Yes, this.
Yes it is. Wrong.
NO. It would make a PREDICTABLE decision. Remember, it is a machine, and well made machines are predictable. What's good about it being predictable, is you can take actions that help it do what you WANT.
You say that you knew what the camera was going to do - so compensate for it?
Now, your counter-argument is going to be that if you compensate you may as well use full Manual, but like Frogfish says, this isn't quicker - at BEST it would take the same amount of time. That's at BEST, at worst, it would take you 3 or 4 times as long.
So OK, you've got your exposure for the singer and guitarist right. And then you see someone in the crowd doing something cool and you want to take a shot of that, only they don't have spot lights on them, so they need about 4 times the exposure.
You are there dialling your ISO from say, 400 to 500, 640, 800, 1000, 1250, 1600, 2000, 2500, 3200 and yheeey, you are there. Even ripping the dial fast through the settings you have had to press ISO, and make about three or four flicks of your thumb. I am there in TAv, and what have I done? Pointed the camera at the person in the crowd and it, having been on ISO 400, thinks "Too dark, 3200." That takes the camera about half a second.
So you can press ISO, and make three or four flicks with your thumb, in less than half a second? 0.05 seconds, by your reckoning?
Look no one is telling you how to shoot but saying that you can adjust settings in manual faster than Auto ISO can do it is saying one of two things, either:
1: You don't know how to use Auto ISO because you cannot predict the camera's decisions (which are in fact totally predictable) or
2: You can adjust settings manually in about 0.05 of a second. The Flash would be jealous (the red super hero, not the camera flash).
So, now, I am example for you: rosella-2.JPG
This photo was taken in TAv. I am not saying it's a good photo, the bird is obviously miles out of focus - I was quick firing (burst mode) waiting for him to fly INTO focus, but the example is how the camera has got it right. On this first one, it has used ISO 1600. But I was panning the camera slightly to a brighter area - and the BIRD had moved into a slightly brighter spot too.
In the NEXT photo, the camera has chosen ISO 1250, 1/3rd of a step less exposure. Remember, this was on burst mode... about 6fps or so (on the K-5 II) - so that's about 1/6th of a second later. Could YOU have adjusted the exposure manually in this time? rosella.JPG
You might say that it would have been fine to leave it at 1600, it just would be a little bit over exposed, but there are examples when it's not 1/3rd of a stop... it's like 1 or 2 stops, and it will give you the same exposure on the photo, no matter the brightness, without having to touch a single dial, switching from say ISO 1600 to ISO 400 (if you swing roung and shoot something in the shade, after shooting something in the sun) - you, and no one, are that quick.
You say it's quicker for you to use manual, but it's probably that you just haven't given Auto ISO a proper chance.
Granted, in Pentax's TAv, it's probably easier than with a Nikon using Auto ISO (I can check when my Nikon arrives next week) - but I acknowledge that I am coming at it from a spoiled Pentax user's perspective, they are very user friendly cameras... But still.
Shoot however you like... but don't go writing off auto ISO because you haven't given it a chance, you'll be a better shooter if you give everything a try.
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