5D Mark ii ISO setting

[Tim Wemple]

I shoot a lot of night time photography at Bike Rallys and have been trying a new way of setting up my camera to get the least amount of noise. I don't use a flash so I can capture more of the feel of the night, but that means high ISO settings. Resently I went to setting up my 5D mark ii to totally manula mode with the apature set to f1.8 on my 85mm and shutter speed of 160 to try and get good shape images. I have then been reaching over with my index finger while looking through the view finder to hit the ISO button and adjusting it, switching back and forth between ISO setting and the shooting mode, to get the meter where I want it. The problem is I have to keep switching out of the ISO screen for the meter to work. My question is, is there a way to have the meter which shows up in the ISO setting screen when you are looking throught he view finder to work. It only works when you switch back to shooting mode. It would be great if I could switch to the ISO setting mode and the meter would work so I don't have to switch back and forth. Most of the time, time is of the essence when working the streets at a bike rally. I would appriciate anyones help with this.

Thanks Tim Wemple Bike Rally Photography.

[OsmosisStudios]

Instead of fiddling with your settings as you go, get to your location early and test. Or learn from this experience and test. Also keep in mind that you may not have to go into menus to do all of this: the 5DmkII has a ISO button on the outside.

What kind of bikes are we talking about? ANd what kind of Rally? 1/160 may still be too slow for what youre attempting to do.

No camera can shoot "in the dark" without noise. Youre gonna get noise at higher ISO levels. The trick is figuring out what ISO you need to use. Go by full-stops, start from the top.

A final note: The 5DmkII isnt well suited to fast-action. It does reasonably well with high-iso noise, but lacks every other facet for fast-moving subjects. You may be better off with one of the 1D series cameras.

[Tim Wemple]

I shoot motorcycle rallys. It is really hard to set the ISO before because the light is constantly changing, street lights, bike lights, store fronts. I'm using the button on the outside of the camera which when you look through the view finder shows you the ISO reading. My question is, is there anyway to activate the meter that is also in that window, it is there but doesn't change as you change the ISO setting, you have to switch back to the shooting mode to see the meter reading. It just seemed like to me this would be the best way to get the lowest ISO setting possible and would work great if the meter worked in the ISO setting mode. You can see some of my pictures at www.bikerallyphotography.com Just got back from bike week in Daytona Beach Florida where I used this method and worked pretty well, just slower than I need it to be.

[Sime]

Sadly there isn't... And I've found that if you use the auto-iso setting it shoots up pretty quickly. That said, if there's sufficient light you won't get as much noise at higher iso - I find this with concert photography... Even if I'm shooting at iso2500 but there is decent stage lighting, the noise isn't that noticeable in the main subject / focus areas, but shows up in the darker sections of the stage...

Pop up a shot from your latest shoot, one you're having issues with maybe? Along with the EXIF.

Sime

[Tim Wemple]

Thanks "Sime". I just got home from Daytona Beach Friday and had to go to my day job, which actually is a night job over the week-end. I will be looking through the 912 pictures I took last week and will post a few. What do you think about the method of adjusting the ISO as a way of getting the exposer right instead of shutter speed and apature? I'm fairly new to photography and very new to the 5D Mark ii, but it seemed logical to try and do it this way.

It would be even better if the auto ISO worked this way. I think I read in the manual it goes up to 400, but stops there. I don't have the manual with me, but I don't understand why they would stop it at ISO 400.

Thanks again,
Tim