How important is ISO for you?

sssheikh

sssheikh

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Saad
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Back in 2008, I bought a Nikon D80. I was in Lahore, Pakistan, an interesting amalgamation of a city which still held traces of British rule, mixed with subcontinental flavours.

In utterly low-light situations like crowded badly lit streets, and armed with a kit 18-135 or 50 1.4 AFD, the ISO would help slightly, but the D80 had terrible ISO performance, and images above 800 would almost be 'useless'...

Moving to the D700 after two years really helped me with photojournalism and street photography, but eventually with low light primes and the right settings, a higher ISO wasn't always the deal breaker...

I would like to ask that how important is ISO for you? Isn't is more of a utility for ambient light shooting? Is it an over-rated concern? Of what importance is ISO to studio photographers? To landscape shooters employing low ISO's and long shutter speeds? Is there a market for a Nikon D800i, with increased/better ISO, and a stock D800 with regular ISO performance?
 
I'm constantly adjusting my ISO when shooting birds at 400mm. Whenever the light changes I'll check to see if the ISO is as low as possible whilst maintaining a suitable shutter speed. Sometimes I'll want to use a smaller aperture than normal to increase depth of focus and this will often slow the shutter speed down more than I'd like so I'll crank the ISO up. Both my cameras are getting on a bit now and I'll quite often call it a day as the light fades whist others keep shooting.

Hardly ever adjust ISO for my landscapes as I'm never without my tripod.
 
For me the ability to get shots in dark indoor arenas (Show Jumping) means high ISO is very important.
But when it comes to almost anything else it's not a deal breaker.
Nowadays I get most fun shooting film. 50 ISO and a tripod is the norm. Considering an X100 though for pocketable walk about. So I guess ISO 800+ might be handy at times. No biggie though.
 
I never realised the power of high ISO, when one on ill-fated day, I was photographing the floods in Pakistan in 2010. The floods had knocked out all cell phone towers and there was absolutely no connection between rescue teams, except for military units in the area. Rescue teams at night risked their lives, searching in oblivion for survivors.

Standing on the edge of the river, rescue teams waited for survivors and rafts flowing towards them in acute darkness. They were searching for boats in the darkness, filtering out sounds.
As there were no lights or sounds in the darkness, the rescue teams were winding up their ambulances and firs aid kits, when I cranked up my D700 to the one of the highest possible ISO stages, and took a series of shots. In the following link, you will see a photo-merger of a raft in the distance. I was able to spot it with high ISO and then informed the rescue teams that shouldn't leave the area, and wait for that raft atleast. They told me that there were no more chances of a survivors. One glance at my D700's LCD and they were convinced. High ISO surely saved the day. I couldn't have achieved the same with a long exposure, as the raft and floodwater was in motion, and it wouldn't have given the clear picture.


In the distance:
7381131446_0e1c70735f_h.jpg
 
The D700's high iso capabilities were the reason I bought it in 2009, and it still amazes me, even though the D3S and D4 have surpassed it, albeit at a price. Initially, I wanted it for my urban exploration to save me carting a tripod round, but I've also found it useful in my night photography, railway photography, and even photographing my daughter. OK, so anything at 12800 or above needs a dose of noise ninja, but coupled to a fast, or VR lens, and you can do things that were difficult or impossible in years gone by.
 
ISO is usually one of the last things I consider when shooting in Manual. It's usually left @ 100ISO & only creeps up if drastically needed.
 
The ability to change ISO from shot to shot must be one of the greatest advantages of digital photography.

I've been quite happy (after getting to grips...) with the higher ISO performance of all of my DSLR's and CSC's although being greedy I still hope for better performance from future cameras. Maybe future compact cameras will improve most as mine have been pretty awful as the ISO settings creep up.
 
I like it,after years of using film its great beening able to change your iso,whenever you like.

Plus its is nice to have the high iso now build into the cameras :)
 
Usable high ISO is essential for me, it makes such a lot possible I couldn't be without it now.
 
It's taken me a long time to break out of the 'film mentality' and start thinking of ISO as an adjustable quantity per photo just like aperture and shutter speed. A weaning off of pixel-peeping and a move from a 350D to a 50D have both contributed to me 'discovering' the higher ISO settings too. This feels like it has happened not so much as a learning curve but as an overdue revelation that makes the camera significantly more versatile. I'm only a 'hobbyist' photographer and so importance is a different beast to that of a professional, so I'd say that to my photography it is important (inasmuch as it is significant) but I've yet to discover how important it might be.

Of course, that pales into insignificance next to saving lives with it.
 
jonneymendoza said:
for me i rather have a noisy picture then a blury picture so i shoot as high ISO as i can if needed
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Same here. I change ISO all the time to allow me to use a decent shutter speed so I avoid getting motion blur, unless I actually want it for some weird artistic reason. The usable ISO range on my camera is pretty damn solid though making it ideal for my uses really.

I have a very good tripod, yet its a pain in the rear to cart around with me all the time and attracts far more attention than just the camera alone, which where I live isn't a good thing lol.
 
as a sports photogrpaher who regularly shoots indoors and low light wiht no flash allowed... higher ISO is a deal breaker and the only reason i upgrade cameras..
 
James J said:
I change ISO all the time to allow me to use a decent shutter speed so I avoid getting motion blur, unless I actually want it for some weird artistic reason. The usable ISO range on my camera is pretty damn solid though making it ideal for my uses really.
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Same here, I couldn't imagine going back to film and a fixed ISO.

It also reduces the demands on the lens, so fast lenses are less important.

I guess the answer is that its pretty important to me.
 
I don't care either way. It's nice to know that I can still shoot a landscape at 1600 on my S3, but chances are I'm never going to. I usually shoot at 400 regardless of light as it gives a good aperture ad speed range to use under most conditions and there's no worry about IQ loss.

On film I'll use a tripod and use as slow as I can get away with. C41 film does not have a fixed ISO so if I'm on a handholding mission I'll load XP2 and shoot at whatever speed I deem necessary.
 
High iso is a godsend for me. Dark churches and country houses aren't iso friendly! 5d mk3 high iso performance is fantastic and with the 85 f1.2 it about sees in the dark
 
I think that being able to change ISO, is the most important thing about digital photography after being able to take as many shots as possible, in order to perfect your technique.
It is also possible to use extremely high ISO (1600 and above) to be more creative, particularly in black and white, and is good for bringing out the character in portraits and landscapes.
 
I leave mine on Dynamic so it drops from 100-6400 to maintain a shutter speed above 1/125 where possible.

As before rather a noisy picture than blur.
 
simonjameswhite said:
High iso is a godsend for me. Dark churches and country houses aren't iso friendly! 5d mk3 high iso performance is fantastic and with the 85 f1.2 it about sees in the dark
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Awh, my dream camera set up! 5D MKIII & 85mm f/1.2. Jealous :}
 
I really only shoot street photography at the moment and so during the day my ISO is never really above 200 (Pushing to 400), but I tend to leave it on Auto ISO (Max of 800) when im out so that I can focus on Shutter Speed and Aperture instead :)
 
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