5D Mark III Minimum Shutter Speed Setting- Lets make some noise!

[PeterJ]

Canon would say, "Buy a 1D X, and you can set a minimum shutter speed from 30 s to 1/4000 s."

Or, they might point out that you can set shutter speed in Manual along with aperture and let auto ISO take care of the exposure.  Its hardly a big deal.  That way, you get that high shutter speed and just the aperture you want.

The problem then, is, you can't set EC in M mode with auto ISO. If you could, there would be no need for a min shutter speed in Av mode.

Good point, I was thinking same as Mt Spokane when I first read this and have only ever used auto-ISO in manual myself. I suspect in practice it would affect very few users though, I don't have any really long lenses myself but when would it be useful in practice?

Say I was shooting a BIF with a 600mm against on a bright day I can see why I'd use EC in one way, but if lighting was so static I could determine what EC was needed I could use manual.  I'm only an amateur but struggling to see why EC would be important with such a long lens unless the the light filling the lens was consistent.

[canon816]

Canon would say, "Buy a 1D X, and you can set a minimum shutter speed from 30 s to 1/4000 s."

Or, they might point out that you can set shutter speed in Manual along with aperture and let auto ISO take care of the exposure.  Its hardly a big deal.  That way, you get that high shutter speed and just the aperture you want.

The problem then, is, you can't set EC in M mode with auto ISO. If you could, there would be no need for a min shutter speed in Av mode.

Good point, I was thinking same as Mt Spokane when I first read this and have only ever used auto-ISO in manual myself. I suspect in practice it would affect very few users though, I don't have any really long lenses myself but when would it be useful in practice?

Say I was shooting a BIF with a 600mm against on a bright day I can see why I'd use EC in one way, but if lighting was so static I could determine what EC was needed I could use manual.  I'm only an amateur but struggling to see why EC would be important with such a long lens unless the the light filling the lens was consistent.

The camera tries to meter off of what it believes is neutral grey for the scene and as such the camera can get confused as to the proper exposure. I.e you are shooting a moose with a long lens. The moose fills most of the frame. You would need to compensate the exposure to under by 2/3 to a full stop to properly expose the moose. On the other end if you were shooting a polar bear you would need to move the exp composition to be over by 2/3 or more.  Now add partial clouds where there is a constant changing light source or dynamic subjects which fill more and less of the frame, thE ec becomes a quick and easy tool for getting exposure right.

You could shoot in full manual without auto iso, but if you want to use auto iso then these variables render it useless. Spot metering can help in certain scenes but can hurt in others.

Send canon an email if you'd like to see them improve this piece of programming to make it useful.

[neuroanatomist]

But it will be better if the min shutter speed can be set automatically as a multiple of the lens focal length.

What's the logic, there?  Are you saying you want to pick the multiple, e.g. 1 / (2x focal length) or 1 / (4x shutter speed)?  What about IS lenses - should the camera then know if a lens has IS, if it's on or off, and if on drop the setting by the rated stops of stabilization?

Actually, the camera already defaults to 1 / focal length in Av mode on FF bodies, and 1 / (1.6 x focal length) on APS-C bodies, ignoring IS.  But, if you specify a min shutter speed, your setting overrides that.  For example, if I set 1/250 s and mount a 600mm lens, even in good light it will select 1/250 s or 1/320 s. But with min shutter set to Auto, it will use 1/640 s if there's enough light.

For me, the utility of the min shutter speed setting isn't to prevent camera shake - Auto already does that based on the 1 / focal length rule.  Rather, it's to prevent subject motion from blurring the shot. With a 24-105mm lens, at the long end it will select 1/100 s in Auto, which is ok, but at the wide and it will select 1/25 s and there will often be blur from involuntary or small subject movements.  I set a min shutter of 1/125 s for 'still' people, 1/250 if I expect them to be moving (not sports, just moving around), and for wildlife/sports a min shutter of 1/500 s (which is possible on the 1D X using the shutter speed range setting, but not on the 5DIII).

[Baska]

Don't You like what canon has served You? 1/250 - it's a shame in my opinion. Crippled. Perdiod.
You should better stop argue and complain on forum and start to write to Canon as i (and other few people here) do.

regards
Baska

[PeterJ]

Canon would say, "Buy a 1D X, and you can set a minimum shutter speed from 30 s to 1/4000 s."

Or, they might point out that you can set shutter speed in Manual along with aperture and let auto ISO take care of the exposure.  Its hardly a big deal.  That way, you get that high shutter speed and just the aperture you want.

The problem then, is, you can't set EC in M mode with auto ISO. If you could, there would be no need for a min shutter speed in Av mode.

Good point, I was thinking same as Mt Spokane when I first read this and have only ever used auto-ISO in manual myself. I suspect in practice it would affect very few users though, I don't have any really long lenses myself but when would it be useful in practice?

Say I was shooting a BIF with a 600mm against on a bright day I can see why I'd use EC in one way, but if lighting was so static I could determine what EC was needed I could use manual.  I'm only an amateur but struggling to see why EC would be important with such a long lens unless the the light filling the lens was consistent.

The camera tries to meter off of what it believes is neutral grey for the scene and as such the camera can get confused as to the proper exposure. I.e you are shooting a moose with a long lens. The moose fills most of the frame. You would need to compensate the exposure to under by 2/3 to a full stop to properly expose the moose. On the other end if you were shooting a polar bear you would need to move the exp composition to be over by 2/3 or more.  Now add partial clouds where there is a constant changing light source or dynamic subjects which fill more and less of the frame, thE ec becomes a quick and easy tool for getting exposure right.

You could shoot in full manual without auto iso, but if you want to use auto iso then these variables render it useless. Spot metering can help in certain scenes but can hurt in others.

Send canon an email if you'd like to see them improve this piece of programming to make it useful.

Thanks that makes sense and explains it perfectly. I've normally only shot such subjects so close spot metering on the part of interest and giving it some thought / refinement is fine, or at such a distance not filling much of the frame I knew it wouldn't work and metered against a static object in advance, but can see now why it would be useful.

[neuroanatomist]

[ (which is possible on the 1D X using the shutter speed range setting, but not on the 5DIII).

1D X ....1D X... your record is broken.

so you have to buy canons top model to get some basic features...
when you think that is fine .. you should check your own neurons!   

Gee, I didn't realize that's why I bought the 1D X. Thanks for clarifying my reasons to me.   

[canon816]

[ (which is possible on the 1D X using the shutter speed range setting, but not on the 5DIII).

1D X ....1D X... your record is broken.

so you have to buy canons top model to get some basic features...
when you think that is fine .. you should check your own neurons!   

Gee, I didn't realize that's why I bought the 1D X. Thanks for clarifying my reasons to me.   

I thought you bought the 1DX cause the neck strap says "1DX" on it.    

[neuroanatomist]

Actually, I was really hoping Canon would have put an EOS 1D X window decal in the box, like Apple does. *sigh*