Camera Labs

Hello everybody

A few days ago whilst I was shooting some people indoors, I found myself setting the ISO up to 1600 to get some stills at F5.6, ISO 3200 when I was in poorer lighting and even 6400 when I was photographing some indoor action. I was wondering, without flash, what's the highest ISO value that you use? I wouldn't really want to go up to 1200, and I wouldn't even consider 25 000! What's the highest ISO value that you would use?

-Evan

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-Evan

Gear: 7 Nikon Nikkor AI-S and AF-S lenses, SB-700 flash, Nikon D7000, Nikon FM, variety of accessories

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
- Ansel Adams

Hi EvanK,

Personally I rarely go above ISO800, unless I know I'm going to be making B&W conversions and use film-grain - in which case I might go as far as ISO1600. That's on a Nikon D300. Generally speaking though, I bring a flash for that sort of thing, even if there's decent light, simply because I like the way that added light gives a bit of a kick to the image - I'm talking people photography here.

I do take care to bring an F1.4 or F1.8 lens for that, though. Lenses like that gives good sharpness @ F2.8.

But it's all about taste and the camera. I'm sure that, say, a D90, D3, D3s, D3x or D700, D7000 could be brought up a stop or two from there and still be good.

I'm not really a fan of high-ISO photography and I don't HAVE to shoot anything I don't want to. Granted the D3s seems to handle high-ISO well, but the photographic tools have developed over time to be able to facilitate a practical ISO400 limit, which is where light-sensitive/large-aperture lenses and flashes come in. ISO800 film was always very grainy and until very recently, ISO800 was very splotchy on digital cameras as well.

Maybe I just need to get with the times, but I greatly prefer ISO400/800 with flash over ISO3200 and above without it...

Cheers

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Nikon stuff and other stuff, but not nearly as much stuff as I really want!

Thanks for the reply Lah.

I personally think that the real technique for indoors is to use fast glass, and the only fast glass that I had when I took my most recent indoor shots was a non-CPU lens, which at the time wasn't programmed into my D7000. Using a bounce flash indoors would also be interesting.

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-Evan

Gear: 7 Nikon Nikkor AI-S and AF-S lenses, SB-700 flash, Nikon D7000, Nikon FM, variety of accessories

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
- Ansel Adams

As high as possible, I think. For now that's ISO 1600, and it looks just great. With astrophotography when you stack all the pictures you even get much less noise. If I finally have the 50D (you know the story Evan? ) I think 6400 ISO will be the max. for astrophotography.

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

I think the ISO used is greatly dependent on the use of the pictures and/or the size the will be shown/printed. I would say just go as high as you are comfortable shooting in the situation. For my own snapshots I like to capture the moment and even dare to use the Hi-1.0 setting of my D80 (equivalent of ~3200 ISO).

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- Wout -
Lowepro Nova 200 AW filled with Nikon D90 + MB-D80
18-70 DX, 70-300 VR, 35 1.8 DX, SB-700

I'm not a big fan of high ISO photography either, but I'd rather have much noise than motion blur. I stop somewhere around 1600 - 3200 ISO. With one of my f/1.8 lenses, wide open or stopped down a bit, I can shoot in pretty dark situations and still get sufficient shutter speed

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Canon DSLRs: 5D Mark III, 7D
Canon lenses: 17-40/4L, 24-105/4L, 24/1.4L II, 50/1.4, 85/1.8, 100/2.8L Macro, 70-200/2.8L IS, 100-400L
Other stuff: Canon Extender 1.4x II, Canon 580 EX II, Canon 430EX II, Velbon Sherpa 600R
Apple: MacBook Pro 15", iMac 27", iPad III, iPhone 4S, Apple TV

My deviantART

I use 3200 routinely already, with 6400 as an emergency measure. Beyond that it is pushing too far though. It does depend on the situation though. Often if I'm at home I'd get the tripod out for a long exposure at lower ISO. High ISO is reserved for hand held photos.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

recently with kids birthday parties, xmas and a new niece and nephew I have taken a fair few indoor shot. Many were at iso 3200, perfectly acceptable. Either with the 50 1.8 or the 15-85.
I shoot mainly in jpg, but have taken many of those in raw and jpg, I seem to get more colour range back if I have used high iso when in raw. But also because the AWB in the Canon seems to have more trouble with indoor light than my Sony does.

I only got a new flash a week ago, so I am still getting used to it, but it does appear to do a better job of indoor shots than using high iso. Mainly because you can go up to f 8-10 to get more in focus without sacrificing light. So it depends, a baby only shot with the 50 at 2.8 and iso 3200 comes out nice, but kids around the xmas table need a large dof and therefore need flash. The 430, ie bouncing of ceiling does get superior result to the camera flash or wide open aperture.

If I use the 430 I can just shoot in jpg, without flash I shoot in jpg and raw.

The other thing with the family happy snaps, they are important, but they don`t need to be huge is size, so noise is less obvious.

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Canon Powershot S95, Canon 6D,7D, 24-70 2.8 Tamron VC, Canon 15-85, Canon 85 1.8, Sigma 30 1.4, 50mm 1.8, Canon 100 2.8L Macro, Canon 70-300L +Kenko 1.4 Pro 300DGX, Canon 430EX II and RS 4 Classic

Ill use whatever ISO I need to. Id rather have a noisy shot than a motion blurred shot or worse a missed shot. 3200 is fine for me, 6400 (Hi 1 I think the Nikons call it) is a little noisy, but like I say Ill use it if I have to.

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

I'll go up to ISO6400 regularly as needed...I consider 100 - 3200 a completely normal everyday range, with 6400 a necessary mode for some occasions...the only ISO my camera has that I rarely use is 12800...which I do reserve for emergencies only. I would likely use the full ISO range of any camera I owned - if I had one that went to 128,000, and could shoot cleanly at ISO64,000...I'd use it. ISO is a tool the camera is equipped with to be used as needed, and I like to use all of the tools a camera comes with!

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Justin Miller
Sony DSLR-A580 / Sony 18-250mm / Minolta 50mm F1.7 / Sigma 30mm F1.4 / Tamron 10-24mm / Tamron 200-500mm / Tamron 90mm F2.8 macro / Minolta 300mm F4 APO
Sony NEX5N / 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 / 55-210mm F4-6.3 / Pentax K adapter / Konica K/AR adapter / bunches o' Konica & Pentax lenses!

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