A7rii Min SS in auto ISO issue

[rapazolla]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a problem using the min Shutter speed function on my A7rii. I always thought that it was me who just did not read the instructions well, but now I'm not so sure as I just can understand how to use it.

 

Setting the A7rii to manual mode with the 55mm lens, I set my Min SS to 150 and auto ISO betweem 100-1600.

 

I then try and take pictures but the shutter speed is Not above the 150 I just set but goes to 60 / 50 or even less...

 

I have tried switching to over modes - A/S and even Auto but non of them actually used the min SS I just set.

 

What am I doing wrong?

Does anybody uses this feature correctly and can advise?

 

I doubt its a problem with the camera, but I dont know what else to do, what am I missing?

[christer]

Manual is MANUAL.

 

When you are in Manual, go to MinSS menu and it will tell you: "..not available....(in) Manual"

 

You have to shoot in A modus is you want to be able to set MinSS.

 

S and  P modes probably work with Min SS too, but I only use A mode.

[rapazolla]

first, thanks for the response

 

Manual is not quite manual here.. you can do Manual + Auto ISO with range..

and when you are in Manuel mode, it does not tell you "..not available.." as you stated - for other features you are correct, but for this one - not in my camera at least.

 

in any case, I also wrote that I've tried it with A/S priority as well with no success...

 

can you think of any other configuration you are using that might be connected to the camera not wanting to use the Min SS?

[andyfowlie]

I have also tried using this feature and found it to be rather mysterious. I had assumed that when selecting an explicit speed it would limit the shutter speed to be "xxx or faster" but it seemed either to have no effect or to work like "xxx or slower"... I turned it off again and made a mental note to RTFM.

[rapazolla]

I have also tried using this feature and found it to be rather mysterious. I had assumed that when selecting an explicit speed it would limit the shutter speed to be "xxx or faster" but it seemed either to have no effect or to work like "xxx or slower"... I turned it off again and made a mental note to RTFM.

 

I couldn't agree more, its so frustrating as I really want to use this feature..

[andyfowlie]

and now I did RTFM....

 

If you select [iSO AUTO] or [iSO AUTO] under [Multi Frame NR] when the shooting mode is P (Program Auto) or A (Aperture Priority), you can set the shutter speed at which the ISO sensitivity starts changing.

 

so, the feature does not do what I imagined (nor what you imagined I believe), it will not make any difference to the shutter speed, just specifies at which shutter speed the iso starts to change.

[andyfowlie]

Lesson learned for me... sometimes it is necessary to actually find out what a feature is supposed to do rather than guessing based on the title of the menu item

[rapazolla]

and now I did RTFM....

 

If you select [iSO AUTO] or [iSO AUTO] under [Multi Frame NR] when the shooting mode is P (Program Auto) or A (Aperture Priority), you can set the shutter speed at which the ISO sensitivity starts changing.

 

so, the feature does not do what I imagined (nor what you imagined I believe), it will not make any difference to the shutter speed, just specifies at which shutter speed the iso starts to change.

 

as I understand (and your quotes support it) the SS you set is indeed the minimum. if the camera wants to go below, it will NOT and instead - increase the ISO..

buy if you set the max iso to 1600 and the min SS to 150 for example. but when the camera needs more light than 1600 ISO will give, I'm guessing it will ignore the min SS and will go below it.

 

I should test it again with AUTO-ISO without any boundaries to see if I'm right and will update  (though I recall I already tested it in AUTO-ISO with no restriction in the past)

[andyfowlie]

as I understand (and your quotes support it) the SS you set is indeed the minimum. if the camera wants to go below, it will NOT and instead - increase the ISO..

buy if you set the max iso to 1600 and the min SS to 150 for example. but when the camera needs more light than 1600 ISO will give, I'm guessing it will ignore the min SS and will go below it.

 

I should test it again with AUTO-ISO without any boundaries to see if I'm right and will update  (though I recall I already tested it in AUTO-ISO with no restriction in the past)

 

I don't think that is what it means, when reading the same text.

 

I think that it will keep the minimum ISO from your auto-iso settings until you reach that shutter speed, and then will start to intelligently decide how to keep the right exposure (meaning that it changes iso and/or shutter speed and/or aperture (in Program mode)).

 

Normally in the Aperture mode (with auto iso) the camera is deciding how to change the shutter speed and iso to get the right exposure, in Program Auto mode it is almost the same but it also can change the shutter speed.

 

Seems like this setting limits that operation slightly, meaning that don't change the iso until shutter speed goes to x, then after that it works as normal.

 

Lets see what your testing shows.

[christer]

It is not that complicated, but there is not enough information on the display to show what happens when you go from A to M Mode with MinSS set to a specific time.

 

Let us say you are in A mode and you set MinSS to 1/60 and shoot some pictures. Everything is fine.

 

Now you switch to M mode and think that MinSS remains activated.  Wrong thinking.

 

(You are now  in M mode.) Go to the display that activates MinSS. It will tell you "..not available....(in) Manual". And so it is.

 

I agree that in the best of all worlds a warning should appear when you switch to M mode telling you which other functions were disabled. This is not so. I don't think it is needed if you understand how the camera works. The problem is that understanding that is not all that easy.

[rapazolla]

(You are now  in M mode.) Go to the display that activates MinSS. It will tell you "..not available....(in) Manual". And so it is.

 

the thing is that it is still available to me... my camera doesn't display this for MinSS in Manual mode.

thanks again for the input, I'll test it all again after work and update!

[adwb]

 ISO Auto Minimum Shutter Speed

What it Does Specifies the slowest shutter speed the camera is allowed to go to before increasing the ISO (when ISO is set to "Auto").

 

Recommended Setting: "STD" unless you're doing action photography

 

You can think of this feature as a way to tweak the Program mode to your needs without having to move the exposure mode dial to Shutter Priority mode. Here you can specify the lowest shutter speed that the camera is allowed to use in Program or Aperture Priority mode before it resorts to raising the Auto ISO value. This can be a useful feature for people shooting sports and still want the benefit of a "set it and forget it" kind of automation.

.

Here was the problem: Once upon a time there was a heuristic regarding the slowest shutter speed you could shoot with without needing a tripod (and without SteadyShot). That heuristic was:

Slowest shutter speed = 1/(the lens' focal length)

 

So, if your lens was set to 70mm, the slowest shutter speed you could safely hand-hold the camera at was 1/70th of a second. And if your lens was set to 24mm, then the slowest shutter speed you could safely hand-hold the camera at was 1/24th of a second.

 

Program Mode actually knows about this heuristic, and if it knows you're using a long lens it will up the shutter speed accordingly. But the A7r II will not let you shoot slower than 1/60th of a second in most circumstances (unless you've hit the upper limit of your Auto ISO setting.)

 

I didn't care for that, since if you're shooting pictures of people in low light, people tend to move. And at less than 1/60th of a second if people move they will come out blurry.

 

NO OTHER CAMERA I'VE EVER USED WOULD GO BELOW 1/60TH OF A SECOND IN PROGRAM MODE for this very reason. Yes, 1/30th of a second might work great for still life shots, but if you're shooting people 1/30th of a second will just result in blurry pictures of the grandkids.

 

So is this feature meaningful for the A7r II?

 

It can be useful in situations where you'd normally want to switch to Shutter Priority mode. Maybe you shoot equestrian events and never, ever want to go slower than 1/250th of a second (but you wouldn't mind going faster if the light was good). This would be the feature for you then.

 

TIP: The shutter speed will indeed go slower than what you specify if the light is so low that the camera hits your maximum Auto ISO speed. (Of course you can specify that too…)

 

taken from gary friedman atr2 user guide, a guide well worth buying and reading again and again.