Settings Preference

[Trever1t]

White balance: I usually leave this setting on 'Auto' and adjust in editing. I read in another thread a shooter recommended leaving it in "cloudy". Does it make any difference as far as the edit? (I know the difference in color) Does it make it easier to edit 'en mass' per se?

ISO: Why not leave it in it's lowest setting unless light necessitates increasing? Why is the default for the 300s @ iso 200?

 

[Big Mike]

I leave my WB on Auto most of the time and just adjust it later.

Some photographers (especially those who were used to using film) may be more comfortable using a constant WB setting and adjusting it later, or even adjusting it before the shot, with the use of filters or gelled lights etc.

In some situations, I may set/use a custom WB...but it's still just as easy to change it in post (Shooting RAW, of course).

It's only easy to adjust your WB en mass, if your lighting for the photos are consistent. For example, in a studio situation, it's likely that you will want all the shots to have the same WB. So whether you set that first, or set it after, it doesn't really matter. But if your light is changing all the time (wedding etc.) then you can't really adjust all the photos at the same time, as each photo (or set from a certain location) will need different adjustments.

ISO: Why not leave it in it's lowest setting unless light necessitates increasing? Why is the default for the 300s @ iso 200?

Nikon choose to use ISO 200 as a base/native ISO on many of the cameras. It does make sense, as using a higher ISO is often an advantage for hand held shots in ambient light...which is probably 90% of all photos taken.

The sub-set of photographers who would actually want a lower ISO (ignoring the noise issue) is pretty small.

 

[Trever1t]

Thanks for the rapid response. I'm clear on the WB now. I might choose a custom setting for multiple exposure, HDR and the like.

With ISO, what do you mean by "ignoring the noise", I always assumed the lowest possible ISO would creat the least noise. I must be reading that wrong?

 

[Big Mike]

With ISO, your lowest noise will be with your camera's native ISO. For most cameras, that's probably ISO 100.
For some Nikon models, they choose to use 200 as their native ISO.

Of course, we almost always want the lowest noise possible...so with that logic, every photographer should want to use the lowest ISO possible.

But if you took noise out of the equation, then few photographers would actually want to use a lower ISO. Heck, we would all shoot at the highest would could, because it would give us free reign to use whatever shutter speed we wanted, eliminating motion blur (if we wanted).

So ignoring the noise issue, the only photographers who would actually want a lower ISO, would be those who want to force a slower shutter speed (without having to add ND filters etc). That is a pretty small group, so Nikon isn't worried too much about upsetting them with their native ISO of 200.

 

[kundalini]

Have you set up your shooting banks? I have set my WB for each bank (normal, flash, action, default-no change) according to a typical temperature color I want in that scenario. Of course, it is easily tweaked in post if shot RAW.



To get the most out of your camera, I suggest Thom Hogan's field guide.

http://www.bythom.com/nikond300guide.htm

 

[KmH]

White balance: I usually leave this setting on 'Auto' and adjust in editing. I read in another thread a shooter recommended leaving it in "cloudy". Does it make any difference as far as the edit? (I know the difference in color) Does it make it easier to edit 'en mass' per se?

ISO: Why not leave it in it's lowest setting unless light necessitates increasing? Why is the default for the 300s @ iso 200?

If you are shooting Raw, White balance has no meaning until the image is converted.
Most often in conversion software, it simply displays initially "As Shot".

Nikon is trading the ISO 100 level for an additional stop at the high end of the ISO scale. It's related to the design of their image sensor amplifier circuits (gain).

 

[Trever1t]

Thanks for the responses and the link for future read

I'm a little brick-headed so humor me please. So...If I use an ISO lower than native, noise will still decrease, right? I'm sure the level might be imperceivable but just so I'm understanding clearly.

I shoot in RAW, almost exclusively. I haven't set up my shooting banks, honestly the controls to alter settings are so convenient that I haven't seen a need yet, probably because I don't shoot jpg often.

I will have to get a copy of your recommended guide, thank you for the link!

Thanks again for helping me understand it all a little better.

 

[Big Mike]

I'm a little brick-headed so humor me please. So...If I use an ISO lower than native, noise will still decrease, right? I'm sure the level might be imperceivable but just so I'm understanding clearly.

No....and that's because a camera can't shoot with less noise than it's native ISO (unless we are talking about in-camera noise reduction, which has issues of it's own).

To my understanding, when you use ISO settings that are lower than the native (so using 100 on your camera)...the camera actually shoots at it's native, but then reduces the brightness, which isn't ideal. You would loose some quality and some of your dynamic range.

 

[Trever1t]

Really, wow! That's what I was wondering...to refrase my original question , why wouldn't they (Nikon engineers) just make the lowest possible ISO the standard setting ("native") ISO setting. I totally understand now, thanks!

 

[Big Mike]

Keep in mind that while ISO 100 is the 'standard' for native ISO....there are/were many photographers who preferred to shoot at ISO 50, or even 25 film.

 

[KmH]

Steps in ISO that are within the native range of the camera are done using the amplifier circuits on the image sensor array. The Lo 1/Lo 2 and Hi 1/Hi 2 type ISO settings are accomplished using software.

Typically when venturing into the Lo settings, dynamic range is lost.

 

[Trever1t]

Thank you, exactly what I was wanting to understand.



Question: why am I unable to "thank" user posts anymore?

 

[Big Mike]

Question: why am I unable to "thank" user posts anymore?

It's set so that members can only thank someone three times per day. This is to circumvent abuse of the thanking system.

 

[kundalini]

I'm a little brick-headed so humor me please. So...If I use an ISO lower than native, noise will still decrease, right?

No. I didn't want to rewrite this passage, so it took a few minutes to find. This is the thread, but to answer your question......




With regard to you ISO question, I will quote from Thom Hogan's "Complete Guide to the Nikon D300" so I don't screw it up.

Quote:
The D300 allows user controllable ISO values from 200 to 3200, in as little as one-third stop steps (you can alter the settings to half or full stops using Custom Setting #B1 [see page <561>], but I'd suggest just leaving the camera at the default).







The D300 also has settings of LO 0.3, LO 0.7, and LO 1.0, HI 0.3, HI 0.7 and HI 1.0, which are approximately equivalent to ISO 100, 125, 160, 4000, 5000 and 6400 respectively. These last six values are not labeled with an ISO value because they have image quality limitations that the numbered ISO values do not. The non-numbered ISO values are a warning to you that some aspect of image quality will be compromised:

• LO values: the LO ISO values compromise highlights. What tends to happen is that highlight data gets "clipped" in high contrast scenes: (chart illustrating the effect)

Think of it like this: the image is overexposed at ISO100 by a stop, then data pulled back downwards to adjust for that. This has two primary effects: first, bright highlights that were near blowing out at ISO200 are now blown out; and second, noise is somewhat buried in the deep shadows. In my experience, LO values work okay for low contrast scenes, but are dangerous for high contrast scenes due to the loss of highlight information. Moreover, if you look closely on long exposures, you often see artifacts at LO values that you don't at ISO200.

• HI values: the HI ISO values compromise overall camera dynamic range. As you move ISO values up, the camera dynamic range decreases. Eventually, that range becomes suspect and it gets difficult to reproduce a wide range of tones. Nikon marks that changeover point by stopping the use of numeric ISO values: (chart illustrating the effect)

Hope that answers your question.

 

[Trever1t]

Question: why am I unable to "thank" user posts anymore?

It's set so that members can only thank someone three times per day. This is to circumvent abuse of the thanking system.

Hope that answers your question.

I'd thank you but I guess I've used up my 3 for the day

Yes indeed and a sincere thank you!