Higher ISO settings...

Playing around the other night, I went downtown to experiment with the higher ISO settings. Here's a few, straight out of the camera. Nothing done to them other then convert from a RAW (.NEF) format to .jpg and push up to a host.

Not too shabby for hand-held shots, no tripod or flash...


Focal Length: 24mm
Aperture: f/5.0
Exposure Time: 0.0063 s (1/160)
ISO equiv: 6400
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Spot
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No




Focal Length: 24mm
Aperture: f/5.0
Exposure Time: 0.010 s (1/100)
ISO equiv: 6400
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Spot
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No



I never noticed until now the differences in either the lighting used on the left side or a different stone material used.

Focal Length: 24mm
Aperture: f/4.0
Exposure Time: 0.013 s (1/80)
ISO equiv: 4000
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Spot
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No

What do those settings do? I've always left them set to the highest setting or "auto" but I've never really known what they do.

jeepinbanditrider said:

What do those settings do? I've always left them set to the highest setting or "auto" but I've never really known what they do.

Click to expand...

The higher the ISO setting the more sensitive the sensor becomes to light allowing you to use higher shutter speed settings/aperture combinations in dark situations than if you left the ISO at 100.

This allows you to handhold the camera in darker situations instead of using a tripod or flash.

jeepinbanditrider said:

What do those settings do? I've always left them set to the highest setting or "auto" but I've never really known what they do.

Click to expand...

In the days of film, the film speed was rated by an ASA number. Basically, it was how 'fast' the film was. There was a tradeoff in speed however. Faster film had more 'grain' in the negative when processed. The lower the ASA, the more light the film required to be properly exposed. The faster the ASA, the less light was required. So slower film needs light and has excellent characteristics regarding quality over faster film requiring less light.

In today's world, ASA has been replaced by the term ISO. Again, it's still a function of speed, but it's an equivalent to what the camera sensor is reading. Again, the faster the ISO, the more 'noise' as it's called now.

Three things must come together to make a proper exposure. Excluding things like framing, subject, content and such, you need:
1) ISO Setting
2) Shutter Speed
3) Aperture (for f/stop)

All three work in conjunction together. Take away from one, and you have to compensate with the others to get the proper exposure.

So a quick explanation is, if I increase my ISO, either the shutter speed or aperture must change. Typically at night, increasing ISO allows you to use faster shutter speeds eliminating the need for a tripod.

Changing the Shutter Speed, allows for capturing movement in a way you want. Either by freezing movement (wheel spokes frozen in time), or blurring movement (backgrounds fuzzy but the subject is frozen in time via panning).

Changing Aperture allows for changing the clarity of the point of focus. You can have the tip of someones nose in focus and it fades out of focus from there. Or.... you can have the tip of their nose in focus and EVERYTHING behind them in focus simply by changing Aperture. Understanding HOW that works is key to using the camera to it's fullest.

I'd recommend reading up on the relationship between ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture to understand how you can change any of the three for the desired effects you are looking for in the shot.

.

Thanks for the clarification guys

jeepinbanditrider said:

Thanks for the clarification guys

Click to expand...

I am off of work Mon-Wed and alternate Sundays. Let me know if you ever want to get together and play with the camera, would be happy to share what I have learned over the years with ya.

STScott said:

I am off of work Mon-Wed and alternate Sundays. Let me know if you ever want to get together and play with the camera, would be happy to share what I have learned over the years with ya.

Click to expand...

Any thoughts of doing another photo class, Scott?

Scott,

Very nice.

I was thinking about ISO just the other day, comparing the ISO capabilities of today's digital sensors with yesterday's film. Thirty years ago I was shooting film and I recall that 400 ISO film was quite grainy. Today's top DSLRs can shoot ISO 400 all day with basically no noise and can shoot pretty darn cleanly all the way up to 6400 ISO. What a difference! The high ISO capabilities of DSLRs have opened new worlds of low light photography.

Did I miss where you told us what body/glass you're using? Great shots BTW, I expected to see more grain at 6400.

Gilk51 said:

Any thoughts of doing another photo class, Scott?

Click to expand...

If folks don't mind attending a class on a Sunday then I am sure I can set something up for the fall.

Maybe do another "beginner's class" and then in a couple of Sundays do a Lightroom/Photoshop class.

ASA= American Standards Association
DIN= Deutsches Institut for Normung
ISO= International Organization for Standardization

3 different organizations with 3 different ways of figuring sensitivity of film/sensors.
TexTom