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Thread: Iso ?????

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    Iso ?????

    For shooting outdoors under normal lighting, what would be the best ISO? I have a D90 and in A

  2. #2
    Senior Shooter Greg McCary's Avatar
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    Re: Iso ?????

    Always shoot as low off an ISO as conditions can stand. 100 if you can.
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    Seasoned Amateur WesternGuy's Avatar
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    Re: Iso ?????

    Although it originated with film photography, it is still relevant to digital photography today (IMHO) -- it is called the Sunny 16 rule...I know, I know, there are lots out there who say that rules were meant to be broken, but think of this as a place to start. It covers different ISOs and gives you some ideas about f-stops as well. If you want to shoot at ISO 100 on your digital camera, then you can follow the advice for that speed of film. Alternatively, this also gives you choices if you want to up the ISO on your digital for some reason, then follow the advice for the corresponding film.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16_rule

    HTH.

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    Powder River Imaging EOSThree's Avatar
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    Re: Iso ?????

    Whatever the shot requires. That's a crappy answer though. The lowest ISO that allows you to get the shot and maintain the parameters you need to get the shot. If you are shooting action, then a high enough ISO to allow you to have a fast enough shutter speed to stop the action sufficiently. If you are shooting a landscape then enough to get a sharp photo with enough aperture to get the frame sharp front to back(and you better be using a tripod here.... Etc Etc. So the answer to your question is back to my first sentence again: Whatever the shot requires. There is no quantitative answer to this. I have always used low ISO film and this has carried over to my digital shooting, I shoot landscapes and I almost always shoot around 100.
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    Re: Iso ?????

    so if I am shooting birds in motion, 200-400 will suffice? Just noticed my camera used 3200 on a shot the other day and It was a semi cloudy day. It's the pelican picture under the critique section.

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    Snap Happy CaraRose's Avatar
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    Re: Iso ?????

    It completely depends on the light you get. I always manually set mine, start as possible and move it up if I have to to get the aperture and shutter settings I want.
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    Powder River Imaging EOSThree's Avatar
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    Re: Iso ?????

    Quote Originally Posted by danny wdr
    so if I am shooting birds in motion, 200-400 will suffice? Just noticed my camera used 3200 on a shot the other day and It was a semi cloudy day. It's the pelican picture under the critique section.
    Again it depends on the situation. In your pelican photo, I wouldn't think you'd need 3200. The pelican is about 1.3 stops underexposed there too, so your camera didn't do a very good job determining the exposure. The meter may have been fooled by something in the scene, like maybe you spot metered and the pelicans feathers fooled the meter. Use your histogram to determine exposure, never use the screen.

    I would think an ISO of around 400 or so should have been sufficient to get that shot of the pelican and still have a shutter speed above 500 or so.
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    Not-so-recent Nikon Convert livin4lax09's Avatar
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    Re: Iso ?????

    actually, the ISO which renders the best image quality may not always be the lowest ISO. I remember seeing a thread on here a little while ago about how your camera's native ISO is the best setting to use.

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    Re: Iso ?????

    Quote Originally Posted by livin4lax09
    actually, the ISO which renders the best image quality may not always be the lowest ISO. I remember seeing a thread on here a little while ago about how your camera's native ISO is the best setting to use.

    think that would be 200 for a d90, can't see how that would always be best?

  10. #10
    Panarus biarmicus Moderator (Sports) SmartWombat's Avatar
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    Re: Iso ?????

    native ISO is best because it has less noise.
    higher ISO is done by turning up the amplifiers on the readout of the sensor
    that adds more noise in the image
    PAul

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