D40 auto iso help

rawfa

rawfa

Veteran
Hi Guys,

I have just received my D40 and I'm still learning how it works. I've been reading some tutorials but I still can't figure out how to set the ISO to "auto" while the exposure and the shutter are set to manual. Anyone?

thanks,

Rafa
 
I don't know if this will help but in your menu settings under what looks like a pencil, It appears to be item # 10

menu.jpg


I probobly didn't understand your post cos it can't be this simple:)
 
I know, it should be this simple. But lets say I set my options to M, which would mean I should have control over everything (aperture, shutter, iso). If I try to set my iso to auto it says the option is not available. I have already found out where to change the iso (btw, on my D40 my iso selection is not on the pencil "menu", it's on the "little camera" menu) but when I try to select "auto" it says "this option is not available on this mode". What I wanted to know if is there a way I can have the iso set to auto and still have control over shutter and aperture.

Mino, on a totally different matter, would you care to give me your advice on this http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=104590

:-)
 
I'm also disappointed because one of the reasons I bought the D40 is because I have a bunch of older and very cool nikons AI (28mm f2.8, 50mm f1.8, 85mm f1.8) and the light meter doesn't work with any of them. On older nikon film cameras I used to have I would see the little line that would go up and down if it was too light or too dark...here it's VERY hard because I have to guess...which is not practical at all and defeats one of the purposes of going digital. :-(
 
Wow, another surprise...I had no idea the focal distance gets multiplied. Man, this blows.
 
rawfa said:
I'm also disappointed because one of the reasons I bought the D40 is because I have a bunch of older and very cool nikons AI (28mm f2.8, 50mm f1.8, 85mm f1.8) and the light meter doesn't work with any of them. On older nikon film cameras I used to have I would see the little line that would go up and down if it was too light or too dark...here it's VERY hard because I have to guess...which is not practical at all and defeats one of the purposes of going digital. :-(
Click to expand...

That was one of the issues with the D40 and one of the big selling points of the D200 and above.

The D200 allows full metering of AIS and AI lenses. Just some food for thought especially now that the D200 is so cheap used.
 
Thanks, Santa! I hope I knew that before buying the D40. I guess I just got carried away with all the pretty pictures and nice little colors.
Do you know if the focal distance multiplying thing happes on the D200 too?
 
Don't give up on crop cameras... A 300mm lens becomes an effective 450mm lens (great for wild life).

Crop sucks when it comes to wide angle but otherwise it is perfect. For the wide angle you have glass such as the 10-20mm from Sigma, which is an effective 15-30mm lens.

Personally I like crop
 
Hey rawfa. You should be able to do what you are talking about. In fact, one of the things that I don't like about the D40 is that AutoISO stays active when you switch to M mode.

The problem is you are in the wrong place in the menu. You are in the ISO menu and looking at Auto mode. You want to set that option as 200 for the preferred ISO setting. Then go to the Setup menu and choose Full Menu (I think that is what it is called, my cam is not with me, this is also only available in PAS&M) so you can see all the menu options.

What you are looking for is on the Custom Setting Menu, the pencil that Mino posted. It is the 10th menu option. Choose that and set the Max ISO to 1600 and the lowest shutter speed to 1/15th or 1/30th. That should do what you want and make the shots crisp.

I use AutoISO when I shoot in P, A, or S modes. I usually have to go into the menu and turn it off when on M. So don't be so discouraged. I think it will still do what you are looking for.

Here is a link to Ken Rockwell's site that has a pretty good explanation of what it is.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40/users-guide/menus-custom.htm#10
 
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Jeremy Ordan said:
Don't give up on crop cameras... A 300mm lens becomes an effective 450mm lens (great for wild life).

Crop sucks when it comes to wide angle but otherwise it is perfect. For the wide angle you have glass such as the 10-20mm from Sigma, which is an effective 15-30mm lens.

Personally I like crop
Click to expand...

Thanks, Jeremy. I will work on it. It's just that when I read the camera would come with a 18-55mm I thought I would have a SUPER wide angle on my hands...and when I looked at the image I was like "whatta the heck?! My 28mm is wider than this".

Do you have any advise on what do I need to have an effective 24mm-70mm with a constant f2.8? I guess it would be something like a 16-46,6mm (hehehe).
 
The only thing that I could find find that more or less fits this profile is a Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 f2.8 XR DI LD. I have no idea if it's good or not though.
 
rawfa said:
It's just that when I read the camera would come with a 18-55mm I thought I would have a SUPER wide angle on my hands...and when I looked at the image I was like "whatta the heck?! My 28mm is wider than this".
Click to expand...

Well, you were wrong. :grin: The Nikon has a 1.5 crop....so 18mm on a DX camera would look the same as a 27mm lens on a 35mm camera. Technically, the focal length is the same on the 18mm DX lens as a 18mm 35mm lens (if one exist, dunno), it is the field of view that changes from a DX to 35mm. I wouldn't get too caught up with this issue as you would need to spend 10x more than you did for your D40 to get a digital "full frame" camera from Nikon.
 
Sorry, man. My only experience is with 35mm lenses is with 35mm adapters...and let me tell you, a 24mm looks WIDE.
 
Ah, I wasn't trying to bash ya or anything. Just seems that when everyone (including myself) made the jump to digital that we became super concerned with these issues that in the long run don't really matter.

I just tell people to get out there and shoot. Once you start shooting you'll rarely think that you need a wider lens, and if you decide you do want wider.....get a 10.5 fisheye or a 12-24.....Nikon makes them and that should be more than wide enough for ya.
 
I agree that people get caught up in the crop aspect, but I really believe that crop can be a huge benefit (think telephoto, your most expensive glass).

That being said, I shoot a ton with my Sigma 10-20 and love it but my money maker was the DX 17-55 f2.8.
 
The thing is, one of the main reasons I wanted a camera was so that I could use all the nice glass I own. With my 50mm and my 85mm I'm set for sharp teles but this means I'll be force to spend more money on new glass when I thought I had my dream set already. Anyhoods, the 10-20mm might be cool.

thanks, fellas.
 
rawfa said:
The thing is, one of the main reasons I wanted a camera was so that I could use all the nice glass I own. With my 50mm and my 85mm I'm set for sharp teles but this means I'll be force to spend more money on new glass when I thought I had my dream set already. Anyhoods, the 10-20mm might be cool.

thanks, fellas.
Click to expand...

When I say telephoto lenses I'm talking about 200mm and above. Nikon makes some beautiful glass in this range and if you buy certain models you can use them on a 35mm adapter as well (the 80-200 f/2.8 would be nice albeit heavy)

The problem of course is you would need an AF-S version of the glass to work on the D40 with full functionality which pushes the used price of that lens above $1000…. This is my problem with the D40, but is is a great little camera.
 
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