# Nikon D5000 Auto ISO in M/A/S



## Lipoly (Jun 11, 2010)

I have a new Nikon D5000 and am really enjoying it.  One issue I have is when I am in manual, aperature priority, or shutter priority, the option to set ISO to Auto is disabled.  Is there no way to enable auto ISO in these modes?


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## tirediron (Jun 11, 2010)

Generally, new cameras come with manuals...


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## mfer (Jun 11, 2010)

I'll help.  Here is a guide to the d5000 that you can search with...

Nikon D5000 User's Guide

You'll need to expose your full menu selection as well.  That is on his website.

Pretty good basic stuff, but (IMHO) don't get caught up in too much of the equipment he recommends.  He is going after people who don't take photography too seriously, so keep that in mind if you read his stuff.  His explanations of the settings are decent too.  More simple really.  He says that you shouldn't change some of them.  Again that is for someone who doesn't want really good pics.


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## Lipoly (Jun 11, 2010)

Thanks mfer, I have read the manual and ken's site.  He gives some good tips, but sometimes says surprising things like ISO 3200 looks "great."  At any rate, I know how to program the Auto ISO, the problem is that M/A/S will not go into auto ISO, only P (and full Auto of course).


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## mfer (Jun 11, 2010)

Lipoly said:


> Thanks mfer, I have read the manual and ken's site. He gives some good tips, but sometimes says surprising things like ISO 3200 looks "great." At any rate, I know how to program the Auto ISO, the problem is that M/A/S will not go into auto ISO, only P (and full Auto of course).


 
Hmmmmmmm. I'll have to look at my d40 tonight. I shoot in "A" pretty much all the time and I thought I was getting my auto ISO. Most of my pics are taken in ISO 200, but I do see a 100 pop in from time to time when I'm looking at them on my computer. I put my max ISO pretty low however (like 400). The d40 pretty much sucks at anything much higher.


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## Alan92RTTT (Jun 11, 2010)

IIRC when in M/A/S the D5000 does not offer auto ISO its up to you at that point.


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## Lipoly (Jun 11, 2010)

Alan92RTTT said:


> IIRC when in M/A/S the D5000 does not offer auto ISO its up to you at that point.



Thanks, it seemed that way but was hard to believe such a basic feature would be missing.  Its not a huge deal since I'm mostly @ 200, but in indoor shots it would be helpful if it would bump it up a bit when needed.


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## Alan92RTTT (Jun 11, 2010)

When you are shooting m/a/s you don't want the camera messing with your ISO. 

ISO needs to be fixed for you to make the correct decisions about your shutter or aperture.


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## JG_Coleman (Jun 11, 2010)

Alan92RTTT said:


> When you are shooting m/a/s you don't want the camera messing with your ISO.
> 
> ISO needs to be fixed for you to make the correct decisions about your shutter or aperture.


 
I'd agree with Alan92... the ISO setting in these modes is just as important in composing your shot as aperture or shutter speed. Using auto-ISO in aperture-priority mode, for example, could potentially lead to accidents in which one forgets to properly adjust aperture and ends up with an outrageous ISO of 3200... barely a usable shot.

For my own purposes, I almost always shoot outside with ISO at 100 or 200 for landscapes/florals, occasionally at 400 or 800 when shooting wildlife at dusk or in shadows. 

When I find myself indoors, I will usually just point my camera around for a moment and get an idea of the shutter speeds I can expect based on the apertures I'm interested in using... if they are too slow, I adjust the fixed ISO accordingly to compensate for the low light.

For the most part, a single ISO setting should be able to handle most of the situations you encounter in a single indoor location. In the clutch, you can always adjust the fixed ISO on-the-fly using the manual menu in order to boost sensitivity for especially dark scenes or decrease sensitivity for areas with bright lights. Granted, navigating the manual menu can be rather slow, but one ISO setting will probably handle 85%-95% of your shooting situations in one particular venue.

Now, if you still really, really want to have maximum flexibility over ISO on-the-fly, you can always program the function button to automatically jump to ISO. That way, you can hold down the function button and just rotate the thumb-wheel to change your fixed setting. This makes manually adjusting the fixed ISO very easy and very fast.


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## KmH (Jun 11, 2010)

See your users manual, page 149:



> &#10074;&#10074;
> *ISO Sensitivity Auto Control*
> If ​
> ​
> ...



​


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## Lipoly (Jun 11, 2010)

KmH said:


> See your users manual, page 149:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thank you very much, sorry I missed that in my manual (but glad you didn't  )


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## KmH (Jun 11, 2010)

Lipoly said:


> KmH said:
> 
> 
> > See your users manual, page 149:
> ...


 
I should start doing seminars at $99 a head, instead of giving it away here on TPF.


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