ISO base value

Hello, still quite new and researching shooting video. I read that there are certain ISO values that should be avoided (best ISO is in multiples of the base value). Does this make a lot of difference, and what is the nikon d5200's base and hence which values should be avoided?

Thanks in advance!

Kat.

The native ISO of the D5200 is 100.

I don't know if there are certain ISO values that should be avoided. It's probably an assumption based upon the idea that by using thirds instead of full ISO stops, the calculations might lead to noisier results. Maybe it's a thing of the past.

The only ISO to avoid is the one that is too noisy to be usable. It's not easy to put a number on that since it depends on a lot of things. That's something you best find out while shooting.

Welcome to the forum

Kathryn Dwyer said:

Hello, still quite new and researching shooting video. I read that there are certain ISO values that should be avoided (best ISO is in multiples of the base value). Does this make a lot of difference, and what is the nikon d5200's base and hence which values should be avoided?

Thanks in advance!

Kat.

Click to expand...

Hello Kat. Videography like photography requires proper exposure which is affectedby your aperture, shutter speed and ISO. For indoor, you need to adjust your ISO untilthe LCD screen no longer flickers and is properly exposed. A constant aperture lens is best such as aprime lens.
You can always try it and see what is the optimal settingsbased on your camera and lenses that you use.

Kathryn Dwyer said:

Hello, still quite new and researching shooting video. I read that there are certain ISO values that should be avoided (best ISO is in multiples of the base value). Does this make a lot of difference, and what is the nikon d5200's base and hence which values should be avoided?

Thanks in advance!

Kat.

Click to expand...

Base ISO is the value at which the sensor naturally captures light information (for almost all current Nikons that is ISO 100). Any deviation from that value, both up and down, requires either the amplification or attenuation of the light information. In other words, software interprets the natural light in a way that allows you to shoot faster or slower. This interpretation will always introduce artifacts (i.e. noise) into the process with the amount depended on the level of manipulation.

As a musician I like to think of ISO in terms of a tube guitar amplifier. There's a sweet spot, say around 5 on the volume, where everything sounds crisp, clean and perfect. If I turn down it's still "clean", but the tones may be dull and muted. If I turn up I begin to get distortion. In each case, the further away from the sweet spot (i.e. Native ISO) the more pronounced the effect. Just how pronounced will depend on the amplifier circuit (i.e. the sensor physical design and firmware ability), which is why some are able to get much louder than others and stay clean.

(back to cameras)...

The manufacturer will tend to only give you access to ISO values it deems "usable", which means you can expect to have an image that is recognizable and will function, at a minimum, as an accurate recording of the event. In general this will mean that the high values will have some "significant noise" seen when compared to native ISO, but that may be more than usable for a given purpose - particularly given the plethora of noise reduction tools available in post processing. What I "avoid" will differ by situation. For instance, if I am shooting birds then I want to see detail in the feathers, which can be lost when implementing noise reduction. On my D7000 that meant nothing above 1600. On my D7100 that means nothing above 3200 if I can help it, but 6400 is fine provided I don't need to crop significantly. That said, I had no issue shooting concerts on the D7000 with values above 1600 because I could deal with the noise more readily in those situations.