iSO Settings

Most of my photography so far has been with auto settings and I noticed that
my ISO setting has been set at 200.
The cameras range is 125,200,400 and 800
Foe average conditions using auto what is the best setting for the sharpest
pictures?
Blair

"Blair" wrote in message
...
Most of my photography so far has been with auto settings and I noticed
that
my ISO setting has been set at 200.
The cameras range is 125,200,400 and 800
Foe average conditions using auto what is the best setting for the
sharpest
pictures?
Blair



In theory, the lowest ISO setting should result in the most saturated colors
and the least amount of noise. When shooting in low-light conditions,
especially hand-held, it would be better to step to a higher ISO setting to
minimize the effect of slow shutter speed. The addition of minimal noise is
balanced by the ability to shoot at an acceptably fast shutter speed.

You might want to experiment and take some test shots at various ISOs, and
then check the EXIF data to see what aperture and shutter speed resulted
from each of your speed settings. Your camera's automatic settings are
probably correct for most of the shooting situations you encounter. You
might want to see how using the lowest ISO speed when shooting in daylight
would have on your images. Aside from that one scenario, you might not find
that manually overriding your ISO results in better images.

"Blair" wrote in message
...
Most of my photography so far has been with auto settings and I noticed
that
my ISO setting has been set at 200.
The cameras range is 125,200,400 and 800
Foe average conditions using auto what is the best setting for the
sharpest
pictures?
Blair
1. You would need to specify the camera
2. Sharpness is less of an issue, the trade-off is speed vs noise.

The two canons I've used, A40 and A95 use a default setting of 50. I usually
don't mess with this except when shooting indoors where flash is unsuitable
or prohibited.
Dave Cohen

Blair writes

Most of my photography so far has been with auto settings and I
noticed that my ISO setting has been set at 200.
The cameras range is 125,200,400 and 800
Foe average conditions using auto what is the best setting for the sharpest pictures?

Check your shutter speed and if it's getting slow you run the risk of
blurred pics due to shake ... when that happens jack up the ISO. The
tradeoff is more noise but I personally prefer a non-blurred image with
ISO 800 noise to a blurred image at ISO 200.

If you aren't having a problem with blurred images right now then keep
it at 200 ...

"Dave Cohen" wrote in message
news

"Blair" wrote in message
...
Most of my photography so far has been with auto settings and I noticed
that
my ISO setting has been set at 200.
The cameras range is 125,200,400 and 800
Foe average conditions using auto what is the best setting for the
sharpest
pictures?
Blair
1. You would need to specify the camera
2. Sharpness is less of an issue, the trade-off is speed vs noise.

The two canons I've used, A40 and A95 use a default setting of 50. I
usually
don't mess with this except when shooting indoors where flash is
unsuitable
or prohibited.
Dave Cohen

I have a Fujifilm Fine Pix 4900Z
Should I therefore select the lowest setting of 125 for default shooting
general shots in good light?
Blair

"Bill Hilton" wrote in message
oups.com...
Blair writes

Most of my photography so far has been with auto settings and I
noticed that my ISO setting has been set at 200.
The cameras range is 125,200,400 and 800
Foe average conditions using auto what is the best setting for the
sharpest pictures?

Check your shutter speed and if it's getting slow you run the risk of
blurred pics due to shake ... when that happens jack up the ISO. The
tradeoff is more noise but I personally prefer a non-blurred image with
ISO 800 noise to a blurred image at ISO 200.

If you aren't having a problem with blurred images right now then keep
it at 200 ...

I realise that my word "sharpest" may be misleading. On the whole I don't
encounter camera shake
I am after the photograph which to me is the most crystal clear. Perhaps
this is what "noise" prevents.
What is the effect of noise on a photograph? How does it manifest itself?
Blair

"Jeremy" wrote in message
news:3FN6f.2426$HW5.613@trnddc04...

"Blair" wrote in message
...
Most of my photography so far has been with auto settings and I noticed
that
my ISO setting has been set at 200.
The cameras range is 125,200,400 and 800
Foe average conditions using auto what is the best setting for the
sharpest
pictures?
Blair



In theory, the lowest ISO setting should result in the most saturated
colors
and the least amount of noise. When shooting in low-light conditions,
especially hand-held, it would be better to step to a higher ISO setting
to
minimize the effect of slow shutter speed. The addition of minimal noise
is
balanced by the ability to shoot at an acceptably fast shutter speed.

You might want to experiment and take some test shots at various ISOs, and
then check the EXIF data to see what aperture and shutter speed resulted
from each of your speed settings. Your camera's automatic settings are
probably correct for most of the shooting situations you encounter. You
might want to see how using the lowest ISO speed when shooting in daylight
would have on your images. Aside from that one scenario, you might not
find
that manually overriding your ISO results in better images.

I have a setting which allows me to control the shutter speed on my Fujifilm
4900Z Perhaps I should use this in future.
I will also take your suggestion of carrying out trials.
Blair

"Blair" wrote in message
...

"Jeremy" wrote in message
news:3FN6f.2426$HW5.613@trnddc04...

"Blair" wrote in message
...
Most of my photography so far has been with auto settings and I noticed
that
my ISO setting has been set at 200.
The cameras range is 125,200,400 and 800
Foe average conditions using auto what is the best setting for the
sharpest
pictures?
Blair



In theory, the lowest ISO setting should result in the most saturated
colors
and the least amount of noise. When shooting in low-light conditions,
especially hand-held, it would be better to step to a higher ISO setting
to
minimize the effect of slow shutter speed. The addition of minimal noise
is
balanced by the ability to shoot at an acceptably fast shutter speed.

You might want to experiment and take some test shots at various ISOs,
and
then check the EXIF data to see what aperture and shutter speed resulted
from each of your speed settings. Your camera's automatic settings are
probably correct for most of the shooting situations you encounter. You
might want to see how using the lowest ISO speed when shooting in
daylight
would have on your images. Aside from that one scenario, you might not
find
that manually overriding your ISO results in better images.

I have a setting which allows me to control the shutter speed on my
Fujifilm
4900Z Perhaps I should use this in future.
I will also take your suggestion of carrying out trials.
Blair



What I failed to mention in my previous post was that some cameras boost the
chip sensitivity, but it does not affect the low-end threshold of the CCD
chip. My Ricoh digicam is like that. (it uses a Fuji sensor, as far as I
know). If I boost my speed setting, it does allow the shutter speed to be
faster by about 2-stops, but it does not mean that I can capture an image
that would have been too dark for the sensor to record at the normal ISO
speed.

All I can suggest is to take some sample shots and see how they turn out.
You will probably find that the automatic settings will work out fine,
except possibly for bright-light situations, where the lowest ISO speed may
yield the brightest colors and the least noise, consistent with a shutter
speed that is within an acceptable range.

If you are shooting static objects, like landscapes, use a tripod and then
you won't have to worry about slow shutter speeds (unless the wind is
shaking leaves and branches). If you are trying to improve your shots, I
believe that using a tripod will have the biggest impact of all.

Blair writes ...

On the whole I don't encounter camera shake

Lower ISO will give you better results then ...

What is the effect of noise on a photograph? How does it manifest itself?

Shoot an even toned subject, say blue sky or (if you have one) a gray
card or similar ... shoot it at the ISO you typically use and shoot it
at your highest ISO (I think you said 800) ... blow up on the screen to
100% (actual pixels) with your image editing program ... this will show
you the noise difference between high and low ISO for your specific
camera.

Bill

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 22:57:24 GMT, "Jeremy" wrote:

What I failed to mention in my previous post was that some cameras boost the
chip sensitivity, but it does not affect the low-end threshold of the CCD
chip. My Ricoh digicam is like that. (it uses a Fuji sensor, as far as I
know). If I boost my speed setting, it does allow the shutter speed to be
faster by about 2-stops, but it does not mean that I can capture an image
that would have been too dark for the sensor to record at the normal ISO
speed.

It should; instead of going those two shutter speeds faster, keep the
original shutter speed.
You'll get more noise, but you'll also get the shot.
BTW, doubling the ISO will get you one stop or shutter speed.
For example, going from ISO 100 to ISO 200 will let you go from a
1/100 shutter speed to 1/200 shutter speed. Or, correspondingly, from
F/4 to F/5.6.

--
Bill Funk
Replace "g" with "a"
funktionality.blogspot.com