ISO settings: what do you use?

Hello,

I have a new 10D (4 weeks old) and was wondering about the ISO settings...

When using my old camera (Sony DSC 75), I just left the ISO on 100 becuase of all the extra noise the other settings produce.

Do you guys actually use the higher ISO setting on your 10D's? Or do you just leave it on 100?

How high do you guys go without having to worry about noise?

If I'm using a 550ex (bounce) indoors, do I still need to bump up the ISO?

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks

--
Jack & Coke

Jack & Coke said:

Hello,

I have a new 10D (4 weeks old) and was wondering about the ISO
settings...

When using my old camera (Sony DSC 75), I just left the ISO on 100
becuase of all the extra noise the other settings produce.

Do you guys actually use the higher ISO setting on your 10D's? Or
do you just leave it on 100?

How high do you guys go without having to worry about noise?

If I'm using a 550ex (bounce) indoors, do I still need to bump up
the ISO?

What do you guys recommend?

Click to expand...

Choice of ISO is not a separate decision. See http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=5457132

--
Pekka
http://photography-on-the.net

I use 100 when possible, but try 400 and 800. You'd be surprised at how clean the images can be at the higher ISOs. That's one of the advantages of the 10D over the earlier models.

Thanks!

Jack & Coke said:

Do you guys actually use the higher ISO setting on your 10D's?

Click to expand...

Absolutely. Sometimes it can mean the difference between getting SOME kind of shot (even though it might be noisy and blurry) or no shot at all.

For example, I try to always bring my 10D with me. If I just want to "travel light", I'll stick the 50mm/1.4 on it since it is nice and compact.

Last night, on my way home, I was driving down a dirt road and saw these two deer very close to the side of the road. But it was 9:38pm. It was pretty dark out, civil twilight ends around here at 9:45pm (I just checked. I rolled down the passenger window, even though I figured there was no way I'd be able to get a shot. "Might as well try." Set the 10D to 1600, f1.4 and pushed half way to get a meter reading. Ugh. 1/10th of a second. I brace my elbows on the center console and got this:



Captured raw; developed in C1LE. No other adjustments other than resizing to 25%.

I'm not trying to say this is a great shot, or even a mediocre shot. I was just having fun. But I want to point out that there is a time and place for the high ISO's. I was amazed that the 10D pulled in that much light in 1/10sec. (And a little NeatImage might make it look even a little better.)

(But I was ticked this afternoon because I took some shots and forgot the camera was still at ISO 1600. D'oh!!!)

Thanks for the tip!

I use ISO 100 whenever possible, but go up to ISO 400 when necessary. ISO 400 is very clean on a 10D. Here's a photo of a swallow's nest at ISO 400:
http://www.pbase.com/image/15663236

It was pretty hard to point the camera up and hold it steady for 1/180 seconds, but I did not like the noise at ISO 800.

--Garrett

Jack & Coke said:

Hello,

I have a new 10D (4 weeks old) and was wondering about the ISO
settings...

When using my old camera (Sony DSC 75), I just left the ISO on 100
becuase of all the extra noise the other settings produce.

Do you guys actually use the higher ISO setting on your 10D's? Or
do you just leave it on 100?

How high do you guys go without having to worry about noise?

If I'm using a 550ex (bounce) indoors, do I still need to bump up
the ISO?

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks

--
Jack & Coke

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/garrettlau

Jack & Coke said:

Hello,

I have a new 10D (4 weeks old) and was wondering about the ISO
settings...

When using my old camera (Sony DSC 75), I just left the ISO on 100
becuase of all the extra noise the other settings produce.

Do you guys actually use the higher ISO setting on your 10D's? Or
do you just leave it on 100?

How high do you guys go without having to worry about noise?

If I'm using a 550ex (bounce) indoors, do I still need to bump up
the ISO?

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks

--
Jack & Coke

Click to expand...

--
The Lowest Paid Concert Photographer Around
http://www.neonlightsimaging.com/artshow/final.htm
Photography -- just another word for compromise

Yes, this is ON-TOPIC!

Hi,

New 10d here too. Don't be shy of using high ISO if the situation warrants. Here is an ISO 1600 shot that has only has some USM post-processing. If I get time I may try neatimage to reduce the noise some, but I am happy enough with it as is.



--
Gene
http://www.pbase.com/gaocus/

Jack & Coke said:

Thanks for the tip!

Click to expand...

I've always stuck around 100 or 200, but Olga pointed me to the idea of upping the ISO to enable use of higher shutter speeds, and suddenly a whole new world of sharpness has emerged! I love ISO 400 even in bright daylight. Grazie to Olga the Great! ...and also to Roberta for showing us how beautiful a flower can be at ISO 400.
--
Ranger

With the D60, I never went over ISO200 - but since getting the 1D and 10D , I use them all (bar the 10D at ISO3200) , I shoot live theatre and the last production the lowest I went was ISO800 as the lighting consistently through the whole damn play was a struggle even at F2.8 (the 28-70 was wide open the whole time) - normally I shoot ISO100 on the 10D and the default of 200 on the 1D, noise levels are about the same at those settings.. but if I need more then I'm now happy to crank both up to 1600 and at a push the 1D up to 3200..

--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist

The No1 Dedicated 1D forum in the UK -------->

http://www.1dforum.co.uk/php/phpBB2/

Many people believe that it is best to use the lowest ISO possible. This is true in many instances, but not always. It is rule number two. Rule number one is ALWAYS ALWAYS use an adequate shutter speed first, even if it means bumping up your ISO. The only exceptions are if you have the camera tripod mounted, you are intentionally trying to blur the image, or if you are using Image Stabilzation (there might be other exceptions). For many people, image quality is actually better, especially in moderate light level situations, to use at least one stop faster ISO than you might think you need.

I have shot soccer photos indoors for the better part of this year, and although I could probably get away with ISO 800, 1000, or 1250, image quality was better for the action using ISO 1600, and the noise difference was minimal- in fact, because of the better shutter speeds, less sharpening was needed, and hence, sharper final images were obtained.

If you clearly have enough light (such as with daylight) go ahead and use ISO 100 or 200. But when light levels get low, don't be afraid to bump up the sensitivity to keep those shutter speeds fast enough.

-Ken

--
http://www.kennethturley.com
http://www.pbase.com/mistereman

Thanks for the boost in "ISO confidence"!

I think that's what it really was... a lack in confidence regarding HIGH ISO settings for digital cameras. I can thank my Sony S75 for that

I'm looking forward to testing out the settings you guys recommended!

I have the following lenses:

Canon - EF 50mm f1.4 USM
Canon - EF 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM
"Plastic Fantastic" (Tokina - AF 19-35mm f3.5-4.5)

Which lens will give me the best results when using "high" ISO settings?

are what made the 28-135IS lens so much more desireable with the 10D over the D60.

There is an old saying that "photography is all about making the best compromise." Higher ISOs make for more noise, but they allow you to have a faster shutter speed and/or smaller aperture (more DoF).

I use the WHOLE range of ISOs when I am shooting sports depending on the lighting conditions, but usually shoot at ISO 200 and above. The D10 is very good at ISO400, pretty good at ISO80, usable at ISO 1600 (but I would not be making large prints), and a fun experiment at ISO 3200 (getting pretty bad).

FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY AND ISO:

Flash photography is another issue. If you have a studio set up with multiple flashes then you can use a lower ISO. But for most people taking pictures with one or two flashes EVEN BOUNCED, I would recommend using a bit higher ISO (say ISO400). The reason is to pick up the ambient light and to let the bounce flash be more effective.

The light from a flash falls off as the SQUARE of the distance. In other words if you double the distance the illumination will be 2 stops less or if you half the distance the illumination will be 2 stops more. The classic effect people get is blow outs in the foreground and nearly black backgrounds with the main subject exposed about right but with a "dear in the headlights look."

Bouncing the flash creates a mulitude of distances but still you are going to find the background to be very dark. By raising the ISO and reducing the shutter speed (but still high enough to reduce camera shake and subject motion - I use 1/60 to 1/80th for indoors relatively still subjects) you all the ambient light to do some filling in for you.

Another thing to note is that the FLASH EXPOSURE is totally independent of the "ambient exposure" (a lot of people don't realize this). Thus even if you set the Ambient exposure (based on shutter speed, F-number, and ISO) manually, the Flash exposure is still controlled by the E-TTL. The amount of flash used is ONLY dependent on the ISO and F-number as the flash is VERY FAST and not affected by the shutter speed (below 1/200th anyway when high speed sync kicks in). NOTE this assumes that there is NOT enough ambient light to expose properly. Basically the Flash is ALWAYS a fill flash that is adding to the existing light.

Thus when using flash I use the "M" setting with a shutter speed of about 1/60th, an F-number of F1.4 to F8 (depending on DoF issues), and ISO400.

Jack & Coke said:

Hello,

I have a new 10D (4 weeks old) and was wondering about the ISO
settings...

When using my old camera (Sony DSC 75), I just left the ISO on 100
becuase of all the extra noise the other settings produce.

Do you guys actually use the higher ISO setting on your 10D's? Or
do you just leave it on 100?

How high do you guys go without having to worry about noise?

If I'm using a 550ex (bounce) indoors, do I still need to bump up
the ISO?

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks

--
Jack & Coke

Click to expand...

Jack & Coke said:

Hello,

I have a new 10D (4 weeks old) and was wondering about the ISO
settings...

When using my old camera (Sony DSC 75), I just left the ISO on 100
becuase of all the extra noise the other settings produce.

Do you guys actually use the higher ISO setting on your 10D's? Or
do you just leave it on 100?

How high do you guys go without having to worry about noise?

If I'm using a 550ex (bounce) indoors, do I still need to bump up
the ISO?

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks

--
Jack & Coke

Click to expand...

I vary my ISO quite freely to obtain the aperture and shutter speed I wish to use. The noise doesn't concern me at all as the 10D provides the cleanest images of any digital camera I've ever owned.