M240 - what ISO do you normally use for daytime outdoors and why?

[kivis]

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I shoot 200 ISO outside and (now that I have the M-P 240), I shoot at 1600 inside.

Edited December 16, 2021 by kivis

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[CKPHOTO]

Another reason to keep the ISO at base is the higher the ISO, the less accurate color representation there is

[RayD28]

Varies between 200 or 400.  If I'm using 400 it's because I'm estimating exposure.  I generally use ISO 400 with film so using 400 digital is testing my Sunny 16 estimate.  

[pippy]

Base ISO with both 262 and MM (when possible).

Philip.

[lct]

Auto iso in M mode up to 3200 iso. 

[laowai_]

On 6/29/2014 at 5:31 AM, Jon Warwick said:

.... That might seem like an odd question. But for daylight, I'm thinking ISO 640'ish images on the M240 gave me a more pleasing image (for my eyes) than base/low ISOs. I thought the slightly added noise at around ISO 640 gave the image some "texture" and got rid of any plastic look that CMOS sensors can sometimes have ...... at around ISO 640, it seemed more film like because of this "texture" that got rid of a lot of the squeaky-clean-plastic-look of digital that I dislike.

 

Hi Jon, 

you are much more advanced in your photographic journey than I am. Usually I am more concerned about aperture than about ISO, the influence on the aperture is much larger than the effect of ISO setting as long as it stays within a reasonable range.

My approach depends on the subject but in broad terms I want to be somewhere around f/5.6 as a tradeoff between DoF and subject isolation. Depending on the subject sometimes more towards higher isolation, sometimes more towards larger DoF.

At base ISO 200 and in broad daylight that gives me a shutter speed of about 1/3,000 s, in shade somewhere around 1/360 s to 1/125 s. In short, in daylight I usually shoot at ISO200. 

If I'd go for the effect you describe I would choose ISO800 instead of ISO640. I don't want to think in 1/3 ISO stops. I can only set 1/2 stops for aperture on the Leica lenses and only 1/2 stop exposure time; ISO640 is too complicated for me. Then I would use a 2-stop ND filter (and step-up rings) to get into the f/5.6 aperture range...ND filters with the M I prefer to keep is simple. 

I am curious to understand how you handle ISO640 in daylight. Do you always close down your aperture are do you work with ND filters?

 

 

[Jon Warwick]

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1 hour ago, laowai_ said:

Hi Jon, 

you are much more advanced in your photographic journey than I am. Usually I am more concerned about aperture than about ISO, the influence on the aperture is much larger than the effect of ISO setting as long as it stays within a reasonable range.

My approach depends on the subject but in broad terms I want to be somewhere around f/5.6 as a tradeoff between DoF and subject isolation. Depending on the subject sometimes more towards higher isolation, sometimes more towards larger DoF.

At base ISO 200 and in broad daylight that gives me a shutter speed of about 1/3,000 s, in shade somewhere around 1/360 s to 1/125 s. In short, in daylight I usually shoot at ISO200. 

If I'd go for the effect you describe I would choose ISO800 instead of ISO640. I don't want to think in 1/3 ISO stops. I can only set 1/2 stops for aperture on the Leica lenses and only 1/2 stop exposure time; ISO640 is too complicated for me. Then I would use a 2-stop ND filter (and step-up rings) to get into the f/5.6 aperture range...ND filters with the M I prefer to keep is simple. 

I am curious to understand how you handle ISO640 in daylight. Do you always close down your aperture are do you work with ND filters?

 

 

Hi, thanks for your comment. This thread is now about 8 years old since I first posted the question, and I’ve certainly improved my post processing in the interim! ……so now I’m more focused on base ISO where possible, and adding some grain in PS to get to the look I’m after. 

[laowai_]

8 hours ago, Jon Warwick said:

Hi, thanks for your comment. This thread is now about 8 years  

Oh, no. I should have checked the date. I'll keep shooting the M240 for a few more year.