The art of ISO

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Borga Voffe

Senior Member
Me walking about in the mountains with a flimsy sony RX100 was kind of walk in the park ;)

But now with that heavy 7200 and heavy lenses tok 12-28 or even nik 70-300, its another ballgame .....

I do take way better photos, no doubt, so I am in right direction of realising ny hobbit style of mountain flowers and scenery.


1) Should I use AUTO iso?
1) What would be the lowest? I have been recommended 100, but this might be to low for my use
2) Should I set any "top ISO" I was recomded 3200, I feel 6400 at least.
3) Min shutter speed, do I need to worry about this?

Like yesterday, it was a matter of getting at least a few photos on the summit of the magic view.
There was a bit of snowing, hard wind, my fingers were stiff frozen, my ears were cold and my dog wanted to go home.
I think I need som auto settings in these situations...

voffn.jpg
 
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B

Blacktop

Senior Member
Borga Voffe said:
Me walking about in the mountains with a flimsy sony RX100 was kind of walk in the park ;)

But now with that heavy 7200 and heavy lenses tok 12-28 or even nik 70-300, its another ballgame .....

I do take way better photos, no doubt, so I am in right direction of realising ny hobbit style of mountain flowers and scenery.


1) Should I use AUTO iso?
1) What would be the lowest? I have been recommended 100, but this might be to low for my use
2) Should I set any "top ISO" I was recomded 3200, I feel 6400 at least.
3) Min shutter speed, do I need to worry about this?

Like yesterday, it was a matter of getting at least a few photos on the summit of the magic view.
There was a bit of snowing, hard wind, my fingers were stiff frozen, my ears were cold and my dog wanted to go home.
I think I need som auto settings in these situations...

View attachment 204824
Click to expand...

The lower the ISO the better. Shutter Speed depends on your hand holding technique and whether how much wind there is moving leaves and branches about.

I hate dragging a tripod around but I will make an exception when I want to get serious looking landscape shots.

When I shoot landscapes I'm always in Aperture priority. I like to set the f/stop where I can get the most depth of field without much diffraction. Usually over F/8 and not much over f/13. Sometimes I close it more if I feel the need or want to experiment, but normally I stay between those 2 numbers.
ISO I always start with 100 and see what shutter speed it gives me. If it is a calm day with plenty light I'm good to go. If it is a windy day I may up my ISO to get a higher shutter speed.
 
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nickt

Senior Member
Auto iso is only a button press + wheel click away for you, no menu diving. (ISO + front wheel.) So you can quickly go back and forth using it without a long commitment. We all want the lowest iso possible, but if I am using my big zoom, sometimes I'll set both shutter and aperture manually to the minimum I can accept and let auto iso make the exposure. Same for hand holding macro, if I must have the shutter speed and must have the depth of field, I let the iso adjust. No top end for me. I avoid letting it max, but its there if I need it. Better than a blurry picture.
For less than fully manual, you also have the tool with auto iso, auto minimum shutter speed. So you can have the minimum shutter speed adjust for the focal length. Further, there is a tool to bias that auto minimum shutter towards faster or slower.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
As has already been said, a lower ISO is better all other things being equal. Personally, I'll let the ISO go as high as it needs to for me to be able to use the aperture and shutter speed I want. Always. ISO typically doesn't have significant aesthetic impact, but freezing/blurring motion and depth of field both have very dramatic aesthetic impact

Further, the "downside" of too high an ISO is digital "noise"; which I can very effectively remove in post-processing. A blurry, or out of focus, shot due to using too slow a shutter speed or getting the wrong depth of field, I can't correct for in post-processing.
 
Woodyg3

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
I'll just add a thought that may or not be helpful for you're particular situation. I use auto ISO when I'm shooting subjects that are moving quickly or in situations when I simply don't have time to change several settings quickly. I go to manual mode, set my desired shutter speed and Aperture, then let the camera select the ISO.

For situations when I have plenty of time to compose, I select the ISO and use shutter priority, aperture priority, or manual mode depending on the subject and the factors I deem most important to the shot.
 
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