p.1 #1 · Leica Q3 Monochrom: Auto ISO won't go below 200 (can manually choose 100)
Hey everyone, getting to know my Q3 Monochrom (I'll do a full review after I've owned it for a couple of weeks and taken a few hundred shots. I think I've gotten a pretty thorough understanding of all of its capabilities and settings (I'm on firmware 4.1.0) but there's one thing I can't figure out.
How do you make Auto ISO go below 200?
The camera is capable of ISO 100, and I can always manually select it, but then it will stay at 100 until I change it back to A (or manually select another ISO).
I shoot in manual but prefer to leave ISO to Auto, and set shutter speed and aperture myself. However even in the brightest of scenarios, with the lens wide open at f/1.7 and a slow shutter speed, the Auto ISO won't go below 200 and would rather let the exposure be blown out (red bars on the exposure meter) rather than go down to 100 ISO.
I've looked at all the settings and see where I can choose to increase the upper limit of Auto ISO (all the way up to 200K). But I don't see a setting that sets a lower limit, but the camera is acting like it's set to 200. Again, I know I can manually choose 100 but it would preferable if Auto ISO would choose it when appropriate, instead of being low-limited at 200.
p.1 #3 · Leica Q3 Monochrom: Auto ISO won't go below 200 (can manually choose 100)
ISO 200 seems to be the native ISO ... Auto ISO won't go below that. Is what it is, since the lack of a BFA filter allows more light through, the sensitivity of the ISO doesn't go below 200 like its BFA brethren. ISO 100 is an artificial "pull" ISO. Not sure why the programming couldn't allow for it, but it doesn't ... at least not that I've been able to determine.
So ... for me, the point that Native ISO (typically) renders the "best" DR (vs. an artificial pull), I'm okay with the Auto ISO being limited to the Native ISO of 200. Realistically (imo) and practically speaking, the 1 stop diff, simply means that I'm stopping down the aperture / shutter by the corresponding 1 stop (particularly if in some "programming" (A / S / P) mode. The only caveat to that is to be wary that if allowing the camera to adjust the shutter, if you float it above 1/2000, you move into e-shutter territory (leaf shutter taps out at 1/2000). You can setup the shutter so it remains on leaf shutter (and thus, it doesn't go higher than 1/2000). Otherwise, there I find it to be of little practical consequence that Auto ISO doesn't drop from 200 > 100 (just the mental surprise that it doesn't).
If I really need 100 for some reason, it's not that big of a deal to pop it into manual to get 100 and roll with the aperture / shutter accordingly. At "Sunny 16" ... ISO 200 = f/16 at 1/200 ... so, around f/5.6 vs. f/4 is the diff. NOTE: I tested Sunny 16 with digital cameras (years ago) and found they actually were closer to "Sunny 13" ... I've not since verified where the Q3M lands wrt Sunny 16 vs. Sunny 13. But, the salient point is the one stop from 5.6 to 4 (or 4 to 2.8) isn't likely to be a deal breaker between ISO 200 vs. 100 territory (particularly, when shooting the convenience of Auto ISO).
Alternatively ... I haven't done this, yet ... I could get either an ND filter, or a Polarizer (for a single stop variance, the CP is sufficient) mounted up, to offset the one stop (thus, auto-adjusting within the ISO limits for the aperture / SS accordingly).
So, as a new owner to the Q3M ... yeah, it was surprising to me, also ... that Auto ISO didn't drop below 200.
Is what it is ... bugged me at first, but I "noodled" my way through it ... "no biggie" to me, now that I understand it is drawing the line at Native ISO.
p.1 #4 · Leica Q3 Monochrom: Auto ISO won't go below 200 (can manually choose 100)
Thanks to you both. I did look at Photons to Photos and it seems to confirm what you're saying. They haven't tested the Q3M yet but they did test the Q3 which had an ISO range of 50-100K (so one stop lower on either end from the Q3M's 100-200K range). The Q3 did show a "dip" going from 100 to 50 which seems to suggest the native ISO is 100 and the 50 is an artificial pull.
Using the logic that the extra light gathering (due to lack of CFA) would result in pushing those values up a stop in the Q3M, that would mean the native ISO shifts to 200 and 100 would be the artificial pull.
I'm definitely not interested in chasing a "low ISO" but rather I want the camera to perform at its best when lighting conditions are optimal, and if that's at 200, that's good enough for me.
