Working with digital images

[justmyheart1989]

What is ISO?

[ShutterbugGail]

ISO is the number indicating an digital camera sensors sensitivity to light. You can learn all about it here:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/advanced-digital-camera-settings/iso.htm

[pentax]

should i keep my digital camera set to auto iso? i'm new to digital photography and wonder if i should keep everything set to auto.

[Deb]

You could but, personally, I prefer to use the slowest ISO value possible to minimize grain/noise.  

While you are learning, you might like to keep your settings set to auto mode. Once you become familiar with what exactly the shutter speed does and what the aperture does, you can move from auto mode to shutter or aperture priority mode. It's entirely up to you and what you feel comfortable with.

But actually, I'd suggest you experiment with both of those modes and see first-hand what kind of results changing these (shutter speed or aperture) gives you. It will open up the creative possibilities to you.  

[ShutterbugGail]

One of the buzz words this year in compact digital camera marketing is high ISO numbers. Here's information you may find helpful on the subject:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-features/camera-modes/high-sensitivity-mode.php

http://www.digicamhelp.com/taking-photos/advanced-techniques/iso2.php

[rhinorick]

Good points Deb and Gail.

And as Deb pointed out, leaving your camera set to auto ISO is good until you learn how to adjust, etc.

I think most cameras with auto ISO only "auto adjust" it up to ISO200.  So that is not too bad - not too noisy.

As Gail said, newer cameras have the ability to change to very high ISO values with minimal noise.  My FZ50 goes to ISO3200 (I think).  I agree with Deb, I try to use the lowest ISO setting that I can to eliminate noise.  Even though the FZ50 is fairly good at reducing noise - it is still there.

I leave mine set to ISO100 unless lower light forces me to increase it.  Deb and Gail .... am I right in doing that?

See Gail's tip HERE for the importance of light.  More light is better than higher ISO.

Mike, if you see this thread ... I have noticed in your galleries that you use ISO400 and higher at times ... and your photos are as crisp and clear and sharp as any I have ever seen.  How is that possible?!?!    Care to share your secret?  

[rhinorick]

Here is an example of using a high ISO value:



I think that one used ISO400 or ISO800.  It was way too noisy for me.  I cleaned it up a bit, buy using "remove noise" and then "unsharp mask", but still too much noise for me.

Here is one a little later the same morning, when the sun was a bit brighter, using ISO100 or 200:



Click on the small images to see the larger versions and you will see the "noise" in the top example.

[Deb]

Even with your good effort at cleaning it up, think how noisy that first one would look printed large! Though noise reduction softwares help considerably, there's no beating a low ISO if the output is going to be print and large (relative to the pixel count that is).  

[rhinorick]

Exactly!  You are so right Deb. That is why I thought it would be a good example.  

And you are so right about a low ISO.

The second image should prove that.