Overthehill1

Usually shoot at 200-400 on my D500 and D7000. But when I photograph hummingbirds or in lower light situations, I turn it on above 640. At what point does it make a difference?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Each ISO setting will yield different exposure settings.
How much of what would you call a difference?

Overthehill1

Trying to minimize noise.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I go as low as I can to get what I want.
If need be, I'll up it a notch, then another, providing I have time.

After many shots and some experimentation, you should get a good idea what works best (in your opinion) for THAT camera.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

You’re not going to minimize noise by using a high ISO.

Find the camera’s native ISO in the manual and set the camera to that, usually 100 or 200. If you can’t reach the settings you want at the native ISO, then increase the ISO until you can maintain those settings, but don’t go any higher than you have to.

Ollieboy

[quote=Overthehill1]Usually shoot at 200-400 on my D500 and D7000. But when I photograph hummingbirds or in lower light situations, I turn it on above 640. At what point does it
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Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

When considering ISO vs shutter speed vs underexposing - a properly exposed image will generally have less noise than one that is underexposed. A camera that is ISO invariant when shot at base ISO can be underexposed by as much as 5 stops and not show any more noise than had the gain (ISO) been turned up to 3200. At least until recently, that has been my guidance. However, after revisiting some of my higher ISO (8000-12500) images, and processing them with ON1 NoNoise, the ceiling on ISO is now a couple of stops higher, even with a D810.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Raising ISO not only increases noise, it also reduces dynamic range. Because of that there is always an incentive to keep ISO as low as possible. And because of that there is an incentive to use an aperture that's as wide as possible and/or use a shutter speed that's as low as possible.

What are the constraints where aperture is concerned? You need sufficient depth of field (DOF) but widening the aperture reduces the DOF.

Aperture is only one of the factors that affect DOF - focal length (how much zoom you're using) and distance to the focus point are two more factors, and you need to be familiar with how all three factors affect DOF so that you can estimate what aperture (f-stop) is needed. As a very general rule you are looking for the lowest f-stop that you can get away with. Too low an f-stop means you risk spoiling the shot because of insufficient DOF.

What are the constraints where shutter speed is concerned? The shutter speed needs to be fast enough to avoid motion blur (caused by movement of objects or people within the frame) and/or to avoid softness due to camera shake when shooting hand-held.

The faster the movement within the frame, the faster the shutter speed needs to be and the longer the focal length (when shooting hand-held) the faster the shutter speed needs to be. If you're using a steady tripod, camera shake isn't an issue, but movement within the frame may still be. Using a monopod or some other type of support for the camera also allows a slower shutter speed to be used (but with limits).

As a very general rule you are looking for the slowest shutter speed that you can get away with. Too slow a shutter speed means that you risk spoiling the shot because of motion blur or camera shake.

If the widest acceptable aperture and the slowest acceptable shutter speed result in too much light being captured (i.e. over-exposure) the usual answer would be to increase the shutter speed.

When a lack of light leaves things tight you need to prioritise by deciding which is more acceptable - motion blur, softness due to insufficient DOF or camera shake, or noise and insufficient dynamic range due to high ISOs. Typically it's only VERY high ISOs that have the potential to render a shot unusable.

User ID

If your not seeing the difference in your pictures then you haven’t yet reached that point.

Picture content and shooting style affect where that point lies. For your own pictures you’ll know it when you see it. For “general photography” with any recent FF 24MP camera, anywhere from 800 to 1600 is a good point to begin experimenting above and below.

If you use a smaller format or a high MP camera, use a lower starting point.

Others will find their own point, which applies to their content and style. For me, the point is around 1600 to 3200. I see comments from members who cannot accept the results at 400 or 800. It’s a wide open issue.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

It depends on what camera you're using.

When I shot with a D200, 800 was my maximum.

When I shoot with a D4, 12,000 is my maximum.

The Hi-ISO setting on your camera is for emergency conditions only. Not for normal use. It's usually marketing hype, making people think they can shoot at ISO 3 million. They can of course do that, but they should not expect to get good photos when they do.

ELNikkor

I would think you can still get excellent images with the D500 at ISO 1600.

redtooth

Right on R G .

tcthome Loc: NJ

When shooting wildlife & shooting wildlife in changing light I shoot on Auto ISO. Every once in a while I have to set the ISO to manual to get the exposure I need. For your cameras, ISO 640 or above should be no problem. If your going to get an under exposed photo that you can't live with, then you need to raise the ISO. It is that simple. I don't think you will have any noise problems until you go way above ISO 640. But if you do there is good software out there like Topaz DN.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Experimenting in a stable environment is the best way to get the answer to your question. Different cameras and lenses yield different results. Find out what's best for you. High ISO lets you use a high shutter speed, which can be very useful. Software can get rid of noise.