Nearly 98% of the time, my ISO is set at 200. I set my exposure around shutter speed and aperture. Back when I have film camera I used higher ISO, but that was film. I think my reluctance to venture off the 200 mark is because of image quality. I want the absolute best image sharpness that I can get. Faster speeds is nice, but the trade off has always been additional noise and reduction in image sharpness.
The highest ISO I have used is about 4000. Yes, the IQ stunk, but it is still better than having no photo at all. Most of my shots are in the 200 - 1200 range.
All depends what you're shooting. Taking pics of my son playing basketball in an old gym, sometimes I have to go to 3200 and still can't get the shutter speeds I'd prefer (1/500 or faster).
High ISO is a tool, so yes I will use it as needed for what I am shooting. The High ISO on a digital sensor is not even the same as film. With film you had grain with the upper ISO range, how much depended on what film you were shooting with. With digital this is not so much the case, you may get noise, but this varies from camera model to model. The upper end now handles the Higher ISOs quite well. With digital if you nail the shot, then you do not have much, or little noise to contend with in post work. With film you could nail the shot, and still have a grainy photo, because that is determined by the size of the grains in the film. Also the newer sensors make luminance noise now, as opposed to the old chroma noise in the early days, which truthfully was atrocious so you never used the higher ISO ranges. I will take digital noise any day of the week, and twice on Sunday over film grain. Unless I am looking for that effect. I regularly shoot at 400-800 many times during full daylight if I want really high shutter speeds. In photography it is always the case of you have to use what you need for whatever you are shooting. Digital just gives you more options to do it.
Last Edit: 10 years 6 months ago by Joves. Reason: I am a vegtable
If you shot at a higher ISO with film, I don't understand the reluctance with digital. Digital is a LOT better at higher ISO than film ever was plus you have tools to help correct the problem now. If you need it, use it. That's what it's there for. They didn't do all this work to get higher ISO quality just to feel good about it. They did it to give you another tool in your arsenal.
As pointed out above, one tries to keep the ISO at the lowest setting that will give the desired result. But sensors have improved to the point that the default value of high end cameras is 200 now, since there's no visible difference with 100. The noise issue is also addressed quite well, and I have gotten publishable (ion the right venue) images at 3200. But Med-High values work very well.
Here's 1/40 sec @f/6.3, ISO800 with the Nikon D3s:
I often shoot 6400iso if need be. But most of the time I shoot indoor events and it's better to get the shot. Then again my camera has very good high iso.
On the 5Dii (which I assume is the camera OP has) you can pretty easily shoot up to 1600iso or even 3200iso and not worry too much about noise.
John Landolfi wrote: As pointed out above, one tries to keep the ISO at the lowest setting that will give the desired result. But sensors have improved to the point that the default value of high end cameras is 200 now, since there's no visible difference with 100. The noise issue is also addressed quite well, and I have gotten publishable (ion the right venue) images at 3200. But Med-High values work very well.
Here's 1/40 sec @f/6.3, ISO800 with the Nikon D3s:
John Landolfi wrote: As pointed out above, one tries to keep the ISO at the lowest setting that will give the desired result. But sensors have improved to the point that the default value of high end cameras is 200 now, since there's no visible difference with 100. The noise issue is also addressed quite well, and I have gotten publishable (ion the right venue) images at 3200. But Med-High values work very well.
Here's 1/40 sec @f/6.3, ISO800 with the Nikon D3s:
Like others, for me it really depends on what I'm shooting. Granted most of the time, I'm shooting around the 200 ISO level. However if the lighting calls for it, I have commonly moved my ISO upwards to 1000 and even higher to get the shot I wanted.
Whatever it takes when I have no control over the situation. That means, for stage events like dance, with crummy lighting, anywhere from 2500 to 5000 in order to freeze movement.
In general, I try to stay on the low end, but again, whatever the situation calls for. I don't stress over a number, and I'm not afraid of PP.
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