DSLR Training 7 - ISO and Noise/Grain

Basic Photography Tips - ISO's and Digital Image Noise

If you come from a film photography background, "noise" is what we used to call grain in our images. It came from using higher ASA (or ISO) films such as 400ASA...or from pushing exposures in the darkroom.

100ISO is the standard for most cameras (Nikon is ISO 200) and it generally produces clean, crisp, noise-free images. As you raise the ISO, more noise is introduced...particularly in the darker or more uniform areas of an image.

Many DSLR's these days can easily shoot up to ISO 3200 without introducing too much noise, if any, which is fantastic. The more pro DSLR's can produce usable images up to 12,800ISO and beyond.

I watched a film recently where a blockbuster Hollywood movie from 1997 had way more noise in it than even a cheap, bridge camera shooting 1080p video nowadays...cool!

What I am basically saying is that don't sweat a little noise or grain in your images unless you are shooting stock. It can even add to the overall look sometimes.

If you are shooting stock and want to reduce the noise in your photos, the noise reduction software mentioned in this video is Neat Image: