ISO settings

[MsSpinShady]

I hope someone can help me understand how to get sharper pictures while shooting with a higher ISO. It seems that anything I shoot over 400 is extremely grainy. I have a D80, a Tamron 28-200mm f3.5-5.6 and a Nikon 55mm f1.8 and it happens with either lens (so I am assuming it is a camera setting somewhere I have set wrong?).

Thanks!

MsSpinShady

 

[GrillMouster]

The trick to high ISO images is to avoid underexposure.

Also, don't let it drive you crazy. Noise often looks worse on the computer monitor at 100% than it does when resized smaller or in average prints.

 

[MsSpinShady]

The trick to high ISO images is to avoid underexposure.

Thank you for your help! Do you mean if I take a shot and it looks rather dark and grainy I should boost the ISO higher to get a sharper image?

 

[Chikabowa]

GrillMouster is correct... having an underexposed image makes the noise look worse overall.
However, the D80 itself starts to show noise about ISO 400 and it gets worse as you go higher. While getting a correctly exposed shot will help, it will not eliminate all together.

 

[ukcatfan]

Thank you for your help! Do you mean if I take a shot and it looks rather dark and grainy I should boost the ISO higher to get a sharper image?

Not really. Grain and sharpness are different things. What you want to do is make sure you do not underexpose the shot (ends up too dark). When you do that, the grain shows more b/c grain always shows more in dark areas of the shot. It is not a matter of changing the ISO to get the exposure correct. It is a matter of getting the exposure set correctly. The exposure is a combination of the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

I suggest that you pick up "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. His book does a much better job explaining it than I ever could.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I suggest that you pick up "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. His book does a much better job explaining it than I ever could.

That would be my suggestion as well. Try to shoot using lower ISOs if you can by using other settings available to you to control exposure.

 

[Steve's Girl]

I'd also recommend a good noise reduction program. It really helps to clean up the noise. I have a D80 and have used Noiseware for quite awhile (google it, they have a freeware version).

 

[jann1033]

ditto the noiseware, some cameras ( like my rebel xt) just are noisy over 400 but a software program helps. you might want to invest in a low light zoom as well so you can keep the iso as low as possible, i say zoom since you only have the two lenses and a prime lens wouldn't give you as much range

 

[seashoreCM]

The general rule of thumb (both digital and film) is that the higher the ISO, the grainier the picture. Meanwhile most folks who use higher ISO are forced to because the camera has reached its limits for maximum aperture, desired depth of field, and adequate shutter speed.

Can you get by with less optical zoom? Most zoom lenses have a smaller maximum aperture when you use zoom which may force you to resort to higher ISO sooner. Note: Using digital zoom is no different than cropping and enlarging the picture at your computer or at the store photo kiosk.

For digital cameras, the rule of thumb is that the larger the sensor (which usually means the camera itself is larger) the less grainy is a picture with a given ISO.

ISO is almost always settable manually. Set yours lower (like 200 or below) and see if the camera can still achieve the proper exposure via aperture and shutter speed (or not show the red camera shake symbol).

 

[GrillMouster]

What everyone else has said thus far is correct. As ISO increases, so does noise. Cameras vary on the amount of noise they show at a given ISO setting. The good news about Nikon cameras is that their noise is usually luminance, rather than color noise, so it mimics natural film grain. Noise is most visible in dark areas of the frame, so even if you correctly expose the main subject, if there are black/dark areas or large shadows, noise can be more pronounced in those areas.

There are a few things you can do, aside from buying new equipment, to minimize noise.

* First, as I said, earlier, try to get exposure right in camera; don't underexpose. I know wedding photographers who routinely shoot the entire reception at 3200 ISO, but because they're good at nailing the exposure, noise isn't a huge problem...and they're using D200s, not the latest "low noise" cameras like the D3, D700, etc.

* Use the lowest ISO necessary by first selecting the shutter speed and/or aperture that you absolutely NEED for the shot, add artificial or natural light, then adjust the ISO last to achieve the exposure you want.

* Fill the frame with your correctly exposed subject, minimizing the amount of dark background and shadows that show more noise.

* Rather than zooming through your variable aperture lens, use your feet to move closer to the subject. By using a shorter focal length, you are able to use a larger aperture and lower ISO setting.

* Convert noisy images to black & white, so noise resembles natural film grain. The noise can actually help add character to the image.

 

[MsSpinShady]

Wow, thank you all for your help! I am going to print out this thread to use as a reference while I try out all of your suggestions (and I will read the book ukcatfan - thanks!). I'll come back and post photos if I have any success.

MsSpinShady

 

[flying_babyb]

Whats ISO? What should it be on for what? I mean what do I use for inside, outside.... my camera has auto,100,200,400. Whats EV? WB, think its weather related, the one picture looks like a cloud. Sorry to ask so many questions but my camera didnt have a book, so I have no clue what this stuff is. I think learning may make my pictures more like most of my disboard freinds. Mine look bad. TIA

 

[zackiedawg]

A few basic answers first:

Whats ISO? What should it be on for what? I mean what do I use for inside, outside.... my camera has auto,100,200,400

ISO is the camera sensor's sensitivity level to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the camera will be to picking up light in dim or low light environments. If you are shooting somewhere darker, turning up the ISO will allow you to shoot it with normal shutter speeds. The downside to turning up the sensitivity is that you also turn up the noise or graininess in the photos. Like turning up the volume too high on a tiny radio when the sounds starts getting all distorted...the same thing happens to the picture when you turn up the sensitivity (ISO) on a camera. The better the camera, the more you can turn up the ISO without bad effects. Little pocket cams are like clock radios...you don't have much room to crank the volume without having it sound pretty bad. Whereas a good DSLR is like a serious hi-fi stereo unit...it can handle the higher volumes.

Whats EV?

This is a way to either raise the overall brightness or reduce the overall brightness the camera captures in a shot - it also works by either turning up or turning down the sensitivity of the camera, but is meant to offer photographers a simple way to make minor adjustments up or down from a camera's automatic metering modes.

WB, think its weather related, the one picture looks like a cloud.

White Balance isn't so much weather-related, but more color related. Think of how different the color of light can be...take a white t-shirt, and look at it in normal afternoon sunlight...it may be a bright white with just a hint of yellow (from the sun). Take it indoors under a flourescent bulb...still bright, but now blueish. Under sodium vapor lights, it may look more orange. Etc. What white balance does is allows to to have your whites look WHITE in various changing light conditions, as well as balancing out all of the other colors in the spectrum (so that blues under a yellow light don't look green, for example).

For more reading on the subject, check out some photography websites that can give you basic breakdowns of all the controls and features of a camera.

Good luck!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This is a good book to pick up as a reference. It helps explain everything in simple terms.

The Kodak Most Basic Book of Digital Photography

 

[seashoreCM]

Generally ISO 100 should be used for sunny to lightly overcast outdoor shooting and the subject is not moving. You may find that ISO 100 works OK for heavy overcast or subjects in the shade too, otherwise use ISO 200 if you keep getting the camera shake icon flashing at you. The latter means that the camera is unable to set the exposure right automatically without gearing down the shutter speed so much that unsteady hands will result in a blurry picture.

Most of the time you will have to use ISO 400 (or higher) indoors or at night or for any moving subjects in daylight. The flash has a greater range when you use a higher ISO.

I don't like to use auto ISO because I don't want the camera choosing something high like 400 or 800 with its attendant graininess without my knowledge.

Using a tripod indoors or at night and when the subject is not moving, you can go back to ISO 100 and get good pictures without flash.

You will have to do some experimentation to see how low (better) you can go with the ISO and not have pictures that often come out blurry.

EV (exposure value) is used for manual photography as opposed to automatic photography. EV stands for a quantity of light, for example a slower shutter speed and a smaller lens opening can stand for the same amount of light as a faster shutter speed and a bigger lens opening in which case both settings have the same EV. Numerically, the bigger the EV number, the smaller the amount of light. A given EV goes with a given ISO and a given lighting condition for example EV 15 for ISO 100 and bright sunlight.

EC (exposure compensation) is used to darken (minus) or brighten (plus) the automatically exposed picture for such purposes as bring out a light subject on an overall dark background or vice versa. But be careful. If you change the EC and aim the camera differently for another trial shot, the camera will make a different automatic setting as well as darken or lighten it additionally for your EC change and the results will be unpredictable. Plussing the EC can also make the camera shake indicator come on, forcing you to up the ISO. Just upping the ISO will not lighten or darken the picture. If a dark picture is a lesser evil than a grainy picture then minusing the EC and lowering the ISO will be useful.

The same rules apply to film as to digital when it comes to ISO, EC, EV, aperture, shutter speed, etc. except you have to finish the roll of film before you can change the ISO (using a film with a different speed).

Digital camera hints: http://www.cockam.com/digicam.htm

 

[YesDear]

Yeah what they said!

 

[Groucho]

Also, it's worth noting the concept of "stops" which is the doubling or halving of the amount of light. ISO 800 is twice as sensitive as ISO 400, which is twice as sensitive as ISO 200, etc. Going one stop higher in ISO means that you can get another stop somewhere else, like shutter speed.

For example... a shot at ISO 100 at 1/50th of a second will give the same exposure as a shot at ISO 200 at 1/100th of a second. The ISO 200 shot will have less motion blur because of the faster shutter speed but potentially more undesirable "noise" in the photo.

You generally shouldn't need to mess with EV unless you're in a situation where the camera is consistently getting the exposure too bright or too dark, or you want to force brightness or darkness for a particular effect.

 

[flying_babyb]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't use your flash on dark rides like PotC and HM

Other than it being annoying is there another reason?

 

[boBQuincy]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't use your flash on dark rides like PotC and HM

Other than it being annoying is there another reason?

Yes, it usually looks like @#$%^&*. Disney spent a great deal of time and $$$ to get the lighting just right for the scene, a bright burst of light ruins the illusion and looks nothing like what we saw.

It also temporarily destroys our night vision (and that of those around us) so we miss the next 30 seconds or more of the ride.

 

[Groucho]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't use your flash on dark rides like PotC and HM

Other than it being annoying is there another reason?

It's extraordinarily annoying and insanely rude - and the photos generally look lousy, IMHO.

I think I added that after participating in a couple "picture of the day" threads elsewhere on here, and seeing a fair number of shots from non-photo board regulars where they'd obviously used a flash on the ride. I just wanted to make sure people realize that taking the flash photos really ruins the ride for many of us.

Not to mention - it is against the rules; they do clearly state that flash photography is prohibited.

(The presence of bright camera/camcorder LCD screens everywhere is another annoyance, but not much we can do about that... I do always set my camera to not show a preview after shooting when on a dark ride, so it stays completely dark to minimize the distraction to others.)