We have come a long way with today’s cameras regarding noise and their ability to process and handle it. Nikon’s first digital camera, the D1, was 10.8 megapixels and seemed like a monumental step forward and was for the time. Early on in my photographic days, increasing the ISO was reluctantly done given the fear of noise in the photograph. That mindset seemed to continue into the more modern digital era but I am slowly coming around.
Being a photographer that loves to capture wildlife and moving subjects, some of which happens in situations of lower light, not to mention the use of longer super-telephotos, has led to my fair share of blurry subjects at times. I consider myself a convert and no longer fear cranking up the ISO to achieve desired shutter speeds and that has improved my overall success in capturing images I envision. I know longer worry about the dreaded “noise”.
What changed my mind?
What has swayed my thinking? The advent of modern cameras, especially mirrorless, now have insanely high ISO values that can be obtained with minimal noise reflected in the images. The other game changer that really changed my mind is how AI software can now deal with noise by completely erasing it with the click of a button. Noise now comes probably more from over post-processing trying to recover and image from an underexposed file where noise lives in the shadows.
The full frame sensor was another leap forward for dealing with noise. Full frame cameras sensors allow for more light to be gathered. Simple equation: better signal = less noise. Full frame bodies offer better low light sensitivity and make for the obvious choice if low light situations are a concern. However, are they absolutely necessary?
Strive for correct exposure
At the time of capture, do your best to get the exposure right. The less you have to do in post-processing, the better. Noise lives in the shadows and trying to make the exposure brighter and recover data is a sure way to introduce noise to an image.
Find your cameras sweet spot
Want to know how high you can take your ISO? There’s no substitute for shooting it at high ISOs, downloading to your laptop, and looking into the shadows. Want to know how high you can take your ISO? There’s no substitute for shooting it at high ISOs, downloading to your laptop or computer, and looking into the shadows. I have no issue shooting at ISO 6400 or even a bit higher to obtain an image.
Embrace the current tools
Today’s cameras have been a liberating breath of fresh air for someone like me that loved to shoot in the basement at ISO 100. No longer! Noise reduction software has grown up, and now, with AI working under the hood, we can work at higher ISOs than ever before, knowing there are excellent tools for cleaning up the details if things get noisy. It’s so much easier to focus on nailing my exposure and getting sharp photographs with the shutter speeds I actually need to freeze the action than worrying about how high my ISO is.
This is the main point of this post. I am not saying to not strive to get it right at the time of the click, but don’t be afraid of noise anymore. I have used Topaz AI and OnOne AI and both are good but my preference is Topaz AI. Most of these software companies allow you to do a free trial prior to purchase so you can see if it works for you.
The image above demonstrates the result of the Topaz AI denoise and sharpening. The one on the left is shot at 800 ISO and the one on the right was shot at 1600 ISO.
My preferred way to shoot is on Auto-ISO full-time now, allowing the camera to make those choices for me, keeping it low when possible and cranking it up when necessary. I manually choose my shutter speed and aperture and use EV Compensation to dial it all in. But I no longer worry about ISO, so go ahead and increase the ISO.