ISO or ASA, depending on what era you started your photography career in, has long been the topic of discussion for many photographers at events. First it was “What speed emulsion do you use?” in the days of film and now “How high do you have your ISO set?” in the digital era.
In my many years as a professional sports photographer, I’ve heard this conversation time and time again, from beginners to the most professional photographers in sports. In fact, it’s a sort of courtside “icebreaker” between everyone involved, similar to when you ask someone about the weather before asking the question you really want to ask.
I have never gone beyond ISO 2500 with all my professional cameras that I have been using for two decades. So my serious question is: “Why are we or the camera manufacturers so obsessed with the high ISO performance of cameras?”
The available light is the same today as it was when some of the masters of photography were shooting with ASA-8 film, so what is the fixation?
I remember many photographers shooting with Ilford’s Delta 3200 – a film stock that today is an ISO equivalent of 3200. In fact, I’ve seen many photographers shooting with that ISO and much higher values in the “dark”, but all I ever saw was a lot of graininess or noise in the images.
When the Nikon D3S came out, I remember a photographer evaluating its performance at ISO 10,000. Yes, there was a picture on the back of his camera and I nodded politely, but honestly, all I saw were pixels, no structure or shape.
Some of today’s best mirrorless cameras often have a native ISO range of up to 102,400 – or in the case of the Nikon Z9 and others, an expandable ISO range of up to a massive 204,800. In some cases even higher. And while I agree it’s remarkable to get an “image” that wasn’t possible before – you’ll only use it at 72 DPI in the newspaper because it would look terrible on anything but newsprint. Magazines are out of the question – believe me, I was a printer in another life.
The best camera deals, reviews, product advice and essential news from the world of photography straight to your inbox!
So if these images are terrible, why do most people resort to increasing the ISO of their cameras when the sun goes down or when shooting under floodlights?
I remember being in Austria at a CSI**** horse show. It was at night and indoors. At the time I was using a Nikon D2H – a 4 megapixel camera with a maximum ISO of 1600 (and believe me, they never pushed it that far!)
My colleagues and I all took great pictures. Why? I believe it’s because we all used fast lenses and camera techniques that allowed us to shoot at a shutter speed well below the “recommended” recommendation.
Early in my career, I preferred fast prime lenses and often used them in conjunction with a special Nkon 200mm prime lens with an f/2 aperture that produces stunning images even in the darkest places when stopped down to f/2.2 or f/2.8. I also used a huge Nikon 600mm f/4 – never once going above ISO 2500 – and then only when it was really necessary, which wasn’t very often.
Today, as photographers, we are spoiled with IBIS and VR/IS (which I never used). Back then, we used a bean bag to assist with shooting at show shutter speeds, we used breathing techniques and used our brains to stay as “quiet” as possible. I even remember holding my Nikon 200mm f/2 between two large advertising banners to keep it steady while shooting at shutter speeds of 1/100 sec.
Even with my beloved Nikon D800 when it was brand new (that was a while ago), ISO 2500 was the maximum I could handle. ISO 3200 just seemed like total chaos to me, and all these new cameras supporting ISO 50,000 within their native ISO range is mind-boggling to me – because I’ll never use it!
Maybe I’m extremely old fashioned, but the way I see it is that the old masters of photography shot with film at ISO 100 to 800, so why can’t I? I don’t need a huge ISO number to capture the image, I need a better understanding of how to use the camera.
