ISO settings

[MarkBarbieri]

It's not much, but if you can't find anything better, you're welcome to use it. Just click on the picture to get to my photo gallery. You can either download the original size copy of the picture from there and print it yourself or order a print directly from Smugmug.

 

[jtimmons]

Feel Free to use this one also.

 

[dcg0317]

Here's are few of mine you are welcome to use.

 

[lorito4]

Thanks so much, these are great!! I am sure I can use a couple..I appreciate your time and effort!

 

[klmall]

 

[Geoff_M]

A shooter got a D300 from Nikon to play with and took some good high ISO photos. The results look very promising. He used normal NR and low sharpening on the images. Others have taken the ISO 6400 examples and applied some post-processing noise reduction and put them on DPReview and they look very, very nice!

http://galleries.daveeinsel.com/d300test/

 

[Gdad]

I saw those earlier today. Very nice. I was thinking about trying to pick up a used D200 cheap when the D300's came out but then I see stuff like that and say maybe I should just bite the bullet and get one.

 

[Geoff_M]

Yep. I told myself that the D70 would meet my needs for the foreseeable future... and then the D300 came out. I can really use one for a wedding I'm shooting in December. I'm on the local wait list and we'll see when my number comes up.

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

This is just another justification that I can use with Trina to get a D300. She's always complaining about the high ISO "texture" on the pictures we are taking, this looks much better than what I have been able to accomplish with either the D70s or the D200.

 

[handicap18]

WOW. Very nice. I think this will be my next body, unless I wait to long and its replacement comes out. No funds right now, but so far everything I've seen about this camera body is great. I've had my D50 for close to 2 years and while it certainly meets my needs I am beginning to outgrow it.

I like the addition of showing the ISO in the viewfinder. Also after a recent night time photo shoot, I like the idea of the LIVEVIEW on the LCD. I certainly would use the viewfinder the vast majority of time, but to know that the LCD can be used in some situations is nice.

Also, FPS is way cool. I currently only have 2.5 with a 9 image buffer in JPEG and 4 image buffer in RAW. 6 FPS with a 100 shot buffer in JPEG is HUGE. No RAW data yet that I've seen, but it certainly is more than what I have now.

Anyway, I'm rambling... or is that drooling....

 

[crazydadguy]

Is there some magic formula for determining which iso goes with what f-stop setting or shutterspeed? There has to be a way to figure this stuff out, does anyone know how it all works together?

 

[Master Mason]

ISO, apeture and shutter speed are like 3 parts to the puzzle. There is only a single correct exposure in any given case. But you can increase one part and decrease another to give you an equal equations.

So if you have your perfect exposure as f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO 400 You could bump the iso up to 800 and increase the shutter speed to 1/120 and have the exact same exposure, but you would have the faster shutter speed to stop the action better.

or you could lower the f to f/2.8 which is two stops and raise the shutter speed to 1/250 which is also 2 stops and then be able to blur the back ground.

Any of todays cameras should be pretty good about picking exposures except in very difficult situation.

To do it manually you would need a light meter, and that is really a pain in the posterior.

ETA Understanding Exposure will give you a very good easy to understand explination of how making the various changes will effect your shots.

 

[Anewman]

Is there some magic formula for determining which iso goes with what f-stop setting or shutterspeed? There has to be a way to figure this stuff out, does anyone know how it all works together?

It all starts with the amount of available light, everything else revolves around that.

Do a search for "sunny 16 rule", it might give you an idea of where to start.

 

[boBQuincy]

Like the three parameters for tripods ( stiffness, weight, cost) you pick two and the third falls where it may.
The only formula is if you want one of the three parameters at a specific setting, then you adjust the other two to get what you want (while maintaining the desired exposure). With "Auto" or "Program" the camera will do it for you.

 

[Code]

So if you have your perfect exposure as f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO 400 You could bump the iso up to 800 and increase the shutter speed to 1/120 and have the exact same exposure, but you would have the faster shutter speed to stop the action better.

or you could lower the f to f/2.8 which is two stops and raise the shutter speed to 1/250 which is also 2 stops and then be able to blur the back ground.

The difference between f/2.8 and f/8 is 3 stops. An honest mistake

So if f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO 400 was a correct exposure then switching to f/2.8 would make the shutter speed for a correct exposure 1/500 sec.

 

[Master Mason]

The difference between f/2.8 and f/8 is 3 stops. An honest mistake

So if f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO 400 was a correct exposure then switching to f/2.8 would make the shutter speed for a correct exposure 1/500 sec.

Ok...

your right, I missed 5.6 in there.... my bad.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

The ISO measures how sensitive your camera is to light. The f-stop (aka aperture) measures the size of the "hole" in the lens letting light in. The shutter speed measures how long the camera gathers light. The proper values for each depend on how bright your subject is.

If you have all three set to values that are appropriate for your subject and you want to change one setting, you have to adjust one or both of the others. If you double the ISO, you make your camera twice as sensitive to light hitting the sensor. That makes your picture twice as bright. To keep the brightness the same, you need to either shrink the area of the lens hole (f-stop) in half or reduce the shutter speed by half. Each adjustment must be balanced by another adjustment.

A "stop" is photographer jargon for a doubling or halving of one of these items. When you increase one setting by one stop, you must decrease one of the other settings by one stop. It's easy to see with shutter speeds and ISOs, because the numbers double for each stop (OK, shutter speeds get rounded off, so they don't exactly double).

The f-stops follow a slightly different pattern. If you really want to know, it's because the f-stop is a linear measurement (the ratio of the diameter of the lens opening to the focal length) representing a two-dimensional (surface area) factor. Because of that, each f-stop is the square root of two times the prior f-stop rather than just two times the prior f-stop. OK, that's probably more than you really wanted to know.

 

[crazydadguy]

The ISO measures how sensitive your camera is to light. The f-stop (aka aperture) measures the size of the "hole" in the lens letting light in. The shutter speed measures how long the camera gathers light. The proper values for each depend on how bright your subject is.

If you have all three set to values that are appropriate for your subject and you want to change one setting, you have to adjust one or both of the others. If you double the ISO, you make your camera twice as sensitive to light hitting the sensor. That makes your picture twice as bright. To keep the brightness the same, you need to either shrink the area of the lens hole (f-stop) in half or reduce the shutter speed by half. Each adjustment must be balanced by another adjustment.

A "stop" is photographer jargon for a doubling or halving of one of these items. When you increase one setting by one stop, you must decrease one of the other settings by one stop. It's easy to see with shutter speeds and ISOs, because the numbers double for each stop (OK, shutter speeds get rounded off, so they don't exactly double).

The f-stops follow a slightly different pattern. If you really want to know, it's because the f-stop is a linear measurement (the ratio of the diameter of the lens opening to the focal length) representing a two-dimensional (surface area) factor. Because of that, each f-stop is the square root of two times the prior f-stop rather than just two times the prior f-stop. OK, that's probably more than you really wanted to know.

Actually, this is the good stuff. I have been reading some books trying to get a mental "picture" of how these three relate, and all of the replies have helped alot. My first question after these would be on how to do an initial setup, do I let the camera decide and then modify to suit my needs? At least until I get more experience and can judge myself anyway. <yoda> Hmm. Interesting questions; raised you have...</yoda>

 

[Groucho]

Actually, this is the good stuff. I have been reading some books trying to get a mental "picture" of how these three relate, and all of the replies have helped alot. My first question after these would be on how to do an initial setup, do I let the camera decide and then modify to suit my needs? At least until I get more experience and can judge myself anyway. <yoda> Hmm. Interesting questions; raised you have...</yoda>

For starting out, I'd stick with letting the camera decide. With most cameras, there's an auto ISO that goes from 100/200 ISO up to 400/800 (depending on the camera), combine that with "Program" mode and the camera will choose everything.

In you're shooting in low light, you may want to manually set the ISO, say to 800 or 1600. Program mode will then choose an appropriate aperture and shutter speed.

To get more control, you can shoot in Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority mode. (There is also a Sensitivity Priority mode but only one camera has it so chances are that it's not applicable.) In these, you choose the aperture or shutter speed and the camera adjusts what you haven't picked in order to keep a proper exposure. For example, if you're in Aperture priority, you can set it to F4.0 and it'll choose 1/200th second shutter, then you can change to F5.6 and it'll choose 1/100th second shutter.

Each one of the three has its own set of "issues"...
ISO (sensitivity) - generally, lower is almost better as higher levels produce more "noise" and often lose detail
F-stop (aperture) - a lower number allows more light in and gives you a smaller depth of field, which helps isolate the subject of the photo, but lenses with low F-stops (large apertures) can get expensive and large and heavy quickly. A higher-number F-stop (smaller aperture) will give you a larger depth of field, so it's easier to keep things in focus.
Shutter speed - slow is great for things like fireworks, nighttime buildings, etc, but usually requires a tripod or other steady support. A fast shutter speed can stop motion and give you a sharp photo but brings in less light so you're forced to increase sensitivity or go with a lower f-stop/larger aperture.

Is your head spinning yet?

 

[Anewman]

My first question after these would be on how to do an initial setup, do I let the camera decide and then modify to suit my needs? At least until I get more experience and can judge myself anyway.

Well I would start with the sunny 16 rule and adjust from there...

Shutter speed = ISO(EXAMPLE, if ISO is 100 use 1/100th)

APERTURE =...

f/16 Sunny(shadows are sharp and distinct)

f/11 Slight Overcast(shadows are Soft around edges)

f/8 Overcast(shadows are Barely visible)

f/5.6 Heavy Overcast(No shadows)