What ISO to use??

I have been using the AUTO setting for my ISO. I am trying to go totally manual and was wondering what ISO I should use for interior and exterior shots. Is there a rule of thumb of just trial and error??
Thanks, trying to learn as much as I can before I move up to the Nikon D300.

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Nikon D300, D3s, Nikon 10.5 lens, RingT105N+Footplate+MrotatorTCPs, Giottos MT9261 Tripod, Manfrotto 410 Jr geared head.

If you know the "secret" then everyday is a good day!

I have found the D300 is excellent at up to 800ASA showing very little noise. However if you are shooting interiors on a tripod there is no need to move away from 200ASA unless you were getting very long exposure times - like several seconds.  If that the case I'd kick it up a notch to 400ASA and if that's not enough then go to 800ASA. There is almost no need to go below 200ASA. The AUTO ISO setting should not be used. Think about buying Thom Hogan's 700+ page ebook on the D300 - well worth it. Go to www.bythom.com

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Another thought Jerry is to buy Neat Image for noise reduction. Can be used as a Photoshop plug-in.  Noise builds up quickly in HDR images and that might be what you are seeing. Could you not get away with 3 exposures each 2EV apart instead of 5 1EV apart? Do you shoot in RAW format?

If $100 is for all 5 tours of a property then that seems very low for the amout of time involved.

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Thanks for the comments and help. My equipment states that I am using the Nikon D300 & 10.5 lens. However, I was using the Nikon 8700 set-up when these were shot. I have since moved to the D300 and am now in a new learning curve and taking some lessons from Smooth, which I can highly recommend. I'll have a look at that E-book Peanut and thanks.
I know $100 is cheap, you said all 5 tours, there are actually 10 tours in that one. I also provide a branded and a unbranded version with a .swf intro. Also included is a .swf slideshow of the stills I take and posting to Realtor.com. Of course I don't have to depend on this for a living or I would be in trouble. I only do this for agents in my office. If I can ever get up to speed with the D300 I hope to move on to bigger and better things in this line of work.

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Nikon D300, D3s, Nikon 10.5 lens, RingT105N+Footplate+MrotatorTCPs, Giottos MT9261 Tripod, Manfrotto 410 Jr geared head.

If you know the "secret" then everyday is a good day!

I also have had a D300 for about 2 months now.  Just back from a 2 week (2,000 shots/30+ gigs) photo trip in Arizona putting the camera through its paces. Love it even more. Thom Hogan's e-book is a "must have". Check his website out as see all his reviews - he is the Nikon guru. www.bythom.com

Just out of interest, how many hours does it take you to create 10 tours for your fellow Realtors? Shooting time & processing time must be a full day's work?While I am still learning to use the software it seems to take me up to an hour just to get one tour to stitch together.

I am building a website for pro photography and will be offering Easypano tours as well as lower priced conventional type VT's. You are well ahead of me so hope I can learn for your experiences.

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Generally speaking, lower ISO = better image quality. For shooting panos, 100 or 200 will be best. However, newer high-end DSLRs have come a long way in reducing image noise with higher ISO. If you are shooting still shots with a flash, 800 ISO is fine.

Know your camera - Set it up on a tripod and take the same shot with all the ISO settings on you camera... Look to see where the quality starts dropping off and there you go.

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Will Best
Virtual Impressions Inc.
Real Estate Virtual Tours and Floor Plans

Thanks, I used 50 on my last tour and the panos seemed to be some what grainy, but the stills came out beautiful. I just did another tour and used 200, I'll see how that comes out. I never use a flash with any of my work.

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Nikon D300, D3s, Nikon 10.5 lens, RingT105N+Footplate+MrotatorTCPs, Giottos MT9261 Tripod, Manfrotto 410 Jr geared head.

If you know the "secret" then everyday is a good day!

On my Canon 5d  I can set the ISO to 50 for no noise which relates to better image quality.

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/s/
Dave
Forum Moderator for
EasyPano - Panoweaver
Pano2VR


Visit 360texas.com

it should be noted that the IS0 50 on the canon eos 5D can only be enabled if you extend the iso possibilites using the menu (it mean you can go from iso 50 to 3200 otherwise the iso starts at 100)

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Thanks I'll go back and try 50 again. The tour I shot at 200 had the same grainy problem. Not sure what the problem is. Hope to get the D300 soon.

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Nikon D300, D3s, Nikon 10.5 lens, RingT105N+Footplate+MrotatorTCPs, Giottos MT9261 Tripod, Manfrotto 410 Jr geared head.

If you know the "secret" then everyday is a good day!

Quote: Originally posted by realtor jerry on May-29-2008

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Thanks I'll go back and try 50 again. The tour I shot at 200 had the same grainy problem. Not sure what the problem is. Hope to get the D300 soon.

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Jerry,
I shoot with the lowest ISO setting I can with the Canon 350D, which is 100. Can you post an image of the ISO 200 shot so that we can see? Is the noise coming from an underexposed shot? I recently had a shot loaded with grain/noise and found it was due to an extremely underexposed shot.
Thread Can Be Seen Here

Just a thought
pixel

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