[Serkevan]

Interesting thread so far. Hope more jump into the discussion.Im seeing alot of people using Tav. I have to admit I usually stick to AV or manual. Maybe I should play around a bit in Tav on the k3 and see how it works out.
Al

I generally shoot Av and keep aperture, ISO and compensation on the 3 e-dials (though I tend to set the EV compensation on a per-lens basis) and then increase ISO as needed to keep an usable shutter speed. This comes from the K-7 having a pretty limited ISO range... I should play around with Tav as well!

[UncleVanya]

Generally 3200 on my k3, but I have some shots at 25000+ that have been keepers printed in b&w at 13x19.

[Walkingwolf]

On my old K-r I am comfortable going up to ISO 400; 800 was only sometimes acceptable- any more rarely.
My K-S2 however has given me great results at 1600; but I’ll take it up to 6400 on occasion knowing that PP will most likely “save the day”.

[luftfluss]

I use whatever ISO is necessary to get the image I want.



Last year I saw this mink transporting a fish as big as himself. I rarely see minks, and this is the first time I've encountered one carrying a fish. It was late, cloudy, and he was in a heavily wooded part of the river. Despite the poor lighting conditions I had to take my shots. He never stopped, so I shot between 1/750s and 1/1000s, ISO 1600, and for the above photo I pushed 2.5 stops in PP.

[Just1MoreDave]

On my *ist DS, I stick with base ISO which is 200. That's because I can, either by only using a fast lens or another camera. On the K-7, it's 1600. The noise is not so bad, but the dynamic range plummets. Indoors, with 1600, f4 to f8, SR and care, that covers a lot of shots. On my K-5 IIs, 6400 but it is much less of a hard line. I'll definitely try 25600 if the shot requires it, and do extra work in processing.

[monochrome]

KP 6400; K-1 3200. Unless I need higher ISO for proper Sv. I would rather not do a denoise PP pass unless I have to.

[pres589]

This thread makes me want to go find good tutorials on noise reduction techniques.

[ffking]

I use as low as possible, as I'm sure most people here do, and I usually cap the auto ISO at 3200 - but though I'd always shoot a landscape at 100, I go up as to about 1000 for macro, where dof and a fast enough shutter speed to freeze a twitchy insects are more important than maximum IQ- and nighttime street shots I'll happily go up to 3200 as slight roughness is often appropriate and Pentax tends to minimise ugky colour noise and the luminance noise looks like good old grain which is quite appealing inthese shots

[UncleVanya]

This thread makes me want to go find good tutorials on noise reduction techniques.

Dxo built in enhanced noise reduction "prime" only works on Raw but it is pretty automated.

[leekil]

On the K-1, I regularly go up to 6400, but obviously lower is better. On the K-5 & K-3, I would only regularly go to 3200, with 6400 only when I really needed faster shutter speeds in low light.

[vector]

I am going to shamelessly plug my thread from a few days ago. I posted sample images at high ISO with and without noise reduction. Given that most images are only shared online and not printed, most of us could likely benefit from using higher ISO and faster shutter speeds, macro and landscapes excluded since long shutter speeds and low ISO is not a problem on a tripod.
ISO Fun K1 K3 K5 - PentaxForums.com

[Kevin B123]

With the K-1ii I no longer worry about ISO but out of habit I try and keep it low. I used to be paranoid with the K-50 & K-3ii and only went above 800 for astro.
The shot below is from an unprocessed raw file while testing out the K-1ii when it arrived. Like the example above it is ISO 12800.

[texandrews]

Under what circumstances? If it's a get the shot or not situation, then my tolerance can be pretty wide. It would be great to shoot everything at base iso, but that's not realistic in the kind of work I sometimes have to do.

That said, I do have limits, especially if it's for press or collections archives. I have found that I can shoot my K1 in "brighter" light(in a museum that's not that bright, btw) up to 3200 without issues that I can't easily correct in PP, and the 645Z iso 6400. In darker light it's lower by at least a stop. One reason I'm in Pentax is that the low light/high iso performance is so good. For installation documentation that is strictly for internal use, for the exhibits department, I'll go up to any ISO that isn't destroying the details I'm trying to capture. FYI, in a museum setting in the galleries there's no flash allowed, even for us who work there.

[pres589]

I am going to shamelessly plug my thread from a few days ago. I posted sample images at high ISO with and without noise reduction. Given that most images are only shared online and not printed, most of us could likely benefit from using higher ISO and faster shutter speeds, macro and landscapes excluded since long shutter speeds and low ISO is not a problem on a tripod.
ISO Fun K1 K3 K5 - PentaxForums.com

I really liked that thread and appreciated you putting the time in the create those images and such. I think you are correct; downsizing and sharing online hides a lot of high-ISO noise faults.

[kiwi_jono]

I would consider any ISO setting that got me the shot but when I can choose (and don't want an artistic noise look):
1. K-x. Would prefer ISO 1100 or below
2. K-5. Would prefer ISO 1600 or below
3. K-1. Would prefer ISO 3200 or below. Actually I would not hesitate to use ISO 3200 and have used 6400 at times.