 sfogliatelleWe Is Whut We AmPremium
join:2002-05-29
Baton Rouge, LA | [FYI] Making sense of ISO Good, informative article on TechHive by staff writer Dave Johnson on Balancing ISO and digital noise for sharper low-light photos (»www.techhive.com/article/2025509···nl_photo).
But what impressed me most was a comment made by a reader:
"I can't speak for the author of this article, but using any setting on auto reduces the amount of control you have over your camera. This may suffice if you know little about the available variables those settings manage. Indeed, in most cases letting your camera do the thinking will work just fine if you're shooting in unchallenging lighting conditions. Most digital cameras these days have program settings that will make allowances for some of the variables, like landscape and portrait modes. But if the quality of your images is important to you, the more you know about your camera's settings the better. For instance, you may shoot with the aperture wide open in low light situations because you really have no choice, but if you do so on a sunny day with auto-ISO, the camera may set a very high ISO to compensate for the extra light coming through the wide open lens. A high shutter speed can compensate somewhat for the low aperture, but whether the shutter speed and ISO reach an optimum balance will depend on the capabilities of the camera and what other settings you have set to auto.
For what it's worth, I recommend leaving your ISO at a fixed setting no higher than 400 unless the lighting conditions make it necessary to go higher. In this way you can balance shutter speed and aperture to handle average shooting conditions and variables without undue risk of image noise. In the days of film an ISO of 400 was high and would invariable produce grainy images. Now digital cameras handle higher ISOs much better than film ever could, so that 400 is relatively low and will cause little if any additional noise. By comparison, color film used to be available as low as ISO 25. Digital cameras rarely if ever go below 100. But while these goal posts have moved, the operating principles remain the same.
These days digital cameras try to be all things to all people. They offer automatic settings for those who don't know, or cannot be bothered using the camera's manual exposure options. At the same time, most cameras offer a wide range of manual settings for more knowledgeable users who want to do their own thinking. But this is not an either/or situation. For example, for decades now good cameras have included the ability to select aperture priority, when you want to control depth of field manually while letting the camera automatically set the shutter speed. And shutter priority allows you to choose the shutter speed while letting the camera set the aperture. Nevertheless, to use either of these semi-automatic settings effectively, you have to know how both shutter speed and aperture affect the image. A low shutter speed will allow any camera shake or vibration to blur the image. A low aperture means low depth of field and will leave elements of the image out of focus.
If you want to make good pictures - not just snapshots - take the time to learn how your camera works and what the various settings mean - and how they interact. In photography, as with most things, knowledge is power." |
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 SueSPremium
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO
kudos:2 | I am surprised exposing to the right was not mentioned in the article. Exposing to the right makes a huge difference in controlling noise at higher ISO’s. |
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TexPremium
join:2012-10-20 | reply to sfogliatelle
This part makes no sense:
"...but if you do so on a sunny day (aperture wide open) with auto-ISO, the camera may set a very high ISO to compensate for the extra light coming through the wide open lens."
Otherwise, I agree with most of what he said. |
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 B52GUNRKM 7D love and D3 NirvanaPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-06
Vallejo, CA | reply to sfogliatelle
Generally I agree with all manual all the time, but one thing I've discovered with the Nikon Creative Lighting System, program is really the way to go with tweaking compensation to suit the lighting. Sometimes, program is OK  .
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Some assembly required, your mileage may vary, no pixels were harmed in the writing of this post. Brain cells, though, are a different matter. You want fries with that? |
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bgraham
join:2001-03-15
Smithtown, NY Reviews:
 ·VOIPo
·Verizon VoiceWing
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said by SueS:I am surprised exposing to the right was not mentioned in the article. Exposing to the right makes a huge difference in controlling noise at higher ISO’s.
SueS, your comment caught my eye. What do you mean by exposing to the right? On my Canon XT -/+ exposure scale to the right means over exposing.
I take a lot of night time and inside church photos whilst on vacation and have just learned to accept noise when shooting at ISO 1600. I am probably guilty of ISO and image stability abuse, but at least I got the picture.
Just as an add on, with image stability as good as it now is, if you really have to get the picture, for static shots why not go for 1/8 sec at a lower ISO. |
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SueSPremium
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO
kudos:2 | Exposing to the right is exposing with the histogram as far to the right without blowing highlights. You can bring the dark colors down in post and you will not have nearly as much noise as you might have otherwise. When I shoot outside without a flash I meter 1/3-2/3rds of a stop over what the camera would meter, unless I have extremely good light, then it is not necessary, but this doesn't often happen. It's worth a try. |
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 StacyFotoDoguePremium
join:2001-11-02
New York, NY | reply to bgraham
said by bgraham:SueS, your comment caught my eye. What do you mean by exposing to the right? On my Canon XT -/+ exposure scale to the right means over exposing.
I hadn't heard the expression either but I'm Old School.
So I googled it and came up with this
»www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/···st-know/ |
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TexPremium
join:2012-10-20 | reply to SueS
said by SueS:I am surprised exposing to the right was not mentioned in the article. Exposing to the right makes a huge difference in controlling noise at higher ISO’s.
The other side of the coin:
'Expose to the Right' is a Bunch of Bull |
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SueSPremium
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO
kudos:2 | I have shot both ways. Exposing to the right works best for me, my photos have more detail and vibrant colors.
No harm in trying it, to see if it works for you. Everyone should do what works best for them and what they shoot. |
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B52GUNRKM 7D love and D3 NirvanaPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-06
Vallejo, CA | Though expose to the right should only be used when shooting RAW since it has the latitude to forgive the over exposure. JPEG is too narrow, it may work, but best results are gotten from RAW capture.
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Some assembly required, your mileage may vary, no pixels were harmed in the writing of this post. Brain cells, though, are a different matter. You want fries with that? |
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SueSPremium
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO
kudos:2 | The goal is not to over expose. The goal is to keep from using curves to brighten the photo, which in turn brings out more noise. |
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HooperPremium
join:2001-10-22
Villanova, PA | reply to sfogliatelle
Canon EOS 6D
50mm 1/40th F1.4 ISO8000
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Basic premise is true though, you need to understand your camera and how it works. |
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SueSPremium
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO
kudos:2 | This is pretty clean, did you do any curves adjustments? |
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HooperPremium
join:2001-10-22
Villanova, PA | Only adjustments were some noise reduction for color in Lightroom. The 50 1.4 has some bad chromatic aberration anyway. Don't get me wrong at 8000 ISO there is some general noise that it cleaned up too. No adjustments to curves though. The difference from crop to full frame is night and day. For the non pro like me it means zero need for a flash really. |
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