"Intelligent" P/full auto -- ability to create rules, minimums, maximums, exc...

Started by BlueToast, July 14, 2013, 07:51:58 AM

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BlueToast

Greetings,

In my current situation of low-light church photography as a member of a church's media team/department equipped with a T3i (a little under 800 ISO for low-light performance), I've come into a situation where being able to fine-tune the automatic settings for shutter speed, aperture, and ISO would definitely come in handy.

For instance, I would set that for shutter speed a value no greater than 1/100 but no maximum; for aperture a minimum of f/4 but a maximum of f/11, favoring f/11 if possible; for ISO, I know I can set a limit on the camera through the Menu but it lacks "intelligence" -- minimum of 100, maximum of 800, and permit 1600 only in the scenario that the shutter speed would normally be less than 1/40 (because I can handle some underexposed photos at 800 ISO due to my T3i's low-light performance being 793 ISO, but in very desperate situations can compromise for 1600 ISO but cannot compromise for a minimum of 1/100 shutter speed and refuse to go down to an f/2.8 aperture on my 70-200mm f/2.8L II), and on top of this that if the shutter speed would be 1/2 or greater to have full range **including boostable 12800 / H ISO** (this in itself may be an entirely different feature request) -- I may be trying to get some crowd shots where there is minimal or very very low lighting, requiring me to use 3200, 6400, and sometimes even 12800 (but I have to manually set it to H to use 12800; Auto will never select it).

Is a feature by this nature even possible? If so, it would be incredibly useful. What I have to do now is frequently switch between Av and M, and in many scenarios even doing this isn't enough and I have to adjust shutter speed, ISO, and aperture on the fly in [M]anual to try get a shot. Automating these 'intelligently' through rules I specify could allow me to skip any adjustment altogether for particular scenes or conference sessions; of course, moving into an entirely different environment such as going outside when it is sunny vs having just been inside a church auditorium that can push my T3i to its limits. I hope I'm not the only one that would benefit from this, and hope that this is something possible and could gain traction as a request.

Shutter Speed:
* Minimum = fastest
* Maximum = 1/100

Aperture:
* Minimum = f/4.0
* Preferred = f/5.6
* Maximum = f/11.0

ISO:
* Minimum = lowest
* Maximum = 800
* Exception (previous rule obsolete): Maximum if Shutter Speed >1/40 = 1600
* Exception (previous rule obsolete): Maximum if Shutter Speed >1/20 = 6400 (not to be confused with 'highest' which IMO = 12800, H, or boostable ISO)
* Exception (previous rule obsolete): Maximum if Shutter Speed >1" = highest (aka boosted 12800, H)

Donno, maybe there could be something for EV as well, and a points-based system thing somehow for encouragement to lean more toward f/11.0 rather than f/4.0. I'm out of ideas. I find myself adjusting aperture and ISO a lot, ... but then ... hmm, maybe my idea is stupid :(

xNiNELiVES

You can already turn everything on auto I believe. Or maybe close to this. I use AV mode and put ISO on auto with a minimum shutter on my 6D of 1/60. This combo is a perfect walk around setup. Of course the 5D Mark II and other old cameras don't feature settings to modify minimum and maximum iso and shutter. I don't really know if it would be necessary to have control of Aperture. There is an A-Dep mode for Auto Aperture selection...

brapodam

On a slightly related note, I'd love to see something like the Program mode in Pentax DSLRs.

QuoteHyper-Program mode

By day, this is a conventional program mode that selects aperture and shutter-speed combinations based on the program-line you've told the camera to use. But with a turn of either of the dials, it transforms itself into 'Hyper-program' mode. The two dials allow you to set the shutter speed or aperture, effectively putting the camera into Tv or AV mode. A quick press of the green button and the camera reverts to its usual, unassuming program mode.

However I think the devs mentioned that switching shooting modes via software is dangerous. Perhaps a different way of implementing it can be done (Auto mode with ML expo override?). What BlueToast suggested sounds pretty good but can be quite slow to operate.

I think for such purposes, using manual mode with Auto ISO seems to be the best bet, provided you have an idea of what kind of shutter speeds/aperture is required for the scene, for the ISOs you want to use.

Erik Krause

Quote from: brapodam on July 14, 2013, 10:29:09 AM
On a slightly related note, I'd love to see something like the Program mode in Pentax DSLRs.

Wasn't this ever possible on EOS cameras? In P mode if I use the main dial I can change aperture and time changes accordingly to maintain the same exposure. I can change exposure by turning the back dial.

brapodam

Quote from: Erik Krause on July 14, 2013, 02:54:21 PM
Wasn't this ever possible on EOS cameras? In P mode if I use the main dial I can change aperture and time changes accordingly to maintain the same exposure. I can change exposure by turning the back dial.
Hmm really? I've tried turning the dials with the camera in P mode and I see the exposure changing sometimes, and sometimes it does nothing, so I pretty much gave up on P mode. Aperture Priority and Manual mode worked pretty well for me, so I didn't really spend a lot of time figuring out how P mode worked.

EDIT: I just saw the Canon manual and it isn't true you can do it like the Pentax P mode. It has a couple of aperture and shutter speed combinations you can scroll through, but it doesn't actually change to aperture priority or shutter priority
QuoteAbout Program Shift
In the Program AE mode, you can freely change the shutter speed and
aperture combination (Program) set automatically by the camera while
maintaining the same exposure. This is called Program shift.

xNiNELiVES

Having minimums and maximums isn't a whole different mode, so wouldn't that be a nice way to get by without being dangerous?

kloned