High Iso

Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
Just curious how high others are running their D200 ISO at. I have been playing with mine at 400 and that works pretty well. I shot all afternoon yesterday with is set to 400 and I'm very pleased. With the glass I own it gives me a lot more flexibility and I thing the shots look pretty good.
 
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DaveKoontz

Senior Member
I will normally shoot at either 200 or 400 during the daylight/sunny hours .... a little higher in low light, evening shots. I've never had the occasion, or need to use the higher settings.
 

karlyh

New member
I'm wondering about this too..... Just out of curiousity I've used 1600 and found things like running water much more detailed.... (for a lack of a better way of putting it) But when it came to editing it seemed I didn't have much room for play because of the risk of graininess.. Was this due to the high ISO?
 

DaveKoontz

Senior Member
I have a few awful shots taken in a dark restaurant in San Francisco ... don't remember the exact ISO setting, but I do remember jacking it up from where I normally shoot ... and when attempting to salvage the shots in PhotoShop the noise was horrible ... ended up deleting the images, and haven't attempted a low light shot, high ISO setting since. Was it due to the ISO? Probably that and a few other 'photographer errors' ......

There is a photographer on the site ... BlackTag .... that shoots quite a few low light images and may have the expertise to really answer your question. He does have some very outstanding images in the Gallery. How 'bout it BlackTag? Any thought on the matter?
 

Fotojo

Senior Member
Some of the earlier nikons are not as tolerant to the higher ISO settings. But to help with low light shooting a faster lens F2.8 will allow more light in. Using a good TTL flash shoe mount for extra light will also help. If you raise the ISO the flash will only deliver the amount of flash needed to the natural light. Slower shutter speeds may be required which may require you to use a tri-pod to prevent camrea shake and picture blur. Low lite shooting can be very rewarding you just need to be prepared the answer is definitly raising the ISO but you need to get as much light to the sensor as you can so you need to decide flash, faster lens, tri-pod, or combination of all if conditions warrant. A good example wood be a wedding where the minister says no flash allowed. You would want your fastest lens and would want to raise the ISO to get the camera speed to a good hand holding speed with the lens wide open (all depends on how much light in church, best to take meter reading if you can), and when posiable shoot in raw to give you most data to work with.

Fotojo
 

Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
I'm wondering about this too..... Just out of curiousity I've used 1600 and found things like running water much more detailed.... (for a lack of a better way of putting it) But when it came to editing it seemed I didn't have much room for play because of the risk of graininess.. Was this due to the high ISO?

I read on a Ken Rockwell site to set a D40 to auto and let it do it's own thing. You might experiment and give it a try.
 

Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
Some of the earlier nikons are not as tolerant to the higher ISO settings. But to help with low light shooting a faster lens F2.8 will allow more light in. Using a good TTL flash shoe mount for extra light will also help. If you raise the ISO the flash will only deliver the amount of flash needed to the natural light. Slower shutter speeds may be required which may require you to use a tri-pod to prevent camrea shake and picture blur. Low lite shooting can be very rewarding you just need to be prepared the answer is definitly raising the ISO but you need to get as much light to the sensor as you can so you need to decide flash, faster lens, tri-pod, or combination of all if conditions warrant. A good example wood be a wedding where the minister says no flash allowed. You would want your fastest lens and would want to raise the ISO to get the camera speed to a good hand holding speed with the lens wide open (all depends on how much light in church, best to take meter reading if you can), and when posiable shoot in raw to give you most data to work with.

Fotojo

One of the reasons I was considering a D300 was it's ability to handle higher iso speeds than what I have. I have a sb800 and in a large building ie a church it's not much help except for foreground. I borrowed a D700 for a church building shoot and I did have the iso up to 1600 and did get some useable pictures. My fastest lens is 1.8 but it's not always the best choice for what I need so just wondering. Also, I have never used noise reduction software like noise ninja but thus far lightroom 3 (fairly new user) has been of great help. I guess I'll keep raising mine up and go until I lose more than I want to keep.
 

ohkphoto

Snow White
Bill, thought I'd throw these suggestions out to you. You might want to try the SB900 . . . it does pack a bigger punch. Or, add a second flash to your setup . . . doesn't have to be an sb800 . . . could use something like the sb600 and use the commander mode on the D200 to remotely trigger the flashes. That would give you more light ina bigger building like a church.
 

Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
I have used the commander mode, very slick by the way, but for some portrait sidelight work I experimented with. My problem always has been slow glass, I actually shot some this morning using my 50mm with the sb800 which much better results exposure wise.
 

zx7dave

Senior Member
+1 on the SB900...a wonderful flash but huge...I worry about my hotshoe mount being damaged...but fantastic low light pictures that turned out like it was a sunny day...
The D300s does well up to 1600iso for most shots without noise if you are still considering upgrading...with the replacement model for teh D300s due out soon I would wait a bit though...I also use a Sigma 1.4 50mm that is my daily carry lens that would do good in a church setting unless you are going for head shots...then of course quite a bit of cropping would be needed....
But with the 1600iso and 1.4 lens I shoot my cats often in average lit living room setting..and I have to set the shutter on 1/160 or better to freeze movement..usually 1/250...this combo works real well....I recommend it....



Bill, thought I'd throw these suggestions out to you. You might want to try the SB900 . . . it does pack a bigger punch. Or, add a second flash to your setup . . . doesn't have to be an sb800 . . . could use something like the sb600 and use the commander mode on the D200 to remotely trigger the flashes. That would give you more light ina bigger building like a church.
 

silvertip

Senior Member
For the most part, just casual everyday shooting I have my ISO set at 200. The colors and detail are great at ISO 200. I have pushed the ISO to 1600 when shooting basketball in the local high school gym. The lighting is better now than it has been. In the gym I can get an exposure of 1/250 @ 2.8 or 3.5.

silvertip
 

fotojack

Senior Member
You might also want to wait and get the new SB-700 flash. I was reading the writeup on it. Impressive, and a nice price point, too.
 

Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
There is always something else to buy, I am really thinking one of my best options is pick up a used D300, don't need the video of the 300s and really would like to keep my lens collection as is so the 700 is of little interest to me. I will keep the d200 as 2nd body and continue to pick up some faster primes.
 
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