Would you use auto ISO for an hour long outdoor shoot?

I

Imamacuser

Veteran
So next week I'm going to record my brother's outdoor wedding ceremony. He didn't have the budget to hire a videographer, so I'm going to set up some cameras for him, but they won't be manned, as I'm a groomsman.

Under normal circumstances I shoot 100% manual, but since there won't be any operator, I'm wondering if I should use auto ISO to handle unexpected lighting changes. I'd obviously adjust the metering mode and exposure compensation to make auto ISO behave as much as it can.

I don't anticipate any drastic lighting changes, but there's still the potential for clouds moving in to obscure the sun, and sun movement leaving my scene in dark shadow.
My guess is that the ceremony will go from 2:30-3:30 CST.

I'll try to do a test this weekend, if it's not raining.

What's your experience? Has auto ISO ruined your shots or saved your bacon?
 
Auto exposure can be finicky. But better than missing a shot.
 
Manual everything but the ISO.
On my Sony cameras it works beautifully.
Very smooth and you can’t see any drastic changes.... I use it all the time when the camera is on a gimbal
 
I should clarify that I'm using an A6300 & three A6400s. I was planning to use GFILM S-Log 2 settings and set my exposure to zebras at 65 for skin tones. Those settings looked good in my tests with the Insta LUT and a slight contrast and saturation boost.

I doubt that the exposure compensation and metering modes will allow me to be that precise. I want to ETTR a little to keep the noise floor low, but my concerns is that exposure will be all over the place instead of the correct level for skin tones. Near as I can figure, the best auto ISO settings would be evaluative metering with exposure compensation at +1.5 to +2, am I wrong.

P.S. Zebras correspond linearly to IRE levels, correct? How does that translate to stops? For example, if middle gray is 32 IRE in S-Log 2, what's two stops above 32 IRE?
 
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It was overcast all day Saturday, so I couldn't really test the viability of auto ISO. Does anyone have any thoughts on my last post?

Thanks.
 
I think you are overthinking this. It's an event, not Hollywood. Just maybe you're paying attention too much to the cameras rather than control over the lighting. You're safe enough with auto iso. There is more to light than luminance. If you can't control the light, the light may change and your image will reflect the changes. If your brother even notices it just got darker for some moments or that shadows became more prominent point out that that's what happened on the day when a cloud went over the sun. You don't need to wait for a day with changing light to do experiments, control your own light, set up in a room with a dimmer switch or where you can open and close the blinds. I'd also suggest you can take the footage straight out of the cameras.
 
I want to do the job right, which means nailing the settings when dealing with highly compressed codecs.
I tried to control the light, I wanted them to stand under an arbor covered with diffusion material, but they want to stand in front of the arbor. I also can't set up any lights, even for the reception, so I have to do the best I can with camera settings.
I agree that Log isn't warranted for all outdoor shots, but I won't know what the light is like till the day of, as it could be overcast or very bright. I'm also aware that Log is a compromise in 8-bit codecs, but I'd rather deal with banding than too dark shadows or blown out highlights.
 
I think you'd be better off grading a "baked-in" image than an 8-bit log image if you have to really push and pull it around. I used to see A7s log footage from gimbals all the time that looked horrible because they had to do an extreme grade on the 8-bit log. Most guys I know won't shoot 8-bit log anymore, because of it being so fragile.
 
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