Auto ISO is something that, until I wrote this article, I simply didn’t use. Now I find it indispensable: the ability to use ISO as a third control (in addition to aperture and shutter speed) that automatically adjusts based on the available light – particularly in manual exposure mode – has change the way I shoot.

This article was written for my regular column at Landscape Photography Magazine when it still had a wildlife photography section. You can download the full PDF here: LPM Auto ISO article

Recently, whilst photographing gannets with friends at Bempton Cliffs in North Yorkshire in England, the issue of Auto ISO cropped up again. I felt I should probably give it another go, and the aspect that finally won me around was the discovery that Auto ISO works extremely well in manual exposure mode.

As a post-script to this article, I’ve taught a number of people with Canon cameras, some of which don’t have the ability to set the exposure compensation independently whilst in Auto ISO mode. This is a real pain and I don’t know of a solution to it. If you do, please let me know. The newer Canons don’t seem to have this problem.

In this short article for Landscape Photography Magazine (when it had a wildlife photography section), I contemplate whether pro gear really is worth the money. You can download the PDF for free here: LPM Is Pro Gear Really Worth The Money?

The latest pro-specification DSLRs are bristling with features that sometimes make even a technophile like me scratch his head in puzzlement and wonder. However, top of my ‘important list’ as a nature photographer is the incredible ability of sensors to control noise at high ISO values in extremely low light, compared with cameras further down the food chain. This can mean the difference between getting the image and ruining it with camera shake or noise. I photographed a series of images recently of a wild lioness having her teeth checked in near darkness at ISO 20,000 and the results were gratifyingly clean.