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by Bill Chambers on Sat Jan 18, 2025 3:35 pm
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I shoot the Nikon Z9, and my Auto ISO has seemed to stop working properly.

Situation:  I upgraded to the new 5.1 firmware the other day, and hit the road.  I started shooting (in my custom Wildlife bank) using the 180-600 lens.  It's set up in Manual mode, using Auto ISO.  The Auto ISO is set up for a MAX ISO of 10,000 and a minimum shutter speed of 1/250. I've used this set-up for around a year now with no issues, but when I began shooting, the Auto ISO wasn't working properly. 

With Auto ISO turned on, the ISO is pegged at 10,000 and doesn't change, regardless of shutter speed or aperture settings.  I fiddled with it quickly but couldn't figure it out so I just turned it off and went back to shooting old style and that worked perfectly, but I still want to find an answer to the problem.

Has anyone heard of any issues with firmware 5.1, or does anyone have any ideas on what to try next to figure out the issue?

Thanks in advance.
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by david fletcher on Sun Jan 19, 2025 4:05 am
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Bill Chambers wrote: I shoot the Nikon Z9, and my Auto ISO has seemed to stop working properly.

Situation:  I upgraded to the new 5.1 firmware the other day, and hit the road.  I started shooting (in my custom Wildlife bank) using the 180-600 lens.  It's set up in Manual mode, using Auto ISO.  The Auto ISO is set up for a MAX ISO of 10,000 and a minimum shutter speed of 1/250. I've used this set-up for around a year now with no issues, but when I began shooting, the Auto ISO wasn't working properly. 

With Auto ISO turned on, the ISO is pegged at 10,000 and doesn't change, regardless of shutter speed or aperture settings.  I fiddled with it quickly but couldn't figure it out so I just turned it off and went back to shooting old style and that worked perfectly, but I still want to find an answer to the problem.

Has anyone heard of any issues with firmware 5.1, or does anyone have any ideas on what to try next to figure out the issue?

Thanks in advance.
Hi Bill

Firstly, I've not seen any internet chatter about bugs with 5.1 firmware, so at the moment, I think it's safe to rule that out.

Checked mine, and it seems normal in Manual auto ISO.  (tried Av as well...).  I quickly set mine to 10,000 and in dim light it was indeed locked at 10,000 but was showing underexposure as it should have due to the amount of light.  In AV, it was fine.

Short answer is I don't know, but it's often a setting somewhere.  (there just are so many these days...  :().  I haven't checked Steve Perry's site but if it's a bug, it'll surface soon enough.


I'll dig around for more info.
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by Bill Chambers on Sun Jan 19, 2025 11:16 am
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Thanks David.  

I had the same thoughts that it'll probably a setting somewhere, but I have zero memory of changing anything in any of the settings.  Same as you, I also haven't seen anything concerning firmware issues.

I was in the swamps last week andreally wasn't able to dive into the issue very well, but will have an opportunitty this upsoming week.  I shoot 2 ea. Z9's so I'll change bodies and see if the problems follows over.  If not, I'll know it's just a setting.  I did check Steve Perry's site and there was nothing there about firmware and I'm sure if there was an issue, it would be listed there.

I use identical custom banks in each body, but (as you mentioned) there's a jillion settings today so it may still take a while to figure out which one is causing the issue.  If the issue follows through to my other body, I'll assume it's a lens issue then and then contact Nikon.  

Thanks for your help though.  It just nice to get some confirmation sometimes!!

Have a great day!
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by david fletcher on Sun Jan 19, 2025 11:41 am
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Cheers Bill

Had a look at Steve Perry's forums, and back in 2023 one of the guys had accidentally touched the AE-lock which had been assigned to one of the function buttons. However, in honesty, I am grasping at straws and a call to Nikon support might shed some light.  It'll be interesting to hear how your other body is reacting. 

Cheers for now.
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by Bill Chambers on Thu Jan 23, 2025 4:53 pm
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OK, I've been busy this week but I finally had time to look at things and compare lenses and bodies. Lenses work perfectly on my other Z9 body, so it's definitely not a lens issue, and that also knocks out a firmware issue.

I'm in the process now and comparing every single setting between the bodies to see if that is the issue. I believe that has to be the issue because I can't remember dropping or hitting the body since the last time it worked fine. I also can't remember changing any settings either, but here we are.

I'll post later to report what I find.
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by Bill Chambers on Sat Jan 25, 2025 1:15 pm
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OK, I've found something, but I'm not sure what exactly I found, or what to do about it.

I compared every single setting between my two bodies, and they were identical. That led me to believe the issue is within the body and I'll need to send it in to Nikon, but then I noticed something this morning that has confused me even more.

Through my custom settings, I have have my ISO button to "Recall Shooting Functions (hold)" so that when I press the ISO button while shooting it engagges Exposure Compensation to -1, to allow me to shoot white egrets, etc. without having to actually change shutter speed or change ISO, to prevent over-exposure. When I press the ISO button, the EVF (or screen) becomes darker (as it should) and the Auto ISO seems to work perfectly, but when I press the button again to release the Exposure Compensation setting, the AUTO ISO goes back to a non-functioning status.

Does this make make sense to anyone?
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by david fletcher on Sat Jan 25, 2025 4:41 pm
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Thanks for that info Bill. Might be worth having a chat with Nikon to see if a), there is a way round it, B), it's a feature/bug that might get a fix from a future update. For sure, it's probably worth reporting to them as I'd not heard of this and it is possible, they haven't either.
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by Bill Chambers on Sat Jan 25, 2025 6:48 pm
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David, I also put a "help needed" message on Steve Perry's Backcountry Forum's and got several replies, none of which solved the issue. A little later, Steve himself posted that he had had the same issue. He ended up having to send it back to Nikon; It turned out to be a hardware issue and Nikon fixed it, so I guess I'll be packaging up the body and sending it back to Nikon for repair.
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by david fletcher on Sun Jan 26, 2025 4:24 am
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Oh! Thanks for sharing this as it if anyone else experiences it, we know what the fix is now Bill.
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by Gene Gwin on Sat Feb 01, 2025 1:50 pm
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Bill,
Another option is not to use Auto ISO. My two cents: Auto ISO is an automatic mode and what that means is that the camera is metering for the entire frame. This results in iso that is way too high for what you're photographing if there are any shadows behind the subject. Also, if you are photographing something in the sky as well as without sky in the image, you must increase you exposure compensation 2/3 of a stop when the subject has a sky background for a properly exposed image. The you-tooooobers say that auto iso allows a properly exposed image. That is simply not correct because under changing lighting conditions or different backgrounds the only way to get a properly exposed image when using auto-iso is to adjust the exposure compensation button. This takes too long when photographing fast-moving subjects. With mirrorless cameras auto iso really does not make any sense because you can look through the viewfinder for the correct exposure. In my experience, the fastest way to make corrections to exposure is to adjust your shutter speed slightly until the exposure is correct. With a non-changing, neutral background, then auto iso will work fine.
 

by Bill Chambers on Sat Feb 01, 2025 2:09 pm
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Thanks Gene for your comments! Actually, for my usage, Auto ISO has worked quite well. I have assigned a function to my ISO button that allows me to stop down exposure by 1 stop when photographing white egrets/ibises at the touch of that button, and that's the only time I have to change anything I am primarily a landscape shooter (~85-90%), so I don't shoot birds/wildlife enough to actually get very good at it. I don't even attempt to shoot birds in flight unless they are very low with green backgrounds, and very seldom then. I'm just not in a bird/wildlife mindset very often so I miss the vast majority of opportunities by not reacting fast enough. I'm used to trees, swamps, marshes, etc. They don't move very quickly. Basically, I only shoot wildlife/birds while I'm waiting for the sun to get lower/higher or if I simply stumble upon an interesting wildlife/bird opportunity. I guess what I'm really saying is that I'm not competent enough when it comes to shooting birds/wildlife to know what the hell I'm doing! LOL
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by Gene Gwin on Sat Feb 01, 2025 2:23 pm
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Bill,
The next time that you're out photographing with lots of shadows and the subject that you're photographing is in front of the shadows, do this test: take a photo using auto iso and then quickly turn off auto iso and look through the viewfinder and properly expose the subject again. Then compare the iso that was required for each image. What I have found is that the camera will increase the iso required for a properly exposed image quite dramatically when using auto iso and the shadows are in the background. Good luck.
 

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