10/27/2018 What's the Highest ISO I Should Set?

| DSLRBodies | Thom Hogan

 Menu

Supporting the Nikon F-mount on the Internet since 1994...

What's the Highest ISO I Subscribe to RSS

Should Set? feed

Lately I’ve gotten quite a few “what’s the maximum ISO value I
should use on camera X” type questions. I’m not quite sure what’s Google Search

causing this, but I think it’s the wrong way to think about ISO. Web Search dslrbodi

The way to think about ISO is this: what’s the lowest ISO I can set
without impacting my focus (aperture) and motion (shutter speed)
decisions? 

The problem with low light and bumping ISO is very simple: the
randomness of photons is not your friend. Assuming a perfect
sensor (no read noise, no thermal noise, etc.), the noise level is still
the square root of the number of the photons converted. Capture
100 photons, you have noise of 10 and a signal to noise ratio of
10:1. Capture 10,000 photons, you have a signal to noise ratio of Complete Guide
100:1.  for the Nikon
D500
We don’t have a single camera on the market where raising ISO
doesn’t have clear image quality implications. Well, that’s not quite For 17 years, byThom
correct. The Canon 1Dx, 5DII, and 5DIII, and the Nikon D3, D3s, and has provided the best
D5 all have lower ISO values that are constricted by read noise, so books on Nikon
bumping ISO up above the base ISO to a modest level of 800 cameras, with the most
generally doesn’t have a problematic impact on visual quality on detail and clarity you'll
those models. So much so that I wrote in my book on the cameras nd. The #1 reader
that Auto ISO 800 is probably the preferred setting on a D3/D3s.  comment about Thom's
books? "Thom should

http://www.dslrbodies.com/technique/essays/whats-the-highest-iso-i.html 1/4
10/27/2018 What's the Highest ISO I Should Set? | DSLRBodies | Thom Hogan

And yes, some older cameras—particularly early Canon DSLRs— have written the Nikon
 Menu
tended to have razor-notched dynamic range charts where one manual [for that
speci c ISO value was better than the neighboring ones. camera].” 

Still, most cameras have a fairly linear relationship between ISO

D810/D810A Guide
and image quality now, and this is likely to become more and more
D800/D800E Guide
predictable as we move forward in the current sensor tech: ISO-
D850 Guide New!
less is the design mantra for CMOS at the moment. 
D750 Guide 
What happens is that as you boost ISO you’re essentially becoming D600/D610 Guide
enslaved by that randomness of photons. The more you push ISO, D500 Guide 
the more you see noise caused by that randomness.  D5 Guide New!
D7500 Guide New!
For almost two decades many of us shooters with technical
D7200 Guide
knowledge of how the photo-to-pixel transition occurs have fallen
D7100 Guide
towards de ning what I call Usable Dynamic Range. Bill Cla calls
D7000 Guide
his version of this Photographic Dynamic Range. His charts are
Nikon J1 and V1 Guide
easier to display here and prettier, so I’ll use his to illustrate the
Film SLRs
point.

Since many of these questions I’ve been getting center around Advertisement
recent cameras, such as the D500, I’ll use that chart here (use that
link I just gave and choose your camera of choice from the menu if
you want something di erent):

Other byThom
When you ask the question “what’s the maximum ISO value I can Sites
use on camera X” you’re really asking a di erent question that I
What's New:
can’t answer for you. That question is “what’s the minimum useful
bythom.com
dynamic range I’d tolerate in my image?” 

http://www.dslrbodies.com/technique/essays/whats-the-highest-iso-i.html 2/4
10/27/2018 What's the Highest ISO I Should Set? | DSLRBodies | Thom Hogan

Bill uses a slightly di erent way of testing than I do, and DxO uses Nikon film SLRs:
 Menu
yet another evaluation method, but we each have one important filmbodies.com
element in our calculations: what’s the output? Mirrorless cameras:
sansmirror.com
Here’s the thing: no matter how good the rear LCD on your camera
is, it will lie to you about “acceptability of images.” If you’re looking
Advertisement
at the full image on even the best 3.2” display, you’ve buried noise
so far by downsizing that you won’t see it. If you zoom in to 100%
view, you’re looking at pixels in a way you normally wouldn’t see
Firmware
them in a print (or onscreen, even on a 4K display). So as noisy as it
Updates
looks in the eld at the pixel level, it may be just ne for your Nikon D850 1.03 (Oct)
output. Canon 6Dm2 1.0.4 (July)

And that gets me back to why I can’t answer the question: (1) I don’t Nikon D5 1.30 (May)

know your output; and (2) I don’t know your tolerance for visible Nikon D4 1.11 (Feb)

noise.  Nikon D4s 1.33 (Feb)

Nikon Df 1.02 (Feb)
Personally, I try to gauge my own images based upon an implicit
Nikon D800 1.11 (Feb)
13x19” print (maximum size of the desktop inkjets, and bigger than Nikon D800E 1.11 (Feb)
most client requests for my work are used at). It just so happens Nikon D810 1.13 (Feb)
that my monitor, once I account for menu and scroll bars, etc., is
Nikon D810A 1.03 (Feb)
very close to what would be a 13x19” print, so Fit in Width works Nikon D7100 1.04 (Feb)
fairly well as a stand-in for making an actual print). I’m less Nikon D7200 1.03 (Feb)
concerned about luminance noise than I am about chroma noise
and loss of color delity (contrast changes). I’m willing to push my The camera data pages
cameras to ISO values just shy of where I see those last two things
(Nikon)(Canon) contain
clearly in a 13x19” print that I’m looking at from a slightly shorter current rmware listings.
than normal viewing distance. 
This list is for updates
But remember, low light is a very harsh mistress. I tend to like made in the last six
anything above a 60:1 signal to noise ratio. But in very low light I months.
may never hit that, meaning that random photons are driving the
propensity of noise and becoming visible. I’d love to make those
little buggers non-random, but unfortunately my hair isn’t as white
or unkempt as Einstein’s yet, and my brain lags further behind. 

Ultimately, this brings us to exposure, because that’s what

determines how many photons get to the sensor to capture.
Exposure is the amount of light in a scene ltered by aperture
ltered by shutter speed. ISO doesn’t come into play here. Light
ltered by aperture ltered by shutter speed.

http://www.dslrbodies.com/technique/essays/whats-the-highest-iso-i.html 3/4
10/27/2018 What's the Highest ISO I Should Set? | DSLRBodies | Thom Hogan

Thus, if noise is really the problem you’re trying to avoid, your best
 Menu
answers are not boosting the ISO. They are: (1) adding light to the
scene; (2) opening up your aperture to a wider one; and (3)
opening your shutter for a longer period of time. This is why many
collegiate and pro indoor sports shooters rig strobes in the rafters
of the arena (add light). That’s why pros like f/1.4 primes and f/2.8
zooms (don’t lter the light so much). That’s why it always pays to
know what the longest shutter speed you can set that doesn’t show
subject/platform motion is, and why IS/VR is valued when you don’t
have subject motion (also don’t lter the light so much).

So here’s the 411 conclusion, in order of preference for most types

of photography (some will ip 2 and 3): 

1. Boost light if possible.

2. Open the aperture wider until you hit maximum.
3. Lower the shutter speed until just before you have subject
motion.

At the end of this process and only then you have to consider ISO
boost (or underexposure, which does the same thing on many
cameras, at least if you’re shooting raw, which you probably should
be if you’re in tremendously low light).   

ISO boosts are a last resort. And whether you’ll like the outcome or
not is going to depend a lot upon how many photons got caught by
the sensor (and with smaller or older sensors, often how much
read and thermal noise is present).

 Oct 14, 2016 at 9:51 AM

text and images © 2018 Thom Hogan

portions Copyright 1999-2017 Thom Hogan-- All Rights Reserved
Follow us on Twitter: @bythom, hashtags #bythom, #dslrbodies

http://www.dslrbodies.com/technique/essays/whats-the-highest-iso-i.html 4/4