ISO help

Can I get some help with ISO selection. I have read about and understand the relation between ISO, SS and Aperture. I read Understanding Exp and get the similar ideas about how it works. Where I am struggling is when to choose what. I believe it was in Und Exp he said he takes just about everything @ 200. Is that what you guys are doing? I know experience means a lot but not a lot here. Thanks

Just choose an aperture for the Depth of Field you want, set a shutterspeed that allows you to hand hold or, when on a tripod, that will freeze the motion of the subject (or not, if that's what you want).
Set an ISO that gives you correct exposure.

If there is no ISO that will give you correct exposure, go back to step one and alter your settings (or alter the light: flash, ND filter, whatever).

Mostly 400ISO is my standard setting,, I shoot street candids/documentary photography..

I always select the ISO setting to suit the subject/lighting conditions then shutterspeed then aperture.. I mainly shoot in manual mode..

200 ISO by default, I usually raise it to 800 or 1600 ISO when trying to shoot indoors without flash.

I shoot at the lowest ISO that will give me a useable shutter speed for the aperture I want.

ISO is my last setting. I always choose my aperture first, then shutter speed, and then I select the proper ISO. It really depends on what you are shooting and how the lighting is. May I ask what camera you have?

midnight_rider wrote in post #5944413
ISO is my last setting. I always choose my aperture first, then shutter speed, and then I select the proper ISO. It really depends on what you are shooting and how the lighting is. May I ask what camera you have?

Thats pretty much my routine except that aperture and shutter speed can change places depending on the effect. Actually, usually I am more concerned with shutter speed first, then aperture but in either case ISO comes last.

rhodesx6,
I do it the same way rral22 does it

rral22 wrote in post #5944406
I shoot at the lowest ISO that will give me a useable shutter speed for the aperture I want.

It depends entirely on what you're shooting. I use ISO 1600 about 90% of the time, because I'm typically shooting low-light action and that ISO is what's needed for decent shutter speeds. If I'm using flash indoors, I usually go with ISO 800. If I'm shooting outdoors, I typically start with ISO 200 and adjust upward or downward based on cloud conditions, shade, and such.

midnight_rider wrote in post #5944413
ISO is my last setting. I always choose my aperture first, then shutter speed, and then I select the proper ISO. It really depends on what you are shooting and how the lighting is. May I ask what camera you have?

40D

It really depends on what you are shooting, how long you can hold the camera still (whether in hand or, better, if you have a tripod), and how much noise you can personally stand in your images prior to post production. For example, I shoot landscapes mostly and spend most of my time at low ISO setting (the 30D only goes down to 100 ), but I am also using a tripod much of the time and am using mid to high F# and longer exposures to maximize depth of field.

Recently, my tripod was stolen, so I have had to do everything handheld (which is really annoying after using a tripod for so long). So now, I use a lower F# and a higher ISO setting to get a exposure that is not too long for my hand to hold still and still get decent sharpness in my pictures. In reality, it's all give and take.

Best of luck.

John

I shoot 100 until my shutter speed drops below a level i feel comfortable - mostly shooting in AV mode.

It's mainly ISO 200. If it's indoor shoots, I pump up to 1600. If I can use flash indoors, it is either 200 or 400.

As mentioned, it's usually the last thing I adjust. But I generally know what to set it to based on experience. Here are some examples with my XTi..

ISO100= outdoors bright sunlight (when ISO200 is overexposing at fast aperture)
ISO200= my general outdoor setting
ISO400= outdoors in lower light, faster shutter speed for my telephoto. Indoors with good light, indoors low light with flash in M... etc
ISO800= indoors low light with or without flash
ISO1600=indoors low light no flash (I only use it when I have to)

These are just some examples that come to mind. There are exceptions and different circumstances that I might use differrent ISOs. If I am shooting handheld or with tripod for example. I mostly shoot in Av mode or M.

rhodesx6 wrote in post #5944899
40D

Well then feel free to play around. My 40d has very low noise all the way up to 1250 ISO.