ISO Speeds demystied.. please? (G2)

ok, newbie question here...

I take a lot of photos in low (to very vow) light conditions and Im having difficulties figuring out which settings to set my G2 on. I Don't think I'm ready to get into AV/TV/M settings, so right now I at least want to figure out ISO settings, unless someone can set me straigt on the others.

I did just purchase the 420ex flash, so that should make things easier, though don't wan't to always relay on the flash unit as it isn't the most portable units there is.

I guess I want to make sure that I inderstadn twhat the key differences are n setting the ISO settings between 50/100/200/400. From my understanding, in low light, if I set it at 400, I'm looking at grainer photos.. why would I want to do that... And again, from what I've been reading, in low light, I want to be setting the ISO at 400. If I want sharp images, the last thing I want is grainy images.

I wont be using a tripod, so camera shake will probably be an issue. Nope, im not a pro, not an amateur... just enjoy having a camera.

Can someone set me strait on when to use what ISO settings for what lighting conditions? Do i need to go into the other modes other than P at this point?

Just a reminder.. Im just a hobbyist.. dumb down the language if possible
hehe. Thank you so much!!

Jerrold

ISO 200 shots require a shutter speed twice as long as ISO 400 shots
ISO 100 shots require a shutter speed four times as long as ISO 400 shots
ISO 50 shots require a shutter speed eight times as long as ISO 400 shots

You take the lowest ISO you can without having camera shake for your particular situation. Camera shake is worse than a grainy picture for sure.

Yes the ISO 400 from the G2 is rather grainy... your only option is to do some filtering and perhaps some down-sampling. Certain pro cameras have very quiet high ISO settings, which you may require. Cameras like the Sony 707 have cleaner ISO 400 settings, although they fake their ISO ratings a bit based on some comparisons to Olympus and Canon cameras.

Jerrold Emery said:

ok, newbie question here...

I take a lot of photos in low (to very vow) light conditions and Im
having difficulties figuring out which settings to set my G2 on. I
Don't think I'm ready to get into AV/TV/M settings, so right now I
at least want to figure out ISO settings, unless someone can set me
straigt on the others.

I did just purchase the 420ex flash, so that should make things
easier, though don't wan't to always relay on the flash unit as it
isn't the most portable units there is.

I guess I want to make sure that I inderstadn twhat the key
differences are n setting the ISO settings between 50/100/200/400.
From my understanding, in low light, if I set it at 400, I'm
looking at grainer photos.. why would I want to do that... And
again, from what I've been reading, in low light, I want to be
setting the ISO at 400. If I want sharp images, the last thing I
want is grainy images.

I wont be using a tripod, so camera shake will probably be an
issue. Nope, im not a pro, not an amateur... just enjoy having a
camera.

Can someone set me strait on when to use what ISO settings for what
lighting conditions? Do i need to go into the other modes other
than P at this point?

Just a reminder.. Im just a hobbyist.. dumb down the language if
possible
hehe. Thank you so much!!

Jerrold

Click to expand...

Well, I guess I should say thanks, becuase in theory, this makes perfect sense. But, if I dont understnad shutter speeds yet, im not going to understand this quite yet hehe. I gues to ask simples yes/no questions. If I am taking photos in the very dim light, and I want sharp images, and I dont want them to be grainy, should I set the ISO to be high or low?

from reading your post 5 or 27 times, it appears I should probably go somewhere in the middle and set the ISO at wround 200 or so, does that seem to be right?

Shoul I try I playing the with more advance settings yet, or just keep working with thie ISO settings until I feel comfortbale?

Once I get the 420ex, should I chnage the ISO setting to a different setting seeing as more light will be getting in?

Thanks again!!!

-Jerrold

jason said:

You take the lowest ISO you can without having camera shake for
your particular situation. Camera shake is worse than a grainy
picture for sure.

Yes the ISO 400 from the G2 is rather grainy... your only option is
to do some filtering and perhaps some down-sampling. Certain pro
cameras have very quiet high ISO settings, which you may require.
Cameras like the Sony 707 have cleaner ISO 400 settings, although
they fake their ISO ratings a bit based on some comparisons to
Olympus and Canon cameras.

Jerrold Emery said:

ok, newbie question here...

I take a lot of photos in low (to very vow) light conditions and Im
having difficulties figuring out which settings to set my G2 on. I
Don't think I'm ready to get into AV/TV/M settings, so right now I
at least want to figure out ISO settings, unless someone can set me
straigt on the others.

I did just purchase the 420ex flash, so that should make things
easier, though don't wan't to always relay on the flash unit as it
isn't the most portable units there is.

I guess I want to make sure that I inderstadn twhat the key
differences are n setting the ISO settings between 50/100/200/400.
From my understanding, in low light, if I set it at 400, I'm
looking at grainer photos.. why would I want to do that... And
again, from what I've been reading, in low light, I want to be
setting the ISO at 400. If I want sharp images, the last thing I
want is grainy images.

I wont be using a tripod, so camera shake will probably be an
issue. Nope, im not a pro, not an amateur... just enjoy having a
camera.

Can someone set me strait on when to use what ISO settings for what
lighting conditions? Do i need to go into the other modes other
than P at this point?

Just a reminder.. Im just a hobbyist.. dumb down the language if
possible
hehe. Thank you so much!!

Jerrold

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jerrold Emery said:

If I am taking photos in the very dim light, and
I want sharp images, and I dont want them to be grainy, should I
set the ISO to be high or low?

Click to expand...

Low. The tradeoff is you will have long shutter speeds (1/50sec or 1/60sec). To be sure of a sharp picture without grain or camera shake, use a tripod.

Jerrold Emery said:

Shoul I try I playing the with more advance settings yet, or just
keep working with thie ISO settings until I feel comfortbale?

Click to expand...

Keep the ISO set to 50 unless you are in low light. Better off using a tripod or risking camera shake than setting higher ISO (my opinion). I have got good shots at 1/10sec with my G1!

Paul

You are in a trade-off situation: lack of grain vs. lack of blur from camera shake. Higher ISO let you use faster shutter speeds and smaller apertures (which should give you sharper pics) at the expense of more noisy (equivalent to grainy in film) in the pics. Note that the presence of noise/grain in itself gives the appearance of reduced sharpness, however.

The rule of thumb is that, if you have a very steady hand, the lowest shutter speed you can use at a given (35mm equivalent) focal length is the inverse of the focal length, i.e at full wide (34mm) you should use 1/40 or faster, at full tele (105mm) you should use 1/125 or faster. (personally, I found that with film, the lowest shutter speed at which I could shoot with a 50mm lens without ever showing variations in resolution between shots due to camera shake was 1/250, though I was pretty good at 1/60) So, if lack of blur is your goal, choose an ISO that will let you use a shutter speed faster than the minimum, remembering that the extra noise at higher ISOs will degrade the image anyway.

On the other hand, you may decide to live with a "softer" image (because of moderate camera shake) because it has smoother tones because the "grain" is tighter (less noticable). In that case, use the lowest ISO you can without getting excessive blur from camera shake.

There are occasions, i.e., pictures under streetlights or by fire light or generally indoors by natural light at night, where even if you choose ISO 400 you will be at or below the handheld threshold. For me, the natural light is ususally worth the loss of sharpness and grain.

You can only determine what you want by experimentation. The good news is that you can take as many pictures as you want for free.

Good luck,

Alan

Jerrold Emery said:

ok, newbie question here...

I take a lot of photos in low (to very vow) light conditions and Im
having difficulties figuring out which settings to set my G2 on. I
Don't think I'm ready to get into AV/TV/M settings, so right now I
at least want to figure out ISO settings, unless someone can set me
straigt on the others.

I did just purchase the 420ex flash, so that should make things
easier, though don't wan't to always relay on the flash unit as it
isn't the most portable units there is.

I guess I want to make sure that I inderstadn twhat the key
differences are n setting the ISO settings between 50/100/200/400.
From my understanding, in low light, if I set it at 400, I'm
looking at grainer photos.. why would I want to do that... And
again, from what I've been reading, in low light, I want to be
setting the ISO at 400. If I want sharp images, the last thing I
want is grainy images.

I wont be using a tripod, so camera shake will probably be an
issue. Nope, im not a pro, not an amateur... just enjoy having a
camera.

Can someone set me strait on when to use what ISO settings for what
lighting conditions? Do i need to go into the other modes other
than P at this point?

Just a reminder.. Im just a hobbyist.. dumb down the language if
possible
hehe. Thank you so much!!

Jerrold

Click to expand...