34
ISO sensitivity
The ISO setting on the Leica S allows the shutter speed/aperture value to be
adjusted to meet the requirements of the relevant situation, in six steps.
As well as the fixed settings, the Leica S also features the
Auto
1
function, in
which the camera automatically adjusts the sensitivity to the ambient bright-
ness.
However, when using the function it is also possible to specify priorities, for
example for compositional reasons. This enables you to limit the range of
sensitivities used and also to set the shutter speed above which the automat-
ic increase in sensitivity is activated.
Notes:
• In digital photography, the higher sensitivities generally result in an
increase in noise. This must be taken into account when thinking about
picture quality.
• For series exposures (see p. 36), bear in mind that the frame rates will be
slightly slower with higher sensitivities.
1
The function is not available when using flash units.
Setting the function
1. In the
IMAGE menu (see p. 16/26), select ISO (5.9), and
2. call up the submenu. It contains the available ISO values and the
Auto
option.
To set the sensitivity manually
3. Select the desired value.
To set the sensitivity automatically
4. Select
Auto.
• A further submenu appears, containing three options
OK, Set Maximum
ISO
and Set Maximum Exposure Time.
To use unrestricted automatic setting
5. Select
OK in this submenu.
The automatic setting uses all sensitivities, as well as shutter speeds
between
1
/
2
s and
1
/
500
s.
To restrict the automatic setting range
6. Select
Set Maximum ISO and/or Set Maximum Exposure Time in this sub-
menu.
• For
Set Maximum ISO a list of the available values appears, and for Set
Maximum Exposure Time
a further submenu appears containing the alter-
natives
1/f and Manual Setting.
7. In the
Set Maximum ISO list, select the highest sensitivity to be used and
thus the range in which the automatic setting will operate, or
8. in the
Set Maximum Exposure Time submenu, select either 1/f, if you want
to leave it up to the camera to ensure that shutter speeds that prevent blur-
ring are used, or
Manual Setting.
For,
1/f the camera only switches to a higher sensitivity if the shutter speed
would fall below the
1
/
f
threshold due to a lack of brightness, e.g. at slow-
er speeds than
1
/
60
s with a 70mm lens.
9. In the
Manual Setting list, select the slowest shutter speed you want to use
(
1/2s - 1/500s; in whole steps).
