pictures Grainy, help

So I am trying to shoot in a low light situations and keep getting grainy pictures. I go to change my ISO; take a picture; comes out grainy; look at what it says and it tells me it is at hi2, 6400. why? shouldn't I be able to set it to what I want in Manual?

(Also I am very new at all of this. I purchased the D7000 not long ago and I am now learning the world of DSLR. never done ISO/Aperture/etc. before.)
here are some examples I just took with just the computer monitor on.
this is at 1/200 f5.6 iso H2
1/80 5.6 hi2
1/80 f1.8 6400

Every time I tried to change my iso to a resonable amount like 800 for when I use it in low light.

any ideas why this is happening?

Seriously....read your manual on how to set the Aperture, ISO and Shutter speed. There are two wheels on your camera...one in the front just below your shutter button, and one in the back. One is for setting shutter speed, the other for setting aperture. This is done by depressing the shutter button half way down and turning the wheel at the same time (one wheel at a time).

ok I have done so Jack, but it keeps auto setting it on me. I set it at 100 and I take a picture and it shows in preview it is H2.

I can change the thumb wheel all I want to make it 1/200, 1/500 etc all I want but it does not make a difference on what I put it on.
I can also change the F, and it helps but it is still grainy.
I hold the iso and turn the thumb wheel and see it change (400 for example) in the top little window of settings. take a picture and it does not actually do it. yet after the picture I go to click on my iso and it will still show 400 or what I ever I set it as.

You have to have everything set on M (manual) to change all the settings, including the lens. Try that.

Also, in your camera Menu, turn Auto ISO off. I think it's in your Custom Settings Menu (B1).

Thanks Jack. I tried searching through the whole menu and just decided; "heck your low light pictures are bad enough that there is probably to many things I changed.....so just default it all". after I did that I was able to finally select my iso and it took it where I wanted it to be.

that was really bugging me.

but yes I do agree to read the manual even though the problem is fixed. I want to know a lot and have heard several people mention to read, and I will do so. (never thought a manual would actually help....being serious I hated manuals because it jumped all around, was almost useless, and a little common sense takes you a long ways......but on this one I just have to give in.)

Study your white balance too

Computer monitor light is is about EV 4 or 5 or so...even at f1.8 and ISO 800 it calls for about a 1 second exposure...I'm sorry but no matter how fast your lens is if the light isn't there the light just isn't there. Get a tripod and set the white balance for incandescent and the shutter speed at 1 second f stop at 1.8 ISO 800 and then make that same snap...

white balance almost seems like it is something I would not get into............but something tells me if you are saying it, I better look at it and become familiar with it.

If you use a digital camera and you don't know white balance you are lost before you even set off on your journey. The manual is helpful but you need to learn the fundamental stuff as well.

Computer monitor light by itself is dark almost non existent (think of it as candle light). You need a cool white balance (or maybe 5500 kelvin depending on what you are after), a big aperture, and a really slow shutter speed (tripod speed). Now go and point the camera the moon and try it and you will be surprised!

It really is all about the light as simple as that may sound!

The camera and the lens is only but a tool that let's you manipulate the light if you don't believe me take a picture in the dark and see what you get.

I do low light all the time its called a wedding in a 13th century church lit by low engergy bulbs...
Now whilst I dont do it this way I would advise you to do this ....START with P mode auto iso 200-6400 noise reduction on max ....What you may have forgotten is that if you do settings in one mode say P they dont carry over to the other settings you can have P A S all doing different things you musst check and adjust in each

An old low light probably around 6 EV done with 200 ASA film and a pod...yours truly...now that is real grain right there my friend. BTW it is cropped into oblivion if you could see the full size scan you'd go wow where is the grain?

Man I am an ugly son of buck huh? LOL

I like this shot Jeff Buck or no buck.

A little more profile, and converted to BW would make a great shot...not that this one isn't....
Carroll

Hi

Check your Auto ISO Settings.
Obviously they are set to allow up to 6400.

When you now adjust ISO by the button and the wheel to say 400 you tell the camera to START not below ISO 400 but the automatic ISO still adjusts up to 6400 no matter what manual mode you're in.

To stop it doing so you either have to set Auto ISO to a lower maximum (check longest shutter speed in these settings, too to avoid pushing ISO too early!) or turn Auto ISO off in these situations completely.

To do so quickly you can either use U1 / U2 presets or - as I do - put Auto ISO on your custom menu.

That should solve your problem, I think.

Eye-level said:

It really is all about the light as simple as that may sound!

The camera and the lens is only but a tool that let's you manipulate the light if you don't believe me take a picture in the dark and see what you get.

Click to expand...

That I can believe. because I know at noon I need to go to one extreme and at night I need to go to the other extreme.
I have found that some of my best pictures have come out just like you said.

side note: but I guess I got to messed up my settings later on and then the grainy started happening.....oh well that is what reset is for.

pistnbroke said:

I do low light all the time its called a wedding in a 13th century church lit by low engergy bulbs...
Now whilst I dont do it this way I would advise you to do this ....START with P mode auto iso 200-6400 noise reduction on max ....What you may have forgotten is that if you do settings in one mode say P they dont carry over to the other settings you can have P A S all doing different things you musst check and adjust in each

Click to expand...

I had this thought cross my mind, but I went on saying I want to do it all.

but I think with me being a begginner this might be in my best interest for now.

being a bit of a beginner I bought Nikon D7000 for Dummies. I find it very helpful and much easier to understand than the manual.

mashburn said:

white balance almost seems like it is something I would not get into............but something tells me if you are saying it, I better look at it and become familiar with it.

Click to expand...

Mmm, hmmm. This is what people with point and shoots say.. I'll gladly take that D7000 off your hands if you feel like learning the camera is just too much work.