Pixii feature preview: Now with auto ISO!
The Pixii software-defined digital rangefinder camera has a new feature now testing in its developer channel: Auto ISO! Here's a quick look at how to use it.
(TIP: Anybody can be part of the developer channel as long as you don't mind the risk of a few extra glitches. Visit pixii.fr to learn how.)
NOTE: In the effort to make a SHORT video, I may have left the incorrect impression that the auto-ISO system is dumber than it actually is. It doesn't just stay parked at 160 (the base ISO) until your shutter speed reaches the minimum and then start cranking up the ISO value while leaving the shutter speed at the minimum. In fact, the way it works is smarter and more like the auto-ISO settings on other cameras you may have used: in effect, it maps a graph line between the minimum possible exposure (1/32,000 at base ISO) and the maximum possible exposure (your chosen maximum ISO at your chosen minimum shutter speed) and chooses shutter speed/ISO combinations along that line as the light levels vary. I don't know what shape or slope the graph line might have or whether it takes into account other factors such as the lens focal length you've set; all I know right now is that it almost always gives me a reasonable combination... and if I don't like the combination I get (as shown on the in-finder display) it's easy to spot-meter and lock a different part of the subject to tweak it. Someday I might experiment further with auto ISO and try to plot various values it delivers, but for now I'm just going to stick to taking pictures with it!