When Does ISO become to High?

jerry12953 said:
It depends on the sensor format, surely? You can do things on full format which would be difficult on m4/3......
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I suppose it's all relative. I have a couple of MFT cameras from a while back (GX80 and GX9) and they easily surpass anything I got from my old Canon 5D. As I said back in June, I find some artificial lighting can be more of an issue than the actual level of light.
 
woof woof said:
I suppose it's all relative. I have a couple of MFT cameras from a while back (GX80 and GX9) and they easily surpass anything I got from my old Canon 5D. As I said back in June, I find some artificial lighting can be more of an issue than the actual level of light.
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Yes indeed sensor size can be a much less significant factor than age of the camera. The nature of the subject, type of processing & what the viewer is willing to put up with also factor heavily...
 
Depends what it is [for]. I try to stay within 200 and consider 800-1600 quite high. 6400 and over is well emergency settings. I do like my large and smooth prints just to be clear.
 
This is very subjective.

If I want to capture some fast moving sports in low light then I don't care about ISO. I have many usable images taken at 20000 or even 32000 that (with a bit of post work) are very acceptable because they capture the moment. Photography for me is not only about noise or grain.
 
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I think all ISO values are too high.
I'm not a fan of grain.
 
soupdragon said:
I think all ISO values are too high.
I'm not a fan of grain.
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If you're seeing grain at 1000 ISO with a half decent modern camera you're probably underexposing significantly.
With film I rarely saw grain using 400 ISO, but I suppose I didn't print big often the 10x8 print might have been from a 100 ISO negative (not something I recorded 35 years ago).
 
Fear of grainy photos from higher ISO went out the window with film. It isn't the same any more with digital cameras. It's more of a light sensitivity control on your camera. Higher ISO on film was an emulsion problem and it did produce grainy photos. Higher ISO on a digital camera is just a light sensitivity control, and until you approach the limits of your camera's sensor, it doesn't produce grainy photos. You need to experiment to see this for yourself. You really can take great photos that are not grainy with increased ISO numbers now. Just stay away from the highest settings of the camera and you won't have a problem.

When I need to take photos in dimly lit areas without flash, I switch my camera to "live view" and then increase the ISO until I see the exposure level that I want. I can then adjust F-Stop and shutter speed for slight changes from that. I stay away from the very highest ISO settings of the camera, and get great shots. It works for me, You can use the very higher end of the ISO settings, but the darker areas of your photos will likely have a "Grainy" look to them. A grainy shot is better than no shot. At least there are ways in Post to fix them. Don't fear ISO. Experiment with it and see what I'm talking about. Our fears of high ISO settings need to have been left behind with the film technologies.

Charley
 
I have my max auto ISO set to 6400, but if I need to I'll go higher. All depends what the aim is, artistic 6400 is a good upper limit, kids playing I'll go as high as I need to.
 
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