ISO 200?

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Blonkster

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I've just moved from a Sony A200 to and A500, which has a base ISO of 200, whereas the older camera had an ISO of 100.

Why is the new ISO 200 and not lower?

Does it mean the 'grain' is the same at the higher ISO?

Apart from not being able to do as long exposures in the same light (e.g. blurring water) are there any disadvantages to ISO 200?

thanks

Blonkster
 
Yeah seems most are now starting at iso 200.:shrug:
 
I might be talking complete claptrap here but it may well be a case of "something has to give" for the tremendously high ISOs we are seeing in cameras now. Maybe it's harder to have such a high gain when the base ISO is set at 100, so they bump it up to 200 in order to allow more on the high end? :shrug:

It doesn't really matter anyway, even in bright conditions ISO 200 doesn't cause any problems and most of the time I could get away with shooting even at ISO 400 in sunlight.

I find ISO 200 to be a bit of a no man's land for me; I'm either using ISO 100 if it's a sunny day, and if I want a low DOF effect (wide aperture) in bright light I might even step down to ISO 50 if I can't get the shutter speed. Otherwise, it's usually too dull to shoot at ISO 100 in which case I'll just skip straight to 400.

I guess it's just something we have to live with.
 
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Probably because the older models were always shooting at ISO 200 even though it said 100 :shrug:

Definitely true with my GH1 - it says ISO 100 but is actually at ISO160. The GH2 starts at a base 160.

Persoanlly I'd prefer a base of 50...

Anyway Take a look at DXOmark's ISO test and see for yourself whether it is or not.
 
Think of it in terms of EV units rather than grain or noise.
There is not direct relationship with certain ISOs and noise. It is down to the sensor.
Some models have a base ISO of 200 but include ISO 100 and just overexpose by a stop.
 
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