answers: 150

  1. Maksim
    31.03.2014

    I just didn’t mean Lo. Here I have an ISO from 100 to 3200 on my camera. It is advised to shoot at 200, since they claim that 100 is already a wrap. Nikon V1 device, if that.

    Reply

    • Jury
      22.09.2014

      There are cameras on which ISO 100 is Lo1, but there are also those in which ISO 100 is fair, that is, hardware, and they do not make any “fakes” or drops in dynamic range. For example, Nikon D5100 does not have ISO 200 base, but just ISO 100, it is not an extension of ISO 200.

      Reply

  2. Great Super Photographer
    19.07.2014

    Writes TS correctly. Helped me to figure it out a bit. I have 6400 the largest. In general, it is not clear why it is. I agree with Maxim - 200 is good. Already comparing with 400, it can be seen that there is more noise by 400 with an increase in the photo. A 64 with flash is just fine.

    Thanks TS.

    Reply

  3. Sergei
    18.10.2014

    Hello.
    Tell me why, then, do big iso on cameras, if you can’t shoot them qualitatively anyway, it will not work, but there will only be noise? Isn’t it easier to put the maximum iso at the camera right at the factory at which the quality will be acceptable on this camera.
    Thank you.

    Reply

    • grandfather Fedor
      03.11.2014

      Different photographers have different goals. Someone captures still lifes indoors under the light of three flashes, where in a watermelon each bone can be distinguished from an arc. And someone is fixing the transfer of drugs at a distance of one hundred meters in a semi-gloomy alley without the ability to use a lighting device. So the second photographer does not need smooth skin on the faces of the models.

      Reply

    • Dasha
      22.07.2019

      Because the camera is not always used to create aesthetically beautiful photographs. There are photographers working in hot spots, with crime, etc. And it is important for them not to bring beauty to their pictures, but to capture what is happening. And sometimes this very thing is not covered by the studio softbox. Therefore, to take at least some kind of picture with virtually no lighting, you need to lift the ISO.

      Reply

  4. Lion0608
    15.01.2016

    By the way, I wanted to ask the author of the article (from his experience, or from communication with colleagues). What to do if everything is “against” quality. The illumination is low, as an example - in winter, freestylers often jump in already complete darkness (you need to increase the ISO), while the movement is fast (sports, children) and the shutter speed should be small (the opposite of the goal of increasing the shutter speed in low light), and you want the camera focused nicely on the subject. And even the most powerful flash can “miss” an athlete who is 300 meters away. And the quality of the picture, for example, is important (for some kind of advertising brochure, and not just “on air.”) Will the quality of the picture still fall? Those. literally "shoot". But this is quite difficult, because here we have a computer with a monitor at hand. Is it possible to carry a laptop or tablet with you everywhere? Or do a trial “session” in advance in conditions close to combat?

    Reply

  5. Novel
    10.03.2016

    Good day. On Sony's camera, the alpha alpha 7s reaches up to 409600. Does that mean bad?

    Reply

    • Maugli
      10.03.2016

      It's horrible! What do they allow themselves there in Sony? =)
      PS: a cool camera that can shoot well in low light.

      Reply

  6. Eugene
    05.04.2016

    Dear Radozhiva, the photographic system of the camera belongs to iconic systems, i.e. perceiving the whole image at once, without cutting it into columns and lines. Therefore, your expression “the matrix SCAN the image from the lens” is unknown.
    Sorry for my "five kopecks", but the truth is above all. Best regards to all forkm readers and to you personally.

    Reply

    • Alex
      26.04.2017

      Eugene, you are right only in this part - that is, indeed, the Matrix perceives an object from the lens immediately and in its entirety. That is, all pixels are simultaneously illuminated by the subject. But we must not forget that in the future, the electronics reads information from each pixel sequentially, that is, it really scans the sum of the signals from the Matrix and starts up this entire array of information in the processing and storage chain, preserving the sequence and targeting of the scan. Therefore, talking about image scanning is, in principle, possible. Indeed, for the same reason, the image is delayed on the display if the camera moves. The human eye, along with its brain, incidentally, processes an object faster in motion than a digital camera, mind you. But this is probably for now. The technique is improving and will ever catch up with the ability of the brain. It seems so to me. Alex

      Reply

  7. Maxim Stoyalov
    23.05.2016

    Good article.

    Reply

  8. Victor
    16.08.2016

    Here is some more useful info about ISO
    http://www.bestnewart.ru/about/lessons/cho_takoe_iso.html

    Reply

  9. Victor
    19.08.2016
    • Arkady Shapoval
      19.08.2016

      And what is non-standard?

      Reply

      • Ivan
        19.08.2016

        Apparently, the author could not do such a simple topic.

        Reply

  10. Michael
    09.03.2017

    I noticed such an interesting feature on the d80 that in good light, and a slight increase in ISO to 200-400. The frame looks sharper. The color is saturated with colors. A slight noble noise appears. Of course, the ISO 800 does not look fun.

    Reply

  11. Alex
    26.04.2017

    The article is great and many thanks to Arkady and for his patience and understanding of all the calls to him from all members of the forum. If only there would be more people like that, life on many issues would become easier and more interesting here. Who is eager to delve deeper and in more detail into the nature of ISO, and generally dive into the depths of Sensitometry. then read the materials on Wikipedia. Boot in full. Good luck to all. Alex

    Reply

  12. Best Photographer
    04.05.2017

    Just take this app and read from cover to cover. Everything is painted in an accessible language with many examples. And you are no longer looking for such stupid questions. Do not spare these shitty 99r. Because it's really worth it.

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mirbor.forphotographers

    Reply

  13. Peter Sh.
    07.05.2017

    Since I shoot in large part at the highest ISO, I constantly look for ways to make me suffer less.
    Found some interesting points.
    For example, shots at the same ISO and close shutter speeds can produce dramatically different image quality results. The difference is only in the light.

    Here are two shots.
    On this I closed the curtains on the windows in the morning. The room was relatively dark.

    ISO-24800, RAW from the camera, no post-processing, noise reduction off:

    Reply

  14. Peter Sh.
    07.05.2017

    And here is a shot from the concert hall with dim light.
    Pay attention to wild noise compared to the previous shot.
    The bee on the afterburner is generally all pockmarked, in color pixels.

    Same camera, IS0-6400, + 1EV in post-processing, noise reduction off:

    Reply

  15. Dima Volgograd
    22.08.2017

    Tell me, please, how to set ISO Lo1 in Nikon d70?

    Reply

    • Michael
      22.08.2017

      It seems in any way. And it’s best to ask this question the instructions of the camera)))

      Reply

  16. Dmitriy
    18.01.2018

    Refresh the article.
    Firstly, the amount of noise does not depend on ISO, but on the operation of automation in P, A, S modes.
    Secondly, for a long time there are cameras that are tolerant of various ISOs (fuji x-t1, sony a6300, etc.). The picture on them with iso 200 is no different from the picture on iso 3200 + 4Ev.
    So to say that high iso-bad, low-good, at least for 4 years already is not true.

    Reply

    • Valery A.
      18.01.2018

      This is a discovery. Does Nikon have "tolerant" ones?

      Reply

      • Dmitriy
        19.01.2018

        I don’t know about Nikon, threw off the link, you can search for the camera you are interested in

        Reply

    • Valentine
      18.01.2018

      Dmitry, you have a mistake, not an article. Firstly, there are techniques for real measurement of noise, and so far there are no new cameras that produced comparable values ​​to iso 3200 at iso 200 in nature. Finally, there are sites where you can compare the noises of different new cameras in different modes - with and without noise reduction. Where did you get this information about an excellent picture on high iso?

      Reply

      • Oleg
        18.01.2018

        Recently, there are a lot of articles on the topic that even with the squelch turned off, the camera continues to programmatically suppress noise. And to some extent, raw RAW is no longer the source file, as manufacturers go to their marketing tricks. The picture is smooth, clean, but the detail is seriously affected. So it's too early to talk about victory over high ISO. Even if you look at the network reviews of the cameras you listed, then the ISO-3200 limit for them and of course 3200 is by no means 200

        Reply

      • Dmitriy
        19.01.2018

        I only dispute the statement that high ISOs are always bad, and we should strive to photograph at low ones. on a sunny day, of course, ISO 3200 will not add quality to the picture, but if we are talking about night photos, take a photo with ISO 3200 and ISO 200, in the second photo in the same light room, increase the exposure by 4 stops and understand what I'm talking about. for example, for Canon 6D, the best quality of night shots will be with iso 6400 and higher.

        Reply

      • Michael
        19.01.2018

        the best will be with ISO 100 with a tripod

        Reply

      • Valentine
        19.01.2018

        Dmitry, not a single normal photographer will recommend you shoot in the dark on iso 200 instead of iso 3200, and then programmatically pull this in the editor. Why did you decide that you should do this? When they say that shooting at lower ISOs is preferable, this does not mean that the frame should be underexposed. Your task is to think about how to make ISO smaller and the frame correctly exposed.
        You can take into account the following: the mechanism for increasing iso in the camera is associated with the operation of the signal amplifier, and the clarification mechanism in the editor with software brightness shift. Moreover, for the editor, the bit depth of the source file is critical. ISO-HI modes in cameras are the same software lighting. But in non-HI modes with ISO, not everything is clear. Until a certain point, an ISO camera amplifier can give a better result than clarification in the editor. But after some value (for each camera, its own), it turns out that shooting at a lower ISO and lightening in the editor gives a slightly better result.

        Reply

      • Dmitriy
        19.01.2018

        I’m just saying that you shouldn’t take pictures, but you should switch to high ISO. in fact, we always have a time limit for exposure, even though shooting with hands even with a tripod. therefore, I propose to compare photos with ISO 200 and ISO 3200 with the same exposure. each camera has its own optimal iso for night photography, it needs to be found experimentally, for sony a7s this is for example iso 3700. and the article says that high is-evil, go low, so I propose to fix it, since this not true

        Reply

      • Valentine
        19.01.2018

        Dmitry, this specific article does not say that you need to shoot at low ISO and pull photos. There is a link to the article Experiment with ISO, but this is not a call to something, but only a demonstration of the result of the experiment.
        The assertion that if possible it is necessary to shoot at a lower ISO value, in my opinion, few people can raise doubts, since I already know that the closer the ISO to the base, the better the picture will be, all other things being equal.
        And finally, when shooting at high ISOs, you still need to think about how to reduce them. In addition to ISO, other parameters influence the exposure and you should always look for a compromise between them before raising the ISO. There are also many ways how to achieve the desired result without raising the ISO. I’ll always think three times how to frame at a lower ISO with normal exposure before I turn the dial towards increasing it.

        Reply

      • Valentine
        19.01.2018

        Oleg, we never see you writing raw RAW at all (it turns out raw raw, but the essence is clear). In any camera, from any manufacturer, data generated by a certain algorithm is recorded in a RAW file. And this very algorithm can be quite complex, significantly affecting the image. Fuji, in my opinion, does a lot to make the images immediately from the camera (in RAW / not in RAW) look better than you could modify it somewhere (their matrices are geared specifically for further refinement by the camera program, and not vice versa when programs only eliminate matrix jambs). Is it bad? I do not think so. If the manufacturer knows in advance that the image displayed by the sensor has weaknesses that cannot be eliminated later by any other methods and immediately tries to correct them in the best way, then why not.

        Reply

      • Dmitriy
        19.01.2018
  17. Glory
    14.06.2018

    Everything is very affordable, thanks

    Reply

  18. Berder
    24.09.2019

    Please recommend which semi-professional Nikon cameras have high working ISOs, suitable for working with a telephoto lens with a focal length of 600 mm in low light (cloudy weather, evening, morning, forest)? (I'm going to buy a second camera and can not decide)

    Reply

    • Arkady Shapoval
      24.09.2019

      Write what you already have.

      Reply

      • Berder
        25.09.2019

        There is d80

        Reply

      • BB
        26.09.2019

        D7100 / 7200/7500, if you want a crop
        D600 / 610/750/850… - for your pocket.
        Comparing 600/610 and 750, the latter is slightly better than AF.
        The crop will have more EGF (i.e., with the FR 600 you will have an EGF of 900mm), but the requirements for short shutter speeds at the long end are also higher, while the working ISO is lower than that of the FF.
        On the other hand, you can always make a crop from FF (with the loss of "permission", of course), but vice versa (get FF from a crop) - nothing.
        PS this is if you do not plan to change the system.

        Reply

  19. Vladimir
    05.12.2019

    What is native iso and how to use it when shooting on Nikon d90?

    Reply

  20. Alexey
    07.01.2020

    Good afternoon.
    I would clarify some points in the conclusion “ISO value is directly responsible for light sensitivity and noise level. The higher the ISO, the more noise and the worse the photo. ”
    Here is why.
    1. The light sensitivity of the matrix is ​​unchanged, it is determined by the manufacturing technology and in most cases coincides with the minimum base (for example, ISO 100). All other values ​​are hardware gain (in some models - also lowering) of the light signal, with the goal of compensating for the lack of light entering the matrix. Changing the ISO only changes the brightness of the picture, but not the exposure (the number of photons received by the matrix). The latter is determined only by shutter speed and aperture.
    2. The noise level is influenced by many parameters - exposure, nature of light, matrix manufacturing technology, its size, pixel coarseness, residual charge level in them, matrix temperature, etc. The matrix temperature rises as the light signal increases (ISO increases) and this leads to additional noise. But the root cause is again a lack of light (underexposure), which the camera compensates for by raising the ISO. Thus, the “underexposure” of the frame is “responsible” for the noise level, and the increase in ISO is only an indicator of the brightness gain to an acceptable level. You can carry out a test similar to the one on the DPreview website: shoot 2 underexposed frames taken at the same aperture, shutter speed and light source: one with 1 stop underexposure at ISO 3200, the second with 5 stops underexposure at ISO 200. Then adjust the brightness of both frames in the converter to the same value. The second final frame will be completely destroyed by noise and color distortion, the first one shot at high ISO will be acceptable.
    3. It is also necessary to say about such an important indicator as the dynamic range of the matrix - DD (how many stops a frame can transmit). And it is here that raising the ISO leads to a serious narrowing of this range: from 11-12 stops at a base ISO of 100 to only 8 at an ISO of about 3200.Thus, at high ISO, the quality of the frame deteriorates significantly due to the impossibility of transmitting the entire luminance range of the scene.
    In this regard, I would summarize as follows:
    - The light sensitivity of the matrix is ​​determined, in particular, by the base ISO value, as well as by a number of other above-mentioned parameters.
    - The dynamic range of the frame narrows with increasing ISO.
    - Exposure directly affects the noise level. The more underexposed the frame, the more you need to amplify the signal (i.e., raise the ISO), the higher the sensor temperature, the higher the noise.
    But in general, as the masterpieces of world photography show, the coolness of the photo with the noise level and the width of the DD is not connected at all. But that's another topic :)

    Reply

    • Arkady Shapoval
      07.01.2020

      Thank you

      Reply

      • Alexey
        07.01.2020

        Thank you. One of the best technology sites.

        Reply

    • Michael
      07.01.2020

      For a beginner and without technical education - hefty cool. Is that insert into the body of the article

      Reply

      • Alexey
        07.01.2020

        Mikhail, in fact, everything is simple - the technical quality of the photo largely depends on the amount of light entering through the aperture at a given time. And the ISO adjustment stretches, if necessary, the brightness of the picture to the desired one. And the less you need to "pull", the better. So - “let there be light!”.

        Reply

    • Alexey
      12.04.2020

      Hello, namesake :)
      Check out my notes over there, scroll down to “A little bit about how the camera changes the ISO value” radojuva.com/2012/02/iso-boost-detect/

      Reply

  21. Vladimir
    28.11.2020

    And what is “narrative (opposite)
    ISO ”and how can it help you get a quality image?

    Reply

    • Michael
      28.11.2020

      Where did you find it?

      Reply

    • Rodion
      28.11.2020

      Maybe “native”? Native - “what the matrix gives”, ie with the amplification factor of the electronic strapping x1. It seems like it's usually 100. Some have 200.

      Reply

      • Arkady Shapoval
        28.11.2020

        Panas has 160, some 125 (D1x), some new ones - 64. Some cameras have double (200 and 800). The question is probably about the fact that there is a software ISO, like Nikon / Canon for ISO 50 (ISO LO) for some cameras. It is usually called basic.

        Reply

  22. Fedor
    24.07.2021

    You talked about how to use the ISO parameter, but you did not tell what the physical meaning of this parameter is. For example, when recording in RAW format, this parameter is not reflected in any way. It is only recorded as a shooting condition. And it is used by viewers or editors to recalculate the brightness values ​​recorded in the RAW file in the direction of increasing the brightness. Hence the effect of raising the noise level at high ISO values.
    Knowing this, when shooting on a bright sunny day, you can deliberately increase the sensitivity value from the lowest possible, for example, ISO 100 to ISO 200 (naturally, the amount of light that hits the matrix should be proportionally halved). This will give us one stop of headroom to correct in the editor for overexposures that often occur in bright sun.

    Reply

    • Aleksey68
      25.07.2021

      reflected. the gains of the PGA facing the ADC are varied. and not only them. I wrote about this earlier.

      Reply

    • Arkady Shapoval
      25.07.2021

      Unfortunately, it is not. Moreover, this does not apply to this topic.

      Reply

  23. Alexander
    19.12.2023

    Hello. Not good at technology. Please tell me, is it possible to turn the ISO or other settings (speed, ev, wb) to maximum or minimum to harm the photo or video camera of a smartphone?

    Reply

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