Which cameras allow you to set minimum shutter speed?

<p>I was reading on KR's website that some Nikon cameras allow you to set the minimum shutter speed used in aperture-priority and/or program modes. You can also customize the auto-ISO range the camera will use. I really the minimum shutter speed option on the LX3, but have not seen it on many other DSLR systems I've checked out so far.<br>

<br /> Is Nikon the only manufacturer that is putting a customizable minimum shutter speed on their consumer bodies? I'm comparing the D5000 with the Canon T1i, Pentax K-x, and Sony 380 for features and this looks like it might be the tie-breaker. I think Pentax will let you set the maximum ISO used in auto-ISO, but not the minimum shutter. Otherwise, how high up the prosumer line do you need to go to get this feature? Thanks.</p>

<p>My Nikon D80 can do that plus the slowest shutter speed for flash. I don't use it at all, I like to choose all my settings. It worked well in testing when I bought the camera and I think it could be very usefull for some situations.</p>

<p>All DSLR have a manual mode wich allows you to sellect the shutter speed as well as aperature. Older DSLRs only allowed you to set one iso. manhy new ones hove auto iso. I don't know if nikon is the only one with a minimum shutter speed setting and if so you can bet canon, Pentax, Sony or some ther manuacture is will add it in there newest cameras. </p>

<p>The only way to know for sure if the cameras you are interested in have the exact feature you want is to go to google and search for the camera manual. Most manufactures post them on line in .pdf formate and they are free to download.</p>

<p>Yeah, the thing is shutter priority locks you into a specific shutter speed, and opens or closes the aperture to mange the exposure. It seems like there are some fast moving situations like street scenes where you would rather have a pre-determined aperture for DoF control and then have the camera try to balance ISO and shutter speed for you as conditions change. But maybe this doesn't matter all that much so long as you can access the controls quickly.</p>

<p>Anyway I checked the manuals, and it doesn't seem like the K-X or T1i has this feature. It's too bad, because it seems like a very small feature to add. Not something that reviews normally mention, but potentially quite handy.</p>

<p>Check to see whether the Flexible Program exposure mode works in conjunction with auto-ISO. It doesn't on my D2H, but I can see how such a feature would be useful. Ideally, I'd like to control the thresholds for when auto-ISO kicks in.</p>

<p>Flexible Program mode on the Nikon won't give you absolute control over DOF but you can bias the exposure toward faster shutter speeds to retain shallow DOF if desired. I usually bias it toward f/5.6-f/8 for candids where available light is adequate.</p>

<p>Here's what I found on page 149 of the D5000 user manual:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>ISO Sensitivity Auto Control<br />If Off is chosen for ISO sensitivity auto control in P, S, A, and M modes, ISO sensitivity will remain fixed at the value selected by the user (0 74). When On is chosen, ISO sensitivity will automatically be adjusted if optimal exposure can not be achieved at the value selected by the user (flash level is adjusted appropriately). <strong>The maximum value for auto ISO sensitivity can be selected using the Maximum sensitivity option in the ISO sensitivity auto control menu (choose lower values to prevent noise; the minimum value for auto ISO sensitivity is automatically set to ISO 200). In modes P and A, sensitivity will only be adjusted if underexposure would result at the shutter speed selected for Minimum shutter speed. Slower shutter speeds will be used only if optimum exposure can not be achieved at the ISO sensitivity value selected for Maximum sensitivity.</strong> If the ISO sensitivity selected by the user is higher than the value selected for Maximum sensitivity, the value selected for Maximum sensitivity will be used instead. When On is selected, the viewfinder shows ISO-AUTO and the information display ISO-A. These indictors blink when sensitivity is altered from the value selected by the user.<br /> <br /> Auto ISO Sensitivity Control<br /> Noise is more likely at higher sensitivities. Use the High ISO NR option in the shooting menu to reduce noise (0 151). Note that ISO sensitivity may be raised automatically when auto ISO sensitivity control is used in combination with slow sync flash modes (available with the built-in flash and SB-900, SB-800, SB-600, and SB-400 flash units), possibly preventing the camera from selecting slow shutter speeds.</p>

</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d5000/users-guide/menus-shooting.htm">According to KR</a>, "Auto ISO keeps increasing the ISO as the light dims until it hits the Maximum Sensitivity you've set, after which the shutter speed will be allowed to get longer than what you've set."</p>

<p>Personally, it would be nice to have the option of letting the camera deliberately underexpose a shot a stop or so before it starts to lower shutter speeds, because an underexposed image can be usable if fixed in post, while there's not much you can do with a blurred photo. But still, this seems like a handy feature because you can tell the camera to try to main a shutter speed of X or higher, rather than only use the shutter speed you specify. And it does not seem like anyone else has this feature yet for some strange reason.</p>

<p>I'm not as sure whether it's a deal clincher or not yet, but it does seem like a very handy feature for quickly moving situations like street photography when you are moving between quickly changing lighting situations and don't want to look down at your camera to fiddle with the controls.</p>

<p>Agreed, there have been several occasions when that flexibility would have been useful. In April I photographed a street festival downtown where I wanted f/8 for just about everything and shutter speeds no slower than 1/125th. Auto ISO with manual exposure gave me the most flexibility with the D2H. Later I noticed ISOs varied from 200-1600, which surprised me - I would have guessed it would vary only between 400-800. But that's how dramatic the differences in light were in this downtown area, between intersections with bright sunlight and other areas in deep shade from surrounding buildings.</p>

<p>A maximum speed feature and a widest aperture feature may be more useful to me</p>

<p>Some of Pentax's other models allow you to set both minimum and maximum ISO; so if you're trying to keep shutter speed a bit higher, you can tell the camera to start at ISO 400 for example.</p>

<p>Pentax K-7 has this and it also has a slow/standard/fast auto ISO parameter which influences how quickly the camera will raise ISO--for example at 'slow' camera will generally favor lower ISO, preferring to drop shutter speed and open aperture. At 'fast', the camera will raise ISO sooner to favor higher shutter speeds. 'Standard' or 'Fast' are effectively very similar to setting an increased minimum shutter speed, but the specific shutter speed will vary based on lens focal length. With older Pentax models like K10D, auto ISO behaved more like 'Slow'; I noticed that out of the box, the K-7 was more likely to keep shutter speed a bit higher when set to 'Standard'--for example, instead of not allowing shutter to go below 1/60 before raising ISO, it might raise ISO to keep shutter more like 1/100 or 1/125. The actual values would be focal-length dependent.</p>

<p>The dual e-dial Pentax models including K-7, K10D, and K20D all have an additional shooting mode called TAv, where you set specific shutter and aperture and the camera automatically sets ISO. This is roughly like manual mode with auto ISO engaged; I think some Nikons can do this but it isn't considered a distinct shooting mode. This is another good way to keep shutter speed where you want it, with the desired depth-of-field.</p>

<p>I use Apeture Priority mode 90% of the time on my D90. I will usually have my minimum shutter speed at 1/100 and maximum ISO at 3200 because the D90 is really good for noise control. If I am shooting my son's karate I step it up to 1/250 or 1/500 and it works really well. I'm definitely a fan of auto ISO. I turn it off shooting stuff like fireworks where I am in manual mode. A really cool thing isyou can set it up so it will show the ISO it chooses in the viewfinder when you depress the shutter halfway (the remaining shots the buffer can handle disappears but no big deal to me) and the Auto ISO indicator flashes. <br>

Sorry I couldn't tell you which cameras besides Nikon have that option though.</p>