ISO Settings For Digital Cameras
I’ve been spending some time checking out all of the settings on my new Nikon D40 digital slr camera. What I’m basically trying to find out is which settings have the largest impact one overall image quality. One of the first settings I checked was the image size setting because the larger the image size setting, the more detail an image will end up having.
But let’s asume that you’ve already adjusted this setting to highest resolution possible and now you are trying to improve image quality even more. What I’m finding so far is that the setting that has the next highest impact on overall image quality is the ISO Setting.
What is the ISO Setting?
A digital camera’s ISO settings are used to adjust the light sensitivity of the camera’s image sensor. The less overall light you have for your photo, the higher the ISO setting needed. The more light there is, the lower the ISO setting needed.
The issue with higher ISO settings is that the higher you go, the more grainy or “noisy” the image will be. For this reason, it’s always best to shoot at the lowest ISO setting possible.
Differences in ISO Settings
To demonstrate the differences in picture quality at two different ISO settings, I took a simple photo of a green apple at an ISO setting of 200, and then again at an ISO setting of 3200.
ISO Setting Comparison - Full View
In the above sample, you can see that there’s not a great deal of image quality difference between the photo on the left at a 200 ISO and the photo on the right, shot at a 3200 ISO, but if you look closely, you can see the noise created by shooting at a higher ISO setting.
To really show this difference off, I took the original image and magnified it (see below).
ISO Setting Comparison - Close Up View
In this photo, you should see the difference and “noise” caused by the higher ISO setting at 3200.
In my camera, a Nikon D40, the ISO setting can be changed by going into settings, and then the “Shooting Menu” option. By default, it’s set to “Auto”, but you can change it to any ISO setting between 200 to “H1″ which is the setting I used for the 3200 ISO setting in the above images.
What ISO Setting Is Best?
With most Digital Cameras, you should have access to a variety of ISO settings. Typically you’ll be able to select an ISO of 200, 400, 800, 1600. The question, which ISO setting do I use in order to get the best quality image? The answer to this is fairly straightforward.., the best ISO setting to use is going to be the lowest available ISO setting for the available light you have.
The challenge though is that you won’t likely be able to shoot at night with at an ISO set to the lowest - 200 for example - because the camera light sensors need more light in order to capture your image.
Fortunately you have some options. The first option would be to set a longer exposure time (slower shutter speed). Another option would be to increase the aperture on your camera lens (the F stop settings). The third option would be to increase your ISO setting.
I’ll go into more detail about all these settings soon, but my main bit of advice today is to learn how to use the lowest possible ISO setting on your camera. You’ll get higher quality images if you do.
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