ISO and Aperature settings

[DDT uk]

Thinking about this weekends Splash-in, I am curious as to the maximum ISO settings and minimum (or is it maximum - lowest f-stop) aperature that most people consider acceptable for shooting WA wreck type shots.

I'll be using an 18mm on a D70. I was thinking of 800 and something like f5.6 to keep the shutter speed high enough to remove any camera shake issues. It should be a bright day.

Thoughts?

Daniel

[Mike W]

I work it out t'other way round - I set my shutter speed to the minimum I'm prepared to use for a specific lens (1/15th sec for the 8mm fisheye, 1/30th for the standard zoom and 1/125th for my 105 macro), then set the corresponding aperture bearing in mind the amount of flash I want/need to use and if I'm using a dome port or not (With domes I set f8 mostly, but sometimes use f5.6 or f11 depending on circumstances, flat ports I'm usually shooting macro so end up at f16 or even f22, though I've been known to use f2.8 for availalble light), and then use the lowest ISO value that allows me to shoot with these settings.

I always try to keep ISO as low as poss, I can add noise in software but getting rid of it is much tougher. Having said that, 1600 ISO shots printed to A4 are pretty darn good from an SLR.

[wally2]

I work it out t'other way round - I set my shutter speed to the minimum I'm prepared to use for a specific lens (1/15th sec for the 8mm fisheye, 1/30th for the standard zoom and 1/125th for my 105 macro), then set the corresponding aperture bearing in mind the amount of flash I want/need to use and if I'm using a dome port or not (With domes I set f8 mostly, but sometimes use f5.6 or f11 depending on circumstances, flat ports I'm usually shooting macro so end up at f16 or even f22, though I've been known to use f2.8 for availalble light), and then use the lowest ISO value that allows me to shoot with these settings.

I always try to keep ISO as low as poss, I can add noise in software but getting rid of it is much tougher. Having said that, 1600 ISO shots printed to A4 are pretty darn good from an SLR.

Mike, I am curious as to what camera you are using.

[Mike W]

Canon 350D - Digital Rebel XT where you are (I think!!!) - why do you ask?

[KenByrne]

When using a D70 I tried to keep the ISO at or below 400. Above 400 the noise was more noticable. That said a shot at 1600 is better than no shot at all.

[TimIngmire]

wot Ken said!

[wally2]

We shoot with a G7, D30 and a new D5 Mark II. We have done some testing of the noise at all available ISO settings with each of these cameras. Our conclusions are that with the G7 keep the ISO below 200; with the D30 keep it below 400 and with the D5 we have noticed very little noise with ISO settings of 3200 and below. We start to detect significant noise at 6400. This is up to 200% on a computer screen.

I am having 20" by 30" blowups printed of the same shot taken at ISO of 100, 400, 800, 1600 and 3200 with the new D5. I won't get them back until tomorrow afternoon, but I don't expect to see much difference. I did this just to make sure that I know what I am doing when I chase that illusive great shot underwater. If this works out the way I think it will, my plan is to shoot the D5 Mark II at aperture priority with the ISO set at "A" or "automatic." At least that is the way I intend to start with the new D5.

I will let you know what the prints reveal, but I don't expect to have much of a problem to 3200.

[GLOC]

But what does your bank manager say?

I work on a minimum of 1/8 using Sigma 10-20 on a D200 but I also use 2 strobes which helps mask any camera shake that maybe present.

ISO as required but upto 1600 if I need to (which in some of the places I end up diving to get enough ambient light is a requirement). The noise on the D200 is far less than the S2 I used to use.

Regards

[DDT uk]

Gareth

What is the realistic useable range of the D200? I am about to buy one. One my D70, noise is very evident at 400 even in well lit conditions.

Daniel

[wally2]

I picked up the 20" by 30" photos that I had printed up to 3200 ISO with the new D5 Mark II. I laid out the blowup of the picture taken at an ISO of 100 beside the one taken at an ISO of 3200 and the professionals at Epperson could hardly ID the photo taken at 100 ISO. Two of three finally got the right one pegged at ISO of 100.

It was very difficult to tell the difference.

This gives me the confidence to just set the ISO to automatic and let it go at that.