Out and About – Bradgate Park

Today I was wandering around Bradgate Park in Leicestershire with the D800. The weather was bright and sunny, but with a vicious northerly wind that cut across the top of the hills and sliced into the valleys.

I decided that I would use the camera on manual with auto ISO which I have never done before. I normally use Aperture priority with Auto ISO and I am quite happy with that but it can be a struggle with the 24-120 f/4 to keep the shutter speed up to avoid camera shake and also keeping the aperture setting at f/8.0 +.
With the camera on manual I can keep the shutter and aperture where I want them whilst the ISO is automatically increased or decreased accordingly. The D800 handles high ISO so well, it’s not a problem if the ISO sometimes hits 800. I normally have the auto ISO on a ‘high limit’ of 800 and very rarely use more than that, although the D800 is very good up to 3200 with very little noise degradation.
When I use the D800 handheld, I also try and keep the shutter speed at double the reciprocal lens focal length. I do this because of the D800’s 36 megapixel sensor. It only takes a slight movement when taking the picture to blur detail. I was used to doubling up focal length to arrive at shutter speeds with my old Olympus four-thirds gear so it really isn’t a problem for me to do the same with the D800 to ensure I don’t get camera shake and long focal lengths.