Question on night photography

[Ktsa5239]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I was doing some night photography the other day shooting some city lights and stuff. And I opened up the aperture to the max at f2 and took shutter to 1/125 and auto iso. I was shooting hand held and the iso is hitting around 1600-3200. 

I’m just wondering would I get better results if I underexpose with a lower iso and brighten in post or would it be better to overexpose at a higher iso and lower it in post? what do you do?

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[overexposed]

i could be wrong, but usually a well lit high iso image looks cleaner than a pushed image

[SrMi]

In theory, increasing ISO reduces noise (given a fixed shutter speed and aperture). In practice, it may not matter, and increasing ISO risks blowing the highlights. Maximizing exposure (shutter speed and aperture) is what matters most. Using an ISO that is one (or two?) stop more or less than the 'metered' ISO should not matter much (except for blown highlights).

Edited May 10, 2022 by SrMi

[FlashGordonPhotography]

I beleive the M11 sensor (if shared silicon from the A7R4 as widely proposed) would be a dual gain sensor and not ISO invariant. It woud make sense then that if you used the two ISO dual gain levels and pushed in post you may get the same results as in camera, or better, but not at every ISO. With an ISO invariant sensor you could use any ISO.

Gordon

[Jared]

On 5/9/2022 at 8:12 PM, Ktsa5239 said:

I was doing some night photography the other day shooting some city lights and stuff. And I opened up the aperture to the max at f2 and took shutter to 1/125 and auto iso. I was shooting hand held and the iso is hitting around 1600-3200. 

I’m just wondering would I get better results if I underexpose with a lower iso and brighten in post or would it be better to overexpose at a higher iso and lower it in post? what do you do?

At those ISO’s, dual gain mode has already kicked in, so the camera should be nearly ISO invariant in this range. That means, shooting at the lower ISO and pushing should be substantially the same as raising the ISO. Keep in mind, dynamic range will be quite limited for either (compared to base), so make sure you bracket a bit for best results.