TLDR: In most situations I find that I can push up to 10,000 and get
usable images, particularly when shooting social or dance events
indoors. I'm much better off doing 10,000 without a flash than
annoying, or distracting, folks with a flash at lower ISOs.
Too noisy is very subjective and depends on the situation. I find the
noise at ISO 10,000 comparable to the grain on Tri-X.
I have found that I have lost far more photos trying to preserve ISO and
ending up at too slow of a shutter speed, or too narrow of a depth of
field than I have by pushing the ISO too hard.
I have found that with hard drives being under $50/terabyte, unless I am
shooting action, there is little downside to experimenting widely with
exposure particularly with "tripod shots".
There is also little downside to just going out and experimenting,
pushing beyond what I consider the limits of the camera to learn.
Also, as image processing improves, raw files that were too noisy a few
years ago can now be cleaned up quite satisfactorily.
I have found that with the iso-invariance of the cameras, bracketing ISO
has little benefit, unless I'm in danger of blowing out highlights. So,
if I'm bracketing I'm usually either in Av or M mode. As I think about
this, I may want to experiment again with bracketing in Tav mode,
because blown highlights tend to be the danger.
In good light, in auto exposure, I'll shoot at ISO 100 and Av mode.
If I can't get ISO 100, in auto exposure, I'll set the shutter speed and
aperture I need and take whatever ISO I can get in Tav mode. One time I
was doing this at a concert, one frame looked a bit grainy, but still
usable, and it turned out to be ISO 25,600.
Back when doing low light work with much older tech sensors, I found
that if something is noisier than I like, if I process in black and
white the noise just looks like grainier film, and is much less
objectionable.
Ken Waller wrote on 7/21/18 10:40 AM:
I almost never shoot above 400 ISO in my outdoor photography, a force of
habit.
For comparisons I shot some birdy images at the feeder and varied the
ISO up to 51200, same f stop with varying shutter speeds.
Surprise, surprise but I got very usable captures up to 25600, but not
so much @ 51200 - which produced a noticeable color shift.
A subjective evaluation that will give me a little more leeway in the
field.
Wondering what list members have found in this regard with their DSLRs ?
Kenneth Waller
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/kennethwaller
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