ISO Setting?

[immski]

Here is a quick question. I have only recently realized that my ISO has been set to 1600. This is pretty sensitive from what I understand. I also believe that it can cause some noise in night photos. I have a feeling this is higher than I need. Ok, here is the question: is it ok for me to lower my ISO to maybe 800 or so? Will i still have bright enough pictures? I am taking pictures usually w/ exposures between 1 and 6 seconds at night. I will probably test this out on my own anyway but I was just wondering your thoughts. Thanks for your help!

 

[Peanuts]

If you lower your ISO, then you will be able to take longer pictures, which is generally a good thing in night photography, as you will therefore be able to increase your DOF.

Technically, if your shots were the same time and aperture, but the ISO was changed, 1600 would be brighter than 800.

 

[Don Simon]

Yes, in fact probably the best thing you could do here would be to set the ISO as low as it will go - to about 100 or under - since if you're doing exposures of up to 6 seconds I assume you're using a tripod or otherwise preventing the camera from moving, so a longer exposure time should be possible. The brightness should be the same because the camera should automatically lengthen the shutter time to compensate for the lower ISO, although it may try opening up the aperture instead as well, so you're probably better off setting it manually.

 

[pursuer]

Yes I agree, you definately want to set the ISO as low as it will go and increase the exposure time. You will get a much cleaner image. Have you had the camera set to 1600 during the day as well? I find I rarely go higher then 200 myself, but that could vary depending on the kind of shooting you are doing.

 

[immski]

:mrgreen: here is a link to some pics I took after your helpful advice. Thanks. The shots were not for any thing great just simple exposure. I have had some issues with that since i got my new slr. Thanks to you guys i think im improving! and I am so excited by it!

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38407

enjoy!