[Mallee Boy]

Dont think this has been done before, at least it did not show up in a search. (yup, its another quiet day )

All the talk about ISO performance at the big number end has got me wondering....how often is it used? For example, I might use 800 occassionally, and rarely anything higher.

Thus the poll. (which I never set up before, so this could be interesting!)

Interested to have your input and hear your thoughts.

Cheers
Grant

several minutes later: how the hell do you set up this poll??!
PS: ahh! got it, very handy.

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Last edited by Mallee Boy; 02-27-2008 at 10:14 PM.

[distudio]

Dont think this has been done before, at least it did not show up in a search. (yup, its another quiet day )

All the talk about ISO performance at the big number end has got me wondering....how often is it used? For example, I might use 800 occassionally, and rarely anything higher.

Thus the poll. (which I never set up before, so this could be interesting!)

Exposure plot is a good little tool for analysis of your shooting habits, just point it at the relevant file directory and it will show you FL, ISO, aperture and shutter speed stats in graph form:

vAndel.nl - The Wega2 site

Looking at my most recent shots, just under 8% were made at ISO1600 or above:

[stewart_photo]

The weather can be one determining factor in all this. For example, during the short days and long nights of the Winter months here in Northern Europe, I tend to use higher ISO settings several times a week. The cold weather also tends to drive people indoors, again where higher ISO settings are useful. The K10D performs well in these situations, with a careful application of of Neat Image cleaning up what little objectionable noise there is.

stewart

[davemdsn]

After the first few months with my *istD it never left 200 ISO. With the K10 I am comfortable with it up to about 800 as long as it is just shooting for fun. It stays at 100 most of the time. Too early to tell how comfortable I will be with high ISOs on the K20, but I imagine it will stay between 100 and 400 most of the time.

[ryan s]

Where's the choice for "never"? It's always on 100 or 200, with an occasional 400...

[Tingchaleun]

I voted 'Daily'. Because i think, if i need to use 1600, then i will. I use the K100d, and 1600 ain't that bad on it - nothing a little PP can't handle.

[jena]

I doubt I have ever used 1600, I would harldy ever use 800 and occasionaly use 400. Mainly leave it on 100. I use the K10D

[Mallee Boy]

Yes, should have had a "never" option, I concede that and I should have made "daily" Frequently: as in daily or weekly.
The price of over applying the KISS principle.
Nevers could use Rarely.
Interesting though.
Cheers.

[arthur pappas]

Yeah, put me on the rarely/never list too. Maybe some day down the road, but for now I'm at 100/200.

[freeload]

I use ISO 800-1600 allmost daily, so I voted for regulary. Taking indoors photos of my kids with mostly natural light requires high ISO until I can fork out for better optics.

I'm not bothered with the noise - mostly because I adjust my exposure to near clipping ( +2/3 to 1 EV)

[JrPentax]

i havent used it yet...

might give it a try but even when shooting the moon i have found 400 to be as much as i have needed...

maybe you can tell me WHY i might need higher ISO - i love to learn :-)

[Finn]

I hate flashes with an irrational passion, so before I had any fast lenses, I was shooting mostly at 1600 or 3200. Now I'm usually at ISO 800 and f/1.8 or so. And that's with shutter speeds of 1/15, maybe 1/30.

[nathancombs]

i shoot a LOT at night so i use the hier ISO just about every day

[Lowell Goudge]

I responded to something like this when the K10D came out, and people, including myself, wanted 3200 ISO.

At that time, I thought about 20% of my shots were at 3200, on my *istD. This is largely due to taking photo's at my daughter's stage performances.

Conditions are typical,
- stage spot lights and effects lighting only,
- ABSOLUTELY NO FLASH
- high shutter speed needed due to fast movement.

using exposure plot I have checked the shots taken since I bought a DSLR

2004 15.4% at 1600 and above
2005 17.7% at 1600 and above
2006 17.2% at 1600 and above
2007 28.2% at 1600 and above

the first 3 years are with my *istD and of these shots it is a 3:1 split 3200 ISO to 1600 ISO. Note that I do not shoot daily, and typically was taking 2500 shots per year

In 2007 I added the K10D, generally took more photos (about 7000 in total) and used the K10D more than the *istD but still had 500 shots at 3200 ISO, on top of 1800 shots at 1600 ISO

If you review past posts from me, I have always defended the High ISO performance of pentax cameras. This is not that they are the best, there may be others that are better, but since I only shoot pentax I can't comment. The reason I defend the high ISO performance is because I used to shoot B&W, push processed 3 stops to 3200 ISO, and E6 pushed 2 stops to 1600 ISO. Compared to film, the high ISO performance of even pentax's first DSLR the *istD is exceptional.

[OSB]

i havent used it yet...
...
maybe you can tell me WHY i might need higher ISO - i love to learn :-)

ISO is another factor in calculating your exposure, along with aperture and shutter speed. In the simplest terms, doubling the ISO (eg. going from 400->800 or 800->1600) doubles the exposure. The values of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO are all directly related in this way, except that shutter speed is inversely related to exposure. So if you increase aperture by a full stop, you let twice as much light in. If you keep the shutter opened twice as long, you let twice as much light in. And if you shoot at double the previous ISO, you’re making the sensor twice as sensitive to light.

So, imagine a situation where you’re shooting in low-light. To get the shot properly exposed, you might choose to do a number of things. For example, if you have a tripod and a stationary subject, you can use a long exposure because the subject won’t blur by moving around and the tripod eliminates camera shake. Or you might opt to use a flash.

But what if you have a moving subject, or are in an area where you can’t use a tripod, and flash is out of the question? If you have a very fast lens – one with a very large aperture – to let in more light, you might be able to handhold the shot at a low ISO. Or you might not. Even an f/1.4 lens has its limits, and besides you might not want to shoot wide opened anyway since perhaps you want greater depth of field in your shot.

So what do you do? You can’t slow down your shutter, because you’re handholding the shot and you’re already at the slowest “safe” speed for your focal length / subject’s movement. You can’t use a flash. You can’t open up your aperture any further (either at all if you have a slow lens or because it won’t give you the shot you desire.)

What you do is bump ISO. Because of the direct relationship between aperture, shutter, ISO and exposure, if you double the ISO it’s as if you opened the aperture a full stop, or shot with shutter opened for twice as long. Going from ISO 200 to ISO 1600 for example, is three steps up in exposure value, so if you previously had to shoot at a minimum 1/60sec shutter speed, now you can shoot at 1/480sec (1/60 x2 x2 x2). Or you can move three full stops down to get better DOF. Or you can do a combination of the same.

The downside is that shooting at higher ISO introduces more noise to the photo, so it’s a trade off. For most people, the rule of thumb is to shoot at the lowest ISO the situation allows, to minimize noise. But there are certainly times when the higher noise is worth accepting, in favour of actually getting the shot!