Like i said before Raising ISO Above the lowest Setting is Degrading

[Destin]

Opening the iris by changing the f-stop is gaining more light.
Increasing the ISO is gaining more light.
Slowing the shutter is gaining more light.
Gaining is gaining.

NO, increasing your ISO is not gaining more light, i's increasing the signal to the sensor, your not applying more light when you raise your ISO..
your cranking up the signal, weather you use ISO 100 or ISO 6400, the same amount of light is hitting the sensor..
just by jacking up the ISO does not let in more light to the sensor..

In technical terms, you’re correct.

The exposure triangle is used to teach beginners who don’t need or care to understand the exact science. Let me rephrase so it’s accurate:

A wider aperture will make your image brighter.
A slower shutter speed will make your image brighter.
A higher iso will make your image brighter.

Dude. We all know that higher iso causes degradation, that’s like photography 101. However most of us that are on here have shot with the first generation or two of DSLRs ever made, and with them anything above ISO 400 was absolute rubbish. My Nikon D500 is better at iso 1600 than my D40 was at 200. That’s the point that we’re all trying to make. With modern high end cameras we can now shoot at insanely high iso levels and get photos that were impossible 3-5 years ago, but with the same amount of quality loss that we had back then at much lower iso levels.

As far as delivering a lower quality product to a client if it’s taken at higher iso.. that simply isn’t true. There are times when flash is impractical or impossible at weddings. Do you think my client would rather have a black frame taken at iso 100 so it has no degradation, or a slightly degraded file taken at iso 3200 that clearly shows their first kiss as a married couple?

Pro tip: photography is about capturing emotion and feeling. Clients don’t give a rats ass what iso you shoot at as long as the photos you deliver invoke a positive emotional response.

 

[jcdeboever]

I have been doing a lot of journaling and studying on this because I shoot both digital and film. Raising the ISO on digital is only needed in situations where you need to obtain a faster shutter speed based on the amount of available light, it has nothing to do with bringing in more light. In fact, it doesn't bring in more light, but more frequency (noise). What this is, why it is, or what ever is beyond my intelligence. I guess that why they make speed lights.

 

[zombiesniper]

Someone learned something new an just had to come yell at us about it.

Good for you. We already know how ISO works, and no you can't always shoot at base ISO outside of a controlled environment.

 

[Tomasko]

Why this reminds me of a different thread about "professional photography is dead"?
Oh, same OP.

ISO is NOT connected to Exposure, it just lets you manipulate exposure
Quite contradictory statement, but ok. Anyway, that's usually what most average photographers need to know. You don't need to have a background in electrical engineering to take a good picture.

NO, increasing your ISO is not gaining more light, i's increasing the signal to the sensor, your not applying more light when you raise your ISO..
your cranking up the signal, weather you use ISO 100 or ISO 6400, the same amount of light is hitting the sensor..
just by jacking up the ISO does not let in more light to the sensor..

Who ever said higher ISO gives you more light? Of course it just boosts the sensitivity of the sensor with all the pros and cons that come with it.

 

[benhasajeep]

Adjusting ISO? I can't even get the back door open on my D3300 yet! Who cares about adjusting the iso setting if you can't even get the dammed film inside it!!!

 

[smoke665]

In reality once you get past the aperture and shutter on a modern digital camera, nothing is related to an image from a film standpoint. The sensor takes light and converts it to electrons. Those electrons are transported to the edge of the CMOS chip as analog signals.. From that point it becomes a digital signal which is recorded as a data file.

Your statement that gain applied at the sensor somehow dilutes the light is incorrect. The light passing through the aperture and shutter "includes" all wavelengths. Like the human eye which can only respond to wavelengths in the 390 to 700 nm range, so it is with sensor. Applying gain mearly increases the sensitivity to wavelengths previously not registering. If anything increasing the gain increases data gathered.

The unfortunate side effect of gain applied on an analog signal is noise. A CCD sensor because of how it transmits the data to the edge has less noise, but has its downside as well (power consumption and cost being two that come to mind). There is some research taking place that would eliminate the analog transport to the edge of the chip, but to my knowledge isn't to reality stage yet.

 

[Braineack]

This reminds me of the one time i referred to my car's engine as a motor and got chewed out by some engineer.

 

[fmw]

Let me throw in another interesting tidbit. My cameras' sensors' native ISO is 200. It is the level at which there is no signal amplification. Yet the cameras are capable of being set to ISO 100. Why? Because photographers are so wedded to the image quality of low ISO that the manufacturer figured they had better include it in the camera. But ISO 100 doesn't produce less noise than ISO 200 in my cameras. It simply affects the other elements of the "triangle." It makes photographers feel better.

 

[Destin]

Let me throw in another interesting tidbit. My cameras' sensors' native ISO is 200. It is the level at which there is no signal amplification. Yet the cameras are capable of being set to ISO 100. Why? Because photographers are so wedded to the image quality of low ISO that the manufacturer figured they had better include it in the camera. But ISO 100 doesn't produce less noise than ISO 200 in my cameras. It simply affects the other elements of the "triangle." It makes photographers feel better.

And the new D850 has a base iso of 64.

 

[Ysarex]

Incoherent ramblings of a confused mind.

Joe

 

[smoke665]

the new D850 has a base iso of 64.

You sure about that? Nikon i think used to use 200 as the base. As fmw stated "the level at which no amplification takes place". Nikon used to publish this in their specs, but stopped in recent models, so I can't verify it

 

[Destin]

the new D850 has a base iso of 64.

You sure about that? Nikon i think used to use 200 as the base. As fmw stated "the level at which no amplification takes place". Nikon used to publish this in their specs, but stopped in recent models, so I can't verify it

Positive. Actually I think the D810 did as well, but the D850 definitely does.

 

[tecboy]

Back in coaxial cable era, no one was complaining about the image quality on crt tv.

 

[Ysarex]

ISO 6400

I did it and I feel so degraded now. I'm ashamed of myself and I deserve to be punished.

Joe

 

[Braineack]

shot at 1/8 sec?!

next time I want to see you shoot this at ISO100 and SS of 8 full seconds -- hand held of course -- Like a professional.