ISO - [5 Useful Tips]

Understanding ISO is very crucial. In this video, I will give 5 useful tips about ISO.

My Channel membership is now open!

Timestamps:
00:00 ISO - [5 Useful Tips]
02:02 Tip #1 - Use as low ISO as possible
02:39 Tip #2 - Do not be afraid of High ISO
04:06 Tip #3 - Avoid the Extended High ISO
05:11 Tip #4 - Use Low ISO
06:39 Tip #5 - Use Auto ISO
08:58 Extra Tip #1
09:31 Extra Tip #2

Get a Hoodie!

The One and Only Lens Hoodie!

Want to learn more about photography or using your Olympus camera. I have coaching sessions available in my Webstore:

Videos on my channel:

Photography tutorials:

Best Settings for Olympus cameras:

OM-D E-M5-series:

OM-D E-M1 MKII:

OM-D E-M1 MKIII:

OM-D E-M10 MKII:

E-M5 MKIII:

E-M1 X:

OM-D E-M10-series:

M.Zuiko lenses I have tested:

Video about the future of the photo industry:

Disclaimer: I am an Olympus Visionary. I make all my content with mirrorless Olympus micro four-thirds gear.

Links to my Olympus gear (disclaimer: using these links when doing purchases, you support this channel. You pay the same price and I get a few bucks to finance this channel.)

_____________________________________________
This video was made with the following gear:
My video gear:

Camera:
Olympus OM-D E-M1 MKII

Lens:
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 17mm f1.2 Pro

Microphone:
Rode Wireless Go

Light:
Dörr flexible LED light

Memory card:
Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB

Tripod:
Peak Desing Travel Tripod

________________________________________

Links to my accounts all around the web:




#Olympus #PeterForsgard

(disclaimer: Some of the links above are affiliate links. Using these links when doing purchases, you support this channel. You pay the same price and I get a few bucks to finance this channel.)

[pasihuotari]

All videos are very good and easy to understand. Peter understands what is important on every subject.

[Rafaga]

Thanks for sharing your useful tips with us. Much appreciated...

[steliosrantos]

Thanks, very useful video. To change exposure in manual mode, hold down the exposure button and at the same time rotate the front wheel.

[richardpriestley]

Another great video Peter on a vital subject which very clearly explained the issues involved in maximising this critical area . Many thanks indeed.

[stephensinger]

Peter thanks for your videos. When I use manual exposure and Auto ISO on my E1M2 I can adjust the exposure compensation by using the front dial with the lever in position 2. This allows complete control of the exposure while maintaining constant shutter speed and aperture. Of course, the limit to over exposing is the upper limit of the ISO.

[Ed-bjeq]

thanks for those extra tips. Plus tip 3 about astrophotography seams really cool, going to try that 👍

[cselvang]

Hey Peter
When using auto ISO and manual settings you can set exposure compensation on a button. Hold down the button a turn the compensation wheel. You have the button on E-M1x and E-M1mk3.

[davidharrison]

Thanks for the video. Well I have done it and ordered the em1 mkiii and sold my other gear and I’m feeling very very nervous. 🤦🏻

[martynphillips]

With Olympus stabilisation of five stops the need for ISO has become less important. Back in the day when we had no IBIS we had to maintain a certain shutter speed to get sharp images, today we can shoot long exposures hand held. Especially with Olympus (best IBIS on the market) body's. ISO is a hang up from the film days, in digital cameras it's really a gain function and it's a real shame manufacturers didn't seize the opportunity to name it something new in the digital era. Amplify any signal and you will get noise. My M1 MKII does not perform well above ISO 1600 if you need to crop beyond 25% of the original image, though an in camera processed jpeg (I shoot raw) with Olympus noise reduction can yield good results. But you cannot put light where there isn't any! Use both ISO and exposure compensation to fine tune the exposure - they are not get out of jail free cards :)

[martingander]

Thanks you Peter very much for your Explanation of ISO and your practical tips!

[stuarthirsch]

In the old film world I used Kodachrome 64. Beautiful. I shot both film & digital in B&W. In the modern film world of B&W I use ISO 400 film and my digital is set my digital camera to ISO 400 for all exposures . Kodak TMAX 400 is my film of choice. Very fine grain at moderate speed. Much better than TRIx or Ilford HP5. Grain is almost unnoticeable for film shots, and noise unnoticeable for the shots at ISO 400 for 8x10 prints. This allows me to me to switch between film and digital without thinking about resetting ISO or even any camera settings.

[bpcs]

Great content all technically correct without going into tedious explanations... well done!

[MrXagirom]

Hi, peter.

As a Olympus user, your videos are really helpful!

I have a question about ISO in Olympus cameras.

Taking about total amount of noise, increasing ISO in camera is better than compensating in post production?

Increasing ISO 2 stops in camera and shooting in a RAW file, increasing exposure value 2 stops in photo editing software give us same results?

[crbhagwat]

Sir I am using m1 mkii for bird photography since last few months. But I want to know can we shoot in manual mode with auto ISO and still use the exposure compensation? And if so how to set the button? Thank you sir.

[LyndonPatrickSmith]

Great video. I hadn’t heard that astrophotography tip. Would like to try that out. I assume that’s for doing handheld Astro?

[marklaurendet]

Thanks for another good video.
You could expand on this one with a bit more detail and examples on those last few tips about auto ISO and shutter speed limiting. I could see that being useful in a number of situations.

[HilbertHotel]

Thank you! Didn't know about the shutter limit. With this in mind I maybe will give auto ISO a try for wildlife. I'll also try your other nice tip for astro 👍

[lensman]

I must thank you for pointing this farce that is known as ' digital iso ' out. The most important point for photographers from the digital era and photographers in general is to understand that a digital sensor has a fixed sensitivity and not variable ( unlike the good old films ). This sensitivity is called Quantum Efficiency ( QE ) and is a fixed value per wave length of light. This means that you sensor may have a QE of 55% as aggregate but it would have different QE for R, G and B portions of light. The QE can not be altered. So what is iso in digital cameras? To explain this we must understand how the digital sensor works. A sensor produces a current ( signal ) when a photon of a specific energy hits the photosite also known as ' well '. The higher the number of photons gathered in the ' well ' during the exposure the higher the electrical signal. The process up to now is surprisingly 100% analogue not digital. This signal is then fed to the sensor's ADT ( analogue digital converter ) and becomes a series of zeros and ones ( binary ) that the micro processors onboard the chip can understand and process. From here on you have a digital device. So what happens if your subject is dark and does not generate enough photons? The image displayed by your camera will be dark ( low signal ) and needs to be brightened up. This task is accomplished by a series of micro amplifiers onboard the chip and the digital iso is a measure of this amplification. The weaker the signal the higher amplification is needed ( higher iso value ) to display the image as required by the photographer. The term iso is a hark back to the film days and I believe was maintained to facilitate the transition from film to digital without introducing unfamiliar scientific jargons, for the sake of familiarity. The other parody is that high iso introduces noise. This is not 100% true. A noisy image is only the result of low signal ( dark scene, shadows etc ). Since the amount of noise produced by the sensor ( many different types such as fixed pattern, electronic, heat etc ) can be taken to be ' constant ' a dark scene ( low signal to noise ratio ) appears more noisy. When you up the iso you also up the amplification of the noise linearly in relation to the good signal and also do introduce a bit more electronic noise from the amplifiers. This is why upping the iso makes for a noisier image. The micro processors onboard the camera deploy clever algorithms constantly to massage the raw data and denoise it. So the only sure way of getting a clean image is to get more light onto the sensor ( bright subject, open apertures ). I cut it short here. Thanks again for bringing this taboo subject up. It may sound complicated and it is but it can only be good for photographers to get the best out of their equipment when they understand how it really works.

[GaryGough]

If ISO wasn’t the same standard then light meter manufacturers would go out of business! I use different cameras daily along with a light meter and they ALL TAKE THE DAME EXPOSURES. I understand there might be some very slight tolerances but that was the same with film.

[marklaurendet]

Could you do a white balance tutorial. I always use auto white balance but have heard for some subjects like sun sets to get the best colours you need to use a preset like cloudy or daylight. Not sure if that is correct.
Examples for when to use the different Olympus white balance options would be good.