PJmak wrote in post #18061609
Sorry I wasn't sure where to post this. I looked through the index a handful of times but no section seemed proper :/
I always try to keep ISO low, mostly below 640 but ive seen some great and clean high ISO shots so I want to experiment. I have a canon 60D btw.
Does ISO work differently at different aperture and shutter speed settings?
For example would 800 ISO produce the same amount of noise at f2.8 and shutter speed of 2000 as it would at f5.6 and 600 shutter speed.
These are just example figures above to get the point across. Hope I am making sense
Heya,
ISO is actually a very complicated thing, much more complicated than aperture & shutter speed in regard to what it does to the resulting file you create. But instead of delving into how all that works and getting into some truly spooky sounding stuff, just know that ISO can be very simple and if you relieve yourself of worrying that you'll get noise due to using ISO, and start expanding and shooting with high ISO in mind, and focusing on good exposure, you'll find yourself shooting at ISO 1600, 3200 and 6400 as if it were nothing to sweat, and even ISO 12,800 with some fine control over what you're doing.
Go take a look at the High ISO (3200+) thread. There's lots of tips & techniques and examples of high ISO from old sensors, much older than your 60D, and newer stuff.
Also take a look for threads regarding ETTR (exposing to the right), as a technique to making a cleaner result when using high ISO.
The biggest tip to using high ISO is to get exposure right. You will get noise when you're under-exposed. Even at ISO 100! If you gently expose to the right a little, sometimes just 1/3rd but even up to 1.5 stops exposed to the right, you then drop the exposure in post and you get a much cleaner result. And that's before dealing with noise reduction techniques.
Next up, learning to process high ISO. It's a bit different but there are more modern software now that can handle noise better than before. Take a look at Topaz DeNoiser. Worth it's weight in gold if you shoot high ISO, it is very good at cleaning up without destroying detail. You start by also shooting RAW for the best file to begin with to process.
Shoot RAW.
The apparent noise is actually more dependent on the exposure than the actual ISO value itself.
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I expose to the right with older sensors, usually by about +2/3rds to +1 stop or so, depending on how dark it is, and will shoot as high as ISO as I need to get enough light. I shoot RAW. I drop exposure in post, and it cleans up nicely on it's own. And then, if I feel the need, I will kiss it with a light touch of Topaz Denoiser to smooth out areas where it's slightly under-exposed and noise shows up more.
Here's some examples of the same family sensor as yours (the 60D is the same as the 7D, T3i, T5i, EOS-M, etc basically for ISO), here I'm using an EOS-M, again, same sensor as yours, same ISO performance:
ISO 12,800
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/q7BNBH IMG_7103 by
Martin Wise, on Flickr
ISO 12,800
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/x9Rff4 IMG_8153 by
Martin Wise, on Flickr
ISO 12,800
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/APVJzQ IMG_9135 by
Martin Wise, on Flickr
ISO 6,400
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/AFdu2P IMG_9172 by
Martin Wise, on Flickr
ISO 6,400
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/r4fzjR IMG_7076 by
Martin Wise, on Flickr
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And here's a 10+ year old 5D classic. This is an old, old sensor.
ISO 3,200 (this is H, expanded, maxed out)
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/yvmQWw IMG_5352 by
Martin Wise, on Flickr
Very best,
One of the best things ML has is the ability to show when the highlights are getting clipped, which is the biggest danger of using ETTR. After all, any data in the clipped portions of the image is lost and nothing can be done to recover it.
