What ISO i need to set for taking pictures at night on my DSLR?

Question

how do I set my camera when taking pictures at night like city landscape etc. I am confused which ISO I have to se in different lighting conditions. Please help.

Answer 1

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Using the highest ISO settings will result in a grainy picture.

How you set up the camera will depend on the type of scene and whether there is any action in the photo.

Suggestions:

Use a tripod or brace the camera against a fixed object.

Use a shutter cable release.

Consider image stabilized lenses to minimize shake in the picture.

If the foreground is important, use the "night mode" that is available on most cameras. It will fire the flash to expose the foreground, then leaves the shutter open a bit longer to burn in the dark background.

If there is a lot of action, you could take advantage of it by taking a longer exposure at a slow ISO to get dramatic effects.

Another factor - It is true that using a fast (high) ISO setting will result in a grainy, noisy photo. But taking a long exposure with a digital camera will also introduce noise.

The best bet, since you are shooting digital, is to experiment and take a lot of shots with different settings and chose the one that works best for what you want to achieve.

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Asker's Comment:

Many thanks. Your anwser helped me a lot in what I needed to know. All the best.

Answer 2

if you set your ISO settings higher, there would be more noise... I like ISO settings low. coz the lower the ISO the better the quality. I suggest you use a tripod and use bulbing, instead of adjusting your ISO.

Answer 3

The higher the ISO the better if your camera goes up to ISO 1600 use 1600 if your in brighter lights use a lower ISO e.g. 200 if your in very bright light

Answer 4

Most DSLRs have an AUTO setting for ISO which gets its right most of the time. Many also have a mode setting for night time work. If you want do do it all manually, you can get away with a low ISO setting (100 - 200) for night shots if the camera is firmly anchored to good tripod - The exposures will be LONG. Increasing the ISO to the top end (1600 or 3200 on some) will give you 'noisy' images (graininess and speckles). A lot depends on the type of subject you are wanting to photograph so it is hard to be specific about what would be right for you. Personally, I'd try 'AUTO' with the camera on a good tripod.

Answer 5

I prefer to use a lower ISO, like around 400, because there's less noise. But that means longer exposure times.

If you want to click and shoot and not use a tripod, set it higher. Your pictures will be grainier, but you'll not have to have such long exposure times, less motion blur and shake.

It really depends on what you're aiming for, I guess. Go to Deviantart and look at various night photos. Many of the pics will have what ISO and exposure time they used, so you can see how they get their effects.
http://castortruant.deviantart.com/art/T…
http://castortruant.deviantart.com/art/U…
http://castortruant.deviantart.com/art/L…

Answer 6

Keep the ISO low to minimize digital noise.

But this means the exposure will be quite long--a few seconds or more, so you will need a tripod. Don't use flash. It won't go very far.

I wanted to capture standing people (the left upper photo), so I increased it to ISO 500 and the exposure was 1.5 second.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c317/w…

Forgot the cable release - so I used the self-timer.

Canon 5D with Canon 16-35 mm f 2.8 L and Canon 100 mm Macro f 2.8



http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c317/w…

Answer 7

The lower the ISO they less "grainy" your photos will look. At night, a higher ISO is not good. You will always get the grainy look. It makes the pictures fuzzy and not clear like you want them.

Answer 8

If for some reason you can't use a tripod, by all means jack up the ISO as high as you can. After all, a noisy photo is better than the blurry mess when trying to handhold your camera at night with the ISO set to 100.

If, on the other hand, you can use a tripod, or at least set the camera on something sturdy, keep the ISO as low as reasonably possible. This will allow you to get sharp photos of stationary subjects while keeping noise to a minimum.

One final thing-if you're taking photos of moving objects and you want them to be reasonably sharp, you'll need to use a relatively high ISO even in combination with a tripod/sturdy support.

Answer 9

use a tripod, a cable release

i use 100iso 99% of the time for my city nightscapes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martini2005…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martini2005…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martini2005…

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Answer 10

400 MAX. Also use your tripod and remote release. I have just taken some of Christmas lights etc at 400, with a shutter release of approx 5 secs, at a range of f11-16 with no problem. If you want to see some, e-mail me.

Good luck.