Gary A.
Been spending a lot of time on here!
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2014
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- Southern California
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I've been shooting at 400 since the '60s.Okay...I am going to try to add something of actual value to this post. For many years, I have been of the opinion that the MOST-important, most-valuable, and most-helpful benefit associated with digital photogeaphy is the ability to use, on a regular basis, camera settings of ISO 400, or higher, with acceptable image quality. In recent years, even-higher ISO levels have become imminently usable with the right cameras.
Simply put, as far back as 2003 with the introduction of the Fuji S2 Pro camera, I have repeatedly written about the usefulness of using ISO settings of 400,500,and 640. When using bounced electronic flash with a speedlight, elevating the ISO setting to 400, or 500, or 640 is my NORMAL operating procedure in larger rooms. My personal, studied optinon is that the range of f/stops and shutter speeds that come with using ISO 400, or higher, is of HUGE BENEFIT in many, many practical picture-making situations!
It is my opinion, after 40-plus years of shooting photos, that ISO 400,500, or 640, offer in general the BEST combination of f/stop and shutter speed settings for many, many real-world photo-making situations. Having grown up with ISO 64 color slide film, and ISO 100 color slide and color negative films, and then ISO 200 color negative films, and finally, with ISO 400 Kodacolor Gold color negative film, as well as Tri-X 400 black & white film at its native ISO of 400, as well as 1-stop pushed to E.I. 800 or 2-stop pushed to a crappy Exposure Index (aka E.I.) of 1,600, I am of the opinion that ISO 400,500,and 640 offer the practical picture-maker the absolute BEST RANGE of useful and beneficial f/stops and shutter speeds for OPTIMAL picture-making, under a wide range of real-world lighting conditons.
The need to get a decent shutter speed AND a small enough lens opening to get some depth of field means that ISO 25, 50, 64,and 100, and 125 films were often TOO SLOW to get the best pictures! Same thing in the modern, digital-captute era.
FORGET technical image quality like that associated with fine grain film, or low-noise and low-ISO digital capture settings! If the flash needs to be bounced off a ceiling that is 15 feet distant, and 10 feet high, using ISO 100 is just stupid! Using ISO 400,500, or 640 extends the flash range, makes the flash in effect "more powerful", and cuts the needed flash power, lowers the flash's recyling time, and also boosts the ability of the camera to record ambient light.
The real, final, bottom line is that RAISING THE ISO to 400, or thereabouts, actually IMPROVES the PICTURES that a person makes! Better shutter speeds. Less blurring. Less camera shake. More depth of field. More effective flash power. More-generous exposure recording for a given light level or flash output. The idea that raising the ISO above the lowest setting is "degrading" is a falsehood. Using ISO 400, or right in that zone, actually IMPROVES the shutter speeds and f/stops and depth of field that the photographer gets to use!
I'm not going to argue this point. Just saying...I know what I am talking about. Disagree with me if you want to. Or, accept this as the truth. ISO 400 is indeed the "sweet spot" for many,many picture-making situations.
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