Question about ISO...

[imported_Aim]

How high can you go before the noise from a higher ISO is noticeable?

When I first got my camera, I was talking to a friend of my FIL's who takes wonderful shots. And he said to me he never shoots above a 200 ISO. That has really stuck in my brain and I find I'm missing a lot of good shots due to bad lighting, where a high ISO might help. I need to get what he said out of my head. LOL

[Buddysmom]

I've always heard the rule of thumb is ISO 400. I've also been told that if your picture is properly exposed with the correct settings, you can go even higher without a problem. That being said, Raian has a lot of trouble with noise above 400 with her Nikon D50. I have the Canon 350D. I can go all the way to 1600 without a lot of noise, if the picture is well exposed. I would never miss a shot because I was afraid of using too high an ISO. Most editing programs have a decent noise removal filter. I use PS Elements 5. I love it's noise filter.

[3TailsWaggin]

I get noise at 800. I will use it if it means getting the shot or not, but I prefer to use 200 or 400. I've seen some cameras shoot at 1600 with very little noise. Mine doesn't do that

[imported_Jimbo]

I start seeing noticeable noise around ISO 1000 especially if my photos are underexposed. Indoors with crappy lighting, I'll use ISO 1600 and sometimes even ISO 3200... But I won't print anything larger then a 5 x 7 if I use ISO 3200.

Here are some examples with very little post-processing...
ISO 1000: http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/7882/iso1000us7.jpg
ISO 1600: http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/8659/iso1600ee2.jpg
ISO 3200: http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/5656/iso3200cc1.jpg

Same pictures filtered with Noise reduction software....
ISO 1000: http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/8...ilteredqw3.jpg
ISO 1600: http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4...ilteredvt6.jpg
ISO 3200: http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/9...ilteredeq5.jpg

[Buddysmom]

Wow, Jim. There all good. The last 2 are impressive the way it got rid of the noise. What noise reduction software do you use?

[imported_Jimbo]

Wow, Jim. There all good. The last 2 are impressive the way it got rid of the noise. What noise reduction software do you use?

Noiseware

[imported_Aim]

Thanks! I just need to retrain my brain that it is OK to change the ISO.

[Buddysmom]

LOL My brain knows it's ok to change the ISO. I have to just train mine to do it. LOL I'm always forgetting.