Any tips on remembering to change the ISO settings

[JRob]

I ruined 35 shots today because I freekin forgot/didnt think to set the iso back to 100 after shooting inside at 800. I had a rare oportunity today to get some shots of a duck. It literally paddled over and got out on to the land walked up to me and posed for me for about 15 shots and left. All of the shots are ruined.:banghead:

Are there any tips you can provide to help me remember to change my iso setting for indoor and outdoor shots.

I really dont want to put a label on my camera that says "check iso idiot."

 

[julie32]

Your post made me laugh...about putting the note on your camera.
If you look at the LCD after the shot, it didn't look too light and grainy?

 

[Sideburns]

why are they ruined?
Also, if you are shooting 3 stops faster than normal...usually it's pretty obvious.

800 ISO isn't that bad...well...on my camera it's usable...

 

[Big Mike]

ISO 800 isn't that bad...I can't see how they are 'ruined'.

This has been an issue for several years...and the newer models now have the ISO displayed in the viewfinder info.

 

[sabbath999]

Well, if you were going the OTHER way you could always chimp... but shooting at 800 vs. when you want to be at 100, not so much.

I did something even more stupid. I turned my image size down to SMALL at the last zoo I shot to take pictures of signs and forgot to turn it back up. Fortunately, when I got to some shots I REALLY wanted I switched to RAW which ignores the file size settings... still, it was inane of me to do that.

 

[JRob]

The LCD image looked fine because it is tiny. I have the rebel xt.

But when I looked at them on the pc they were way too noisy and really bright. I was shooting raw and in program mode.

 

[photogincollege]

May I suggest setting your camera to show both a smaller pic and a histogram. That will let you know much better if something is too bright .

 

[Big Mike]

May I suggest setting your camera to show both a smaller pic and a histogram. That will let you know much better if something is too bright

That screen also displays the ISO...although it may be hard to pick out in the jumble of info.

Unless you were shooting in manual mode, the images should not have been brighter because you were shooting at ISO 800. The aperture and/or shutter speed would have compensated for that.

 

[bhop]

I understand exactly what you mean. I'm guessing the reason you think the're ruined is the noise difference between 100 and 800. Exposure might be ok, they might look great from far away, but up close, they're noisy.

I did the exact same thing myself while shooting my friend's wedding reception. (not a pro gig, just some friend shots) When I got home and looked at the pics, they were all noisy. I don't think of them as ruined or anything because I don't mind grain/noise myself, but they would've been nicer if I shot at the lower ISO. (I was using flash.. grrr..)

 

[yeti]

I often forget to set something on my camera. I can't really see when my shots go wrong until I put them on a computer. I try to get into the habbit to look through a histogram for each colour on my LCD. I can usually spot if my exposure is wrong fairly easily and if I am really paying attention, even if my white balance is off. I also try to get into the habbit to set things on my camera in order of decreasing importance so that if I forget something near the end, or run out of time setting stuff, I am at least left with a salvagable picture with some post-processing.

Notes don't really work for me, I have way too many of them already.:geek:

 

[Sideburns]

If they're too bright...it's probably not the ISO...it's the fact you shot in program. It just didn't work out so well.
For noise, I like Noise Ninja. Miracle software...

 

[MarcusM]

I feel your pain, buddy. I did the exact same thing when I shot my sister's senior pics! I felt so bad and stupid. She said she didn't even notice and didn't care, but I still was disappointed in myself for forgetting to turn the ISO down.

I have a EOS Digital Rebel...at ISO 800, the shots are not great. They're not terrible, but you can definitely tell if you are used to looking at photos. They are noisy and flat.

I have since forced myself to check the ISO and WB EVERY time I turn on my camera before I shoot. It only takes 2 seconds to check.

Like Sideburns said I should have noticed when I was shooting 3 stops faster than normal. Now that I think of it, it really should have clicked when I took one real sunny shot at 1/4000 sec and the meter was still reading slightly overexposed. Major beginner's mistake!

 

[keith204]

it actualllly couldddda been the iso causing images to be too bright. I've had this happen before.

When I was shooting a dodge viper show, I whipped out my 50mm 1.8 to get the shot below, set the aperture to 1.8, and fired away. The first shot totally didn't work, because my iso (400) was too high. It was a bright day shooting a white car, so ISO 400 + f/1.8, plus maxed out at 1/8000th of a second...was too bright. I had to dumb it down to ISO 100. Even at that, this shot was taken at f/1.8, ISO 100, 1/8000th of as econd.

Anyway, it was a duck. Ducks around here are white...at least the annoying ducks with a huge bubble on their beak. So, an XT with a max shutter speed of 1/4000th, if combined with a large aperture, high iso and a sunny day...could be the problem. (I shoot in AV a lot)

This is likely not the case, but I just didn't want him to completely rule it out quite yet.

 

[Val]

Get a Nikon :thumbup: auto iso rocks

 

[Mav]

If they're too bright...it's probably not the ISO...it's the fact you shot in program. It just didn't work out so well.
For noise, I like Noise Ninja. Miracle software...

Yeah just get some NR software and don't worry about it.

Get a Nikon :thumbup: auto iso rocks

hehe :mrgreen: