HELP PLEASE: CANON 5D II - ISO in "M" mode

[Dylan777]

Hi guys,
I'm borrowing a 5D II from a friend. I was shooting in "M" mode with 50mm f1.4 lens.

I set the aperture at f2 and shutter speed at 80-125 and Auto ISO, for some reason the ISO always stay at 400 - pix came out way under (-2) under low light.

So I manually select ISO to 800, the pix seems fine. I thought by selecting Auto ISO the camera will select ISO for operator.

Question: It's normal? or not for 5D II.

Thanks
Dylan

 

[wickidwombat]

hard to say without knowing how much ambient light there was...

 

[neuroanatomist]

No, on the 5DII in M mode with Auto ISO, it's fixed at ISO 400 (just like with flash in other modes). Newer cameras, such as the 7D and later, have a true Auto ISO in M mode, which adjust ISO to give you metered exposure with your chosen aperture/shutter speed (and even newer cameras like the 60D and later let you specify the range for Auto ISO).

So, the 5DII is behaving normally, even if not as you'd prefer.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

On the 5D MK II, manual is manual, including ISO. Auto ISO in manual would be nice. Something we should see in the future. ISO min / max limits would be nice as well.

 

[dr croubie]

ISO min / max limits would be nice as well.

550D lets you choose max-ISO for auto mode, my mum's 6-year-old Pentax *ist lets you choose max-ISO in auto mode, I played with a nikon d3100 for 5 minutes and even that lets you choose min and max in auto-iso mode. 7D probably costs as much as all of those put together, and it can't. Sigh.

Even nicer would be to be able to set +/- EV Comp for when in auto-iso mode, but that's probably 10 lines of code too much to ask...

 

[PeterJ]

If your friend lent you the camera and not the manual you can download the PDF manuals from Canon. The paper booklets are good to look over a few times when you get new gear, but I always prefer the searchable PDFs for any little "curiosities" that I want to look up down the track about a particular feature.

Anyway just thought I'd mention it in case you weren't aware.

 

[torger]

I'm quite disappointed that auto-ISO etc is not developed more with more custom settings. Auto-ISO on modern cameras that has a wide ISO range has the potential to be a really powerful tool for fast-paced shooting in low light.

But it seems to get better, slowly. As said, 7D auto ISO is more flexible than the 5Dmk2.

Manual shutter speed and aperture and wide range auto-ISO would be really useful for my shooting style in indoor event and sports photography. I'm quite poor at holding the camera still so I usually need a bit shorter shutter speed than Av-mode and auto-ISO gives me, if the lens lacks IS. In (indoor) sports it is often interesting to both control DoF (=aperture) and degree of time-freeze (shutter speed), so manual with auto-ISO would be great there. I also usually want auto-ISO go all the way up to ISO12800/ 25600, just . I think a noisy sharp picture is nicer than a blurry less noisy picture, so locking auto-ISO to max ISO3200 is not really what I want.

 

[bycostello]

probably down to the metering setting you had the camera set on it...

 

[briansquibb]

By default I use the 1D4 and 7D in M with auto iso.

Possibly the best way to be - you set the shutter speed and the aperture and the camera sorts out the exposure

 

[Dylan777]

No, on the 5DII in M mode with Auto ISO, it's fixed at ISO 400 (just like with flash in other modes). Newer cameras, such as the 7D and later, have a true Auto ISO in M mode, which adjust ISO to give you metered exposure with your chosen aperture/shutter speed (and even newer cameras like the 60D and later let you specify the range for Auto ISO).

So, the 5DII is behaving normally, even if not as you'd prefer.

Thanks neuroanatomist - I was little disappointed with the fixed Auto ISO @ 400 in M mode, in 5D II. I'm not a professional photographer, but I always use the M mode on my 60d and have Auto ISO on.

Anyway....the bottom line is I'm very HAPPY with the results that 5d II produced. Pix quality is way much better than my 60d. I hope mrk III will have true Auto ISO in M mode, same or better as 7D & 60D.

I'm one the of millions waiting for mrk III to come out.

Regards,
Dylan

 

[Dylan777]

If your friend lent you the camera and not the manual you can download the PDF manuals from Canon. The paper booklets are good to look over a few times when you get new gear, but I always prefer the searchable PDFs for any little "curiosities" that I want to look up down the track about a particular feature.

Anyway just thought I'd mention it in case you weren't aware.

Great tip - As an owner of 60d, I thought 5d II would have similar setup. I didn't know Auto ISO is fixed at 400 in M mode.

Thx
Dylan

 

[samthefish]

That's disappointing it's not a true auto iso like on the 7D. I use that very frequently on the 7D - Set my shutter speed so it won't be blurry, aperture for DOF I want, and let it pick the best ISO. Another reason for me to wait for the MK III

 

[Caps18]

I don't use Auto ISO in manual mode, but I thought that it would choose a setting between 100-400 based on the light.


I will say that the camera's auto settings don't work all that well for me, and I wish they had pre-set modes or custom modes I could quickly change between and save. For example, with a flash it still meters for the dark. Maybe I am doing something wrong though.

 

[Dylan777]

That's disappointing it's not a true auto iso like on the 7D. I use that very frequently on the 7D - Set my shutter speed so it won't be blurry, aperture for DOF I want, and let it pick the best ISO. Another reason for me to wait for the MK III

Same here on my 60D - in M mode - Set my shutter speed so it won't be blurry, aperture for DOF I want, and let it pick the best ISO.

Dylan

 

[K-amps]

ISO min / max limits would be nice as well.

550D lets you choose max-ISO for auto mode, my mum's 6-year-old Pentax *ist lets you choose max-ISO in auto mode, I played with a nikon d3100 for 5 minutes and even that lets you choose min and max in auto-iso mode. 7D probably costs as much as all of those put together, and it can't. Sigh.

Even nicer would be to be able to set +/- EV Comp for when in auto-iso mode, but that's probably 10 lines of code too much to ask...

Agree with your analysis... deserves an applaud.

and now you are balanced at +44/-44 ;D

 

[neuroanatomist]

550D lets you choose max-ISO for auto mode, my mum's 6-year-old Pentax *ist lets you choose max-ISO in auto mode, I played with a nikon d3100 for 5 minutes and even that lets you choose min and max in auto-iso mode. 7D probably costs as much as all of those put together, and it can't. Sigh.

Of course, Canon could easily implement a user-selectable max ISO in Auto for the 7D via a firmware update. But they haven't. Something simple, and nearly free, and they haven't done it. IMO, they keep things like this to aggregate as reasons for 7D users to eventually want a 7DII. But people persist in thinking the 5DIII will get a great AF system. :

 

[K-amps]

550D lets you choose max-ISO for auto mode, my mum's 6-year-old Pentax *ist lets you choose max-ISO in auto mode, I played with a nikon d3100 for 5 minutes and even that lets you choose min and max in auto-iso mode. 7D probably costs as much as all of those put together, and it can't. Sigh.

Of course, Canon could easily implement a user-selectable max ISO in Auto for the 7D via a firmware update. But they haven't. Something simple, and nearly free, and they haven't done it. IMO, they keep things like this to aggregate as reasons for 7D users to eventually want a 7DII. But people persist in thinking the 5DIII will get a great AF system. :

If Canon can give me 5 frames of AEB for HDR and Auto ISO ranges, I will forgive them the AF crippling.

 

[dr croubie]

550D lets you choose max-ISO for auto mode, my mum's 6-year-old Pentax *ist lets you choose max-ISO in auto mode, I played with a nikon d3100 for 5 minutes and even that lets you choose min and max in auto-iso mode. 7D probably costs as much as all of those put together, and it can't. Sigh.

Of course, Canon could easily implement a user-selectable max ISO in Auto for the 7D via a firmware update. But they haven't. Something simple, and nearly free, and they haven't done it. IMO, they keep things like this to aggregate as reasons for 7D users to eventually want a 7DII. But people persist in thinking the 5DIII will get a great AF system. :

If Canon can give me 5 frames of AEB for HDR and Auto ISO ranges, I will forgive them the AF crippling.

If a 5D3 has a 1DX sensor with 1 AF point, 7-shot bracketing, 3fps, and +/- EV comp in auto-iso, in a 1100D-quality body (but with 7D-style joysticks and wheels), with DOF-preview button in 1DX-position with a 'lock-on' mode, i'll buy one for the same price as a 5D2 is going for now...