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CHAPTER
NIGHT AND LOW-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY / All About Light and Exposure

Not all camera sensors are created equal when it

comes to high ISO settings and digital noise. The

sensor, electronics, and software built into each

camera model deal with noise differently, and as

technology improves, so does the high ISO/low

noise capture ability of the cameras. Camera

manufacturers have created cameras that can use

ISOs previously unimagined, and while these

incredibly high ISOs can still have a great deal of

digital noise, the quality of the images captured at

the high ISOs (1600, 3200, and even 6400) has

increased dramatically as well. For example, the

Nikon D2X pro-level camera was released in early

2005 and had a maximum ISO of 800 with the

ability to shoot at 1600 and 3200, but those set-

tings were so noisy that they were called H1 and

H2. The latest Nikon consumer camera, the

D7000, has a high ISO setting of 6400; it still has

high ISO settings, but now the H settings repre-

sent an unbelievable ISO 12,800 and 25,600. It is

now possible to shoot at ISO 1600 and get images

with noise levels that just a few years ago would

have had to be taken at a much lower ISO.

With all these advances in high ISO capability,

the real test of what is acceptable digital noise is

what you find acceptable in your own photogra-

phy. When it came to photographing the marine

in Figure 2-9, I had the ISO set to 1250, and

while there is noise present in the uniforms, it

isn’t bad enough to render the image useless. I

could even apply noise reduction in post-process-

ing to clean the noise up.

about shooting in conditions where there is not a
lot of light, choosing the best ISO setting is really
important. You control the ISO through a menu
setting on your camera. Figure 2-8 shows the ISO
choices available on my main camera; your menu
will look similar. The ISO settings available to
you will depend on the make and model of your
camera.

For a more detailed look at working

with ISO, see Chapter 3.

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ISO sensitivity settings

ISO sensitivity

500

640

800

1000

1250

1600

2000

OK

ABOUT THIS FIGURE The ISO choices on my camera.

2-8

With digital cameras, you can change the ISO
whenever you want, and many cameras now have
an Auto ISO setting where the camera not only
adjusts the shutter speed and/or aperture to get
the proper exposure, but also adjusts the ISO.
This enables the camera to choose a shutter speed
high enough to freeze the action and an aperture
with a deep depth of field to show everything that
is captured in acceptable focus. However, the
result of this feature can be a lot of digital noise
in images when you weren’t expecting it.

Noise reduction is covered in

Chapter 11.

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