ISO help...

What are the semi-automatic modes specifically? I thought, apart from Tav, the ISO remained fixed at exactly what you set out at? Does it ever actually change apart from direct user adjustment with the ISO button, apart from Tav?

This is what I thought

Auto ISO works in Green, P, Tv, Av, and TAv Modes. The examples I described above apply in P (including Av-Hyper), and Av Modes because, obviously, in Tv and TAv, the user selects the shutter speed. (My camera is the K-5 II - I expect this stuff will also apply to the K-5 and K-5 IIs)

Cheers.
Philip

This is lifted straight from the Manual. K5 11s.

When exposure mode is set to "GREEN", "TAv", "MOVIE",the setting is fixed to ISO(auto)and the setting cannot be changed.

When the exposure mode is set to "Sv", "M", "B" or "X", the setting cannot be set to ISO(auto).

Me again - no mention is made of the remaining modes, but I'm just about to find out [pauses to check camera] - in "P", "Tv", "Av", and certain "USER" modes (dependent upon setting chosen for each one), you can choose whether to use ISO(auto) or set it yourself.

SoI'm presuming that in any mode where ISO(auto) is permitted, you can then choose which behaviour is used, as described by Philip(MrB) earlier.

There you have it; straight from the manuals pages.

At the end of the day, I'm still confused. LOL.

I find the ISO controls incredibly helpful on Pentax dSLRs.

By default, the ISO can be adjusted through the menu system or with the dedicated ISO button. However, if you customize the e-dial settings then extra facilities are offered.

For example, my day-to-day mode is Av, and I have set the ISO to be controlled by the spare e-dial. Once setup that way, the ISO is also displayed in the viewfinder, and can be controlled easily.

Pressing the Green button switches to Auto-ISO within the range you have set.
Use the e-dial to force the ISO for a particular situation - the ISO will be underlined in the viewfinder.

It took a little while to learn to see aperture, shutter speed, and ISO all at once. But now it's second nature! Having the choice of ISO (the "Slow" or "Fast" from the OP) means I can let the camera deal with Auto-ISO in a sensible way. But, easily overiding ISO is a great feature!

Matt

I also have settled on Av Mode for most of my photography. I realise that this is going a bit off topic, but I have set the rear dial to control Aperture and the front dial to control Exposure Compensation, and I'm finding that is a very good combination in practice. Control of ISO (or Auto ISO) is, of course, still available in the usual way.

Cheers.
Philip

It's a great help to learn what e-dial settings other folks are using. While on hols next week I'm going to try some of the ones suggested and see which suits me best.
A big THANKYOU to all who have posted. I think everyone contributed something and as a near novice all information helps..

I need to correct a mistake I made earlier when I said the K7 & K5mk1 didn't have this auto-iso feature ... That's wrong, they do and I've found mine on the control panel I've seen it and even set it, so can't understand why it didn't register when snoops first posted this ... I think its because its practical significance is actually quite obscure, so its great to have this discussion!

It was interesting what Matt said about the green button restoring auto-iso defaults. I tried it out in Tav mode, with a range of 200-1600, and thought it was of limited use as you keep' hitting the buffers' on the aperture parameter mostly. I guess it would be more practical on a later model where you could safely set a much wider range?

I also wonder if the memory menu item for ISO has a part to play? I use this on to retain my last set ISO when switching the cameras on again, which works for me. If it was of would the auto-ISO setting have ah influence over what starting iso is chosen? I can only assume that the overall lighting levels would also influence this?

Hi Team,

Just wanted to raise awareness of a little setting that's really adjusted my camera to my liking. It's kinda obvious, but I'd overlooked it for so long that maybe others have too. I didn't want a duplicate post, so searched and found this one, but did want to raise it again so it's current for new users, who may have otherwise missed it.

I was always getting frustrated with my camera selecting too slow a shutter speed in Av mode. I'd had a go at influencing this in the past but with little success.
With modern Pentax cameras being fine at higher ISO levels than previous/early sensor models, I'm quite happy to up this in favour of a fast shutter speed.

It's better to have a noisy shot than a blurry one with subject movement due to too slow a shutter speed.
This really showed up once it got darker and you went indoors, and way too many family shots were ruined due to blur.

Anyhow, there is a setting here that I'd tried, but that obviously only affects the P mode.
I'd had that set to fast, but it doesn't work with the Av mode.
[IMG]https://www.pentaxforums.com/content/uploads/files/1/1606/IMG_4581.JPG[/IMG]

But buried under the Auto ISO Parameters menu is the one you want:
[IMG]https://www.pentaxforums.com/content/uploads/files/1/892/IMG_5425_a.jpg[/IMG]

Switching that little guy to FAST made all the difference, and now suddenly Av was good for most situations I wanted it for.
I found the default auto setting too slow for my needs, but Fast was perfect.

That coupled with a sensible metering mode (I most often use Centre weighted) and it was like I had a new camera, perfectly attuned for my thinking.
So much so that I've been compelled to share the love with others, in case this had been overlooked or not considered.

This one change restored my confidence in the camera and really helped out on my recent trip, allowing me to focus much more on the shots I wanted.

For travel photography (seems such a broad term though) I mostly have my K-3 set at Av, with ISO set at 100-3200 and the camera now prioritising a fast shutter speed.

I then just rode the exposure compensation up and down as required, or switched to TAv (still with 100-3200 floating ISO range) for the likes of animal shots, (where I wanted a very high shutter speed around 1/800s or so) and again rode the exposure comp if required (say a bird against a bright sky).

Once too dark (say for tripod long exposure work) then you're back into full Manual, but the Auto ISO Fast setting was revolutionary.

Maybe this will be of interest to you

You've hit on a good point - and there are so many possible settings that maybe there are lots of other things as well that might improve our cameras to be more in line with our detailed thinking.