When can very high ISO settings still produce usable photos?
Asked 7/31/2012
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My camera offers very high ISO settings, but I start seeing heavy noise above about ISO 2000. In what real-world situations are ultra-high ISOs such as 3200, 6400, or 8000+ actually worth using? I'm especially interested in examples where high ISO gives a better result than the alternatives.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
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Noise isn't determined exclusively by ISO. In fact ISO has only an indirect effect on noise. Noise is principally the result of there not being enough light. Therefore it may be the case that your ISO 2000 are genuinely too noisy to be of value. But someone else's ISO 2000 might look a lot better.
Personally I've used ISO 6000 and 8000 in the past, when working in very low light where flash, wider apertures or longer exposures were not available (I was shooting 1/50s at f/1.2 with an 85mm lens).
In fact I would never put a limit on the ISO used, I would capture as much light as possible and then set the ISO as high as possible without clipping highlights. This guarantees you the lowest noise level possible. If the images didn't look acceptable to me I wouldn't use them. But I would never say "ooh I shouldn't set the camera to ISO 10000 as there'll be to much noise", you never know until you try.
The following were all shot at ISO 6400:
Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1375
14y ago
0
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Yes—very high ISO can absolutely be useful when the alternative is a blurry or missed shot. High ISO does not directly “create” noise so much as reveal the fact that very little light was captured. If you cannot add light, open the aperture further, or use a longer shutter speed, raising ISO may be the best option.
Typical cases include very low-light handheld shooting, indoor events, night scenes, or places where tripods/flash are impractical. One example given was shooting around 1/50s at f/1.2 with an 85mm lens in very dim light; another was shooting a canyon scene at ISO 3200 and about 1/25s while bracing against a wall, where a tripod and long exposure were impractical because people were moving through the frame.
The key is to capture as much light as possible first, then use the highest ISO that gives the shutter speed/aperture you need without blowing highlights. A noisy sharp image is often better than a clean blurry one, and careful exposure plus modest noise reduction in post can make high-ISO files quite usable.
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