exact same shot? there are many things that could be happening, most likely it is your error.

if you want to really see if it works, try shooting in M mode at your widest aperture and exposing correctly with shutter speed and matrix metering. auto ISO will try to expose the shot correctly, so if you have the correct exposure from aperture and shutter speed, it should be adjusting to around ISO200. Then the TTL should fire only minimally as you are on matrix metering and already have a correct exposure.

that said, i am never happy with auto ISO with on camera flash, it tends to give less than ideal results. I exposure for the shot and usually need scene/shadow detail, so might manually crank the ISO to get a scene 1-2 stops under exposed, then add flash as needed.

don't blame your camera if you always shoot it on auto, that is why it has manual settings.

How did the picture come out?

Ooh... hmm seems intentional.
under Nikon support is an item named: D-SLR and Nikon Speedlight Compatibility

The D7000 is listed in the upper tier cameras, and forthe SB600 the "Auto ISO sensitivity control" is not listed, as it is for the next tier. D5100, D5000, D3100, D3000

SB600 is TTL. Looks like it needs iTTL

Or worse yet... set to full AUTO. :-(

Thanks for the reply and confirmation.

I have noticed the same thing, I hate it and I think it is a Nikon firmware "bug" or "defect." I don't think the ISO should default to the maximum auto ISO whenever you use the flash unless you have reached the end of the power range of the flash. In other words, I would code the D7000 to keep the base ISO and increase flash power until the flash can put out no more power and then start to increase ISO.

To work around this issue you have to either lower the auto ISO maximum setting or better yet, turn it off and just set the ISO yourself.

Auto-ISO set to MAX 3200.

1) On full AUTO mode the ISO adjust as I would expect... Say 800ISO

exact same shot...
2) but in P (still with AUTO ISO 3200) and it always goes to 3200

I expected the AUTO ISO to work with the external flash. Seems to ignore.

Is this the correct behavior? Am I missing something?