What the highest iso can you use?

tecboy · Oct 22, 2013

I was taught that lowering the iso as much as possible, or increasing the iso as a last resort. Do you use higher iso most of the times and disregarding the lowest iso?

bobandcar · Oct 22, 2013

Use the Iso that makes it possible to get the shot that you want.

Low iso, lower noise
High iso, higher noise

Dagwood56 · Oct 22, 2013

I almost always use iso 100 I don't mind going up to 200 if I have to and on rare occasions I have used 400, but I hate the sacrifice in photo quality with the noise factor above that. But that's just me, I'm old school.

GDHLEWIS · Oct 22, 2013

I was under the same belief but now I'm not bothered by it if you need to raise the ISO for the shot then so be it. Noise is easily brought down in post if needs be, plus the newer cameras are more than able to handle high ISO. If it means getting the perfect shot take the ISO to the roof and back I say.

rexbobcat · Oct 22, 2013

It depends on your camera and subject matter.

With my 6D I can shoot up to 6400 with relatively little noise.
However, with my 60D it begins to fall apart around 1600.

Also; the faster the action and the lower the light, the higher the ISO you will need.

For example, you will probably need a higher ISO at a dance recital than at a mid-afternoon baseball game.

Braineack · Oct 22, 2013

I have embraced shooting with auto ISO, especially when using my f/5.6 300mm.

I took this at 1800iso:

Deer in Clearing by BraineackPhoto, on Flickr

It was taken at 4:45pm, but the deer was standing in the shade and it required a high iso in order to keep the shutter speed where I needed it at 300mm. I wouldn't have got the shot if I shot at 100, then 200, then 320, then 400, then 500, then 800, then 1000, then 1200, I think you get the point.

The shot is noisy, but oh well. hell, I even cropped it in a bit.

ronlane · Oct 22, 2013

I can use some 1600 shots but I generally don't like to go that high if I can help it. for my T3i, 800 is pushing it most of the time.

tirediron · Oct 22, 2013

I shoot at the lowest ISO I can to get the result I need. Sometimes that's 200, sometimes that's 12,500...

Mach0 · Oct 22, 2013

tirediron said:
I shoot at the lowest ISO I can to get the result I need. Sometimes that's 200, sometimes that's 12,500...

+1

480sparky · Oct 22, 2013

Saying something like "I use ISO 1600 with no issues" is doing a huge dis-service. Some cameras are fantastic at ISO 1600, others are garbage.

That said, I like to stay at ISO 400 and lower, but will go as high a necessary to get the shot I'm after.

BTW, the highest ISO technically goes is 10,000. The ISO hasn't adopted any standards higher than than.

Overread · Oct 22, 2013

"Always use the lowest ISO possible" is something that shouldn't be taught to beginners. In fact I'd say that that line of advice is very bad advice to give to beginners; especially so in this day and age of photography - at least for digital work (Film is different as the ISO is locked).

ISO is just another tool in the bag and if your aperture, shutter speed and the light you have at the time require you to set the ISO higher then you have to set it higher. Yes you'll get noise - and yes most of that noise will vanish in web or print displays even before using software to reduce it further.
It also depends greatly on what kind of photography you're doing - if its portraits chances are that you shouldn't need to take the ISO too high; in fact if you find you have to you'd likely be soon investing in a flash or three. If you're doing sports or wildlife chances are ISO 400 or even 800 might be you base line starting point in anything but the strongest of light so that you've got an action stopping shutter speed.

ISO is a tool just like the aperture and the shutter speed; it takes time to learn the "limits" for what those values within that term mean to your photo and how they'll affect it. Once you know and you know your subject and situation better you'll start to find it a lot easier to make the judgement call on what setting(s) are important for the shot and then also what limits are practical within the given light.

Note that learning to predict and imagine what you want the photo to look like will make this a lot easier - once you've an image in your minds eye you can more quickly know what settings you'll need (or at least a rough ballpark understanding of which are the most important for the scene).

runnah · Oct 22, 2013

Agreed. It's not an add noise dial but rather a key factor in the exposure triangle.

astroNikon · Oct 22, 2013

I use to not understand ISO so anything about 200 I worried about.

But taking pictures of my kids sports in bright sunlight dipping down to cloud cover coming in and out I find myself going from ISO 100 to 400 very quickly just to keep the shutter speed where I want it. Even 800 and higher isn't out of the question on evening games.

I'm slowly expanding my use of higher ISOs as I get more comfortable with keeping my shutter speed adjusted to where I need it even at f/2.8 on a 80-200 lens. When I use Aperture Priority and auto ISOs the ISOs are through the roof !! So I figured, if the camera is saying this is a good ISO, then I should be comfortable with it too, little by little.