High ISO – Truth And Misconceptions

The ISO of your photo camera is the way the camera handles the light. If you set the camera to higher ISO the sensor of the camera will be more sensitive to light.
That’s exactly why customers are buying photo cameras with higher ISO. They usually want to take for example night pictures and this high ISO theoretically will allow them to do that. However the million dollar question is – will that high ISO really do the trick?
In 2005 Fujifilm offered on the market the photo camera model Fujifilm FinePix F10. It provided a way for the photographer to take pictures at ISO sensitivity of 800 and even 1600. This was new on the market of photo cameras and provided a way for very creative ideas for taking pictures like for example in high speed sports like races and many others. With high ISO sensitivity you can shoot on any place with low light without using a flash.
Before we begin further let me tell you exactly what is noise in digital photography. The noise is in fact digital errors – color inaccuracies which will reduce greatly the quality of your images especially if the noise is not handled properly. Basically the higher the exposure and the ISO is the more noise you get in the final picture. Temperature works against you too proving you with a hell of a noise if you shoot on a sunny day especially if there is haze all around you.
Now what can we do about all that noise? Well basically – almost nothing. However your camera may have some nice settings awaiting your attention. The first thing I will tell you about is the noise reduction. Every photo camera handles the noise differently but what you really need to know is that it is impossible to get rid of that noise completely. It is like the noise when you are listening to your beloved radio station – it is there but you may not be able to hear it.
That’s exactly the point – the noise will be there but you really don’t want to see it. Usually you can set your software to handle noise in a low reduction or high reduction. The low reduction will ruin your image but still it will provide you with some nice details. The higher noise reduction will of course ruin your image but it will make it look a lot smoother but with less details. It’s like in our daily life – we always pick the smaller evil, don’t we?
The bottom line – the compact photo cameras are indeed that bad. However let me light up your day a little. You can pick a digital photo camera with a good RAW mode and you can use some high ISO settings but you may need to set the reduction of the noise to a low degree. Then you can use your own ways of reduction that maybe will make your image look as good as you want it to be and will fit your needs.

Kalin Toshkov Staikov, 2007 ©