Auto iris or not - on a sun set

Auto iris is always a bad idea. As the sun goes down and the light dims, the iris will open up and youw ont really see the image getting darker as the sun goes down.
 
Negativo on the auto Iris. Set your exposure manually and let it ride. I personally would set the iris so that the brightest part of the sunset process would be hitting 100% zebra's to ensure nothing is blown out or lost. Then just sit back and crack a cold one.

If you want a GREAT sunset I would recommend a graduated ND filter for the horizon. Looks great!

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ndgrad2.jpg
 
I've never shot a sun setting that may require a constant attentino to the expousre, but it seems to me AUTO would be good in this instance ?

If you start out and the iris is set compensate for the light and the then the light starts going away, aren't you going to be stuck with an image that is exposed for the wrong situation ?
 
J.R. Hudson said:
I've never shot a sun setting that may require a constant attentino to the expousre, but it seems to me AUTO would be good in this instance ?

If you start out and the iris is set compensate for the light and the then the light starts going away, aren't you going to be stuck with an image that is exposed for the wrong situation ?
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Well it depends on what you are trying to capture. If you want the sunset, then it will naturally get dark, therefore not adjusting aperture should still yield good results.

Changing the exposure by opening up as the light diminishes will change the look of the sunset.

One example I can think of where you would want to open the lens would be if you desired to see the landscape AFTER the sunset. A city skyline might be one scenario. I would personally set up the grad ND'd camera how I described in a previous post and wait for the sun to totally set. This is when the sky is still very bright with ambeint light but the sun has completely set. Then I would start to slowly... and I mean slowly, within the next hour, open the lens to capture the city turning on it's street lamps and etc, eventually getting a good looking city night scape.

But my style and opinion is to not change exposure DURING the sunset...

EDIT: even in this scenario it's not in AUTO but rather the camera operator changing the iris...
 
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auto iris will start dancin around if you have actors standing infront of the sun, like a siloette shot (spell check).
 
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