ISO Settings

[ahockenberry]

Hi folks,

I wanted to add another topic:

I typically have my ISO set at 400 for outdoor shooting or 100 when it is a bright sunny day. I did however, recentlyset my ISO to 1000 for an unusual opportunity of shooting deer in a pasture at dusk.

Here is my question:

What are your general rules for ISO settings? As a greater ISO introduces more noise into the image, I am loathe to turn it up much beyond 400, however, I have noticed photographers going up as much as 1600 for some photo opportunites and as low as 100 for others and it all does not seem related to the time of day or amount of available light.

Please enlighten me on this one from your experiences.
Thanks

Ashley

[Harv]

In my case, Ashley, ISO400 is pretty much my default setting. Today's cameras handle high ISO settings very well. I will often turn it up to 800 or more if I need to in order to maintain certain minimum shutter speeds and aperture settings.

For birds in flight, which I like to shoot whenever possible, I want a minimum shutter speed of 1,000. 1,600 or 2,000 is preferred. I also like to keep my aperture at a minimum of f/8 if possible but will sometimes drop to 7.1 or 6.3. I want as much DOF as I can get to give me a bit more latitude on keeping the target in focus.

I often shoot in early or late light which also necessitates higher ISO settings. I am rarely below 400 as I never see any improvement in IQ at lower settings.

I hope this helps.

[Charlemagne]

I am with Harv on a lot of these points Ashley, actually what I do in low light and difficult lighting situations is set my shutter speed to the lowest possible so as not to have camera shake or for what effect I am looking for (i.e. showing motion blur, stopping wings in flight, etc.) then I set the aperture I want depending on the situation, from that point on I set the ISO up from 100 until I am correctly exposing the image just to the right of the center of the histogram, I have used all the way up to ISO 3200 and had minimal noise because I exposed correctly in-camera, it gets ugly when you use high ISO's and underexpose and bring it up in photoshop!

Hope this helps a little.

Charles

[Ak Photos]

These points are well made! One thing to consider is that certain camera have less noise at higher ISO than others. But exposing the image correctly is key. You need to know your camera and your lenses.. I am often set at -1/3 or -2/3 stop in my settings and I normally am ISO 400 or so for general stuff. I have shot ISO 50 in the desert in the summer and it was very fine. I have shot 1600 many many times and blown them up as well. I shot the Eclipse at 3200 and 6400 and the images look pretty clean, a lot better than I remember 3200 iso film looking...... I also shoot on AV setting, and I will adjust my ISO if the shutter speed is not in the range I want, but I often allow a wide range, unless I am doing custom Car work for clients or shooting moving wildlife in Ak.

Hope this helps.

Take care and keep shooting

Kevin P
aka... Ak Photos...


PS Ashley that looks like a very nice northern, or is it a musky, hard to tell in the small avatar image...

[Kevin]

Another opinion for you, Ashley....

I don't like shooting high ISOs but will when necessary. As has already been said, just expose correctly and you'll be fine. I sometimes even try to expose to the right a tad and bring it back down in post processing and that works well.

But the big thing for me is if the subject isn't going to fill the frame too much, I may consider not even taking the shot. What I've found with the higher ISOs is the loss of detail. I've shot birds at ISO3200 where they have nearly filled the frame and it worked out well. I've also shot at ISO1600 where the bird was small in the frame and it looked like a pile of mushy pixels. ;)

So, for me, the size of the subject in the final image will also be a determination. I can't think of a reason to be shooting a landscape at high iso. Putting it on a tripod and slowing down the shutter speed would be preferable, imo.

[Radley]

One of my pet peeves. I am a bird shooter almost exclusively. High ISO is something I avoid like the plague (I consider anything over ISO200 high, even with the newest technology, and sometimes wish I had ISO25 available).

Of course, it all comes down to what you are trying to achive. I am after the finest detail possible. I know folks who take very nice shots and seldom use ISO less than 400 and even some that shoot 800 exclusively. While their results look quite pleasant on a computer screen they are not what I am looking for. Close examination of these shots will show a suprising lack of detail with individual feathers and feather pattern almost non-existant.

My keeper rate is much lower than that of those using high ISO but I am much happier being able to print a 100% crop at 13 X 18 inches and having it look very good.

If, on the other hand, my subject matter is human where skin imperfections are not wanted, high ISO and a good noise program is just fine.

[Corry]

For me my rule is always shoot between 100-400 & use a fast lens for lower light. If I need to use a higher ISO my second rule is try not to exceed 800. Under certain circumstances I will shoot 1000 or over but not often.

I have to say though I am impressed at where digital photography is going in terms of reducing noise at higher ISOs, I suspect this will continue to improve to a point where ISO settings increase higher & higher... I could be wrong but I think I heard of 6400 ISO out there already or coming... I just love technology :)

[Ak Photos]

Yah my 1D M3 shoots at 6400 ISO and its very useable if shot correctly. I have used 3200 many times. My 1ds M3 I normally will shoot upto 1600 I have done 3200 because I was using a 500mm lens with a 1.4X and was still at 1/60 of a sec... But I have found I can shoot at 1250 ISO or even 1600 with little issues. My 30D 800 was fine and even 1250 was good 1600 was ok. I just wish the ISO was standard across the board..

I was shooting with a friend and he had is new nikon d3 and we were both shooting a moose in my back yard. We each had our 70-200 2.8 on, and in AV mode I was 1-2 stops faster shutter speed than he was at same ISO. When I was at 1600 he was at 6400 for about the same shutter speed. Not sure why the ISO is different so much, as I thought it was "standardized" but we were both shocked. At lower ISO it was not as bad, mostly 1 stop, my 400 was his 800 basicly.... my 200 was his 320. No clue why..

But in general The newer cameras do allow for a higher ISO. I know when I shot my 40D next to my 1D M3 my Mark had less noise thatn the 40D did but the 40D was still very good at 1250! If i was shooting lighter subjects, as moose and bald eagles are kinda dark, the grain/noise would have been even less noticable.

Hope this helps.

BTW this was shot at 1250 ISO hand held at 700mm , 1/200 of a sec on the 1d M3.

http://www.phototouralaska.com/Eagle-eat-1.jpg

[Rudi]

One of my pet peeves. I am a bird shooter almost exclusively. High ISO is something I avoid like the plague (I consider anything over ISO200 high, even with the newest technology, and sometimes wish I had ISO25 available).

While this was good advice with film, it does not translate into digital too well. ANY deviation from default ISO of the sensor (ISO 100 on the 5D, ISO 200 on some professional bodies) will result in decreased dynamic range and loss of detail. This is because the sensor ISO sensitivity is obtained artificially - it's in effect the same signal as the ISO 100 signal, just magnified electronically. This introduces all sorts of image degradation. So, if the sensor was DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY for ISO 25, I would agree with you. But, with my cameras, I stay at ISO 100 to get the most detail out of my images.

To answer Ashley's question, I shoot at the lowest ISO that enables me to get the images that I want, but I'm not shy about using high ISOs - today's cameras handle that well. As Kevin mentioned, it also depends on what you shoot - there is no reason to shoot a landscape at high ISO most of the time, so I'd shoot that at ISO 100 to get the best image quality. Hope this helps. :)

[Desert Rat]

Well, as a general rule since you seem to shoot landscapes mostly I just shoot at the lowest ISO the camera offers. that is if you are using a tripod.

As a general rule you shoot at the lowest ISO you can possibly get away with...

That is what i do though....

And ALWAYS expose for the highlights, but shoot to the right of the histogram to reduce noise.....

[Paul S]

On many cameras, including the non-pro Canons, ISO 200 gives the maximum dynamic range. If I'm shooting for single exposures, I use 200, increasing to as high as I need to go to get acceptable results. I don't hesitate to use 400 for birds/animals, and I will go higher as needed. I'd prefer a grainy (noisy) shot than one that doesn't have enough DOF or has motion blur.

For HDR shots, I use ISO 100. It has slightly less dynamic range than 200, but also less noise. Since the HDR process greatly magnifies the overall dynamic range, I don't mind giving up a bit on each individual exposure. The HDR process also magnifies the noise, so I want to minimize that as much as possible.

-Paul