New camera: ISO important?

Janci · Jun 30, 2017

I am looking for a new camera (dsrl) and wonder if ISO values for the camera higher than 12.800 is necessary?
Most reasonably priced full frame cameras have values till 12.800 - 25.600 ISO.
The camera will be used for aquarium photography and outdoors.
Above question makes clear I am not a pro but want to make this a little more than a hobby.

Steve Ruddy · Jun 30, 2017

That's plenty for your needs. You would only need more if you were shooting at night or in limited light.

Pandy · Jun 30, 2017

You'll never be anywhere near those levels photographing a tank, and if you are, then the image quality would be shocking.

What you want to look for is how high an ISO the camera can handle before grain and detail distortion creeps in and starts to affect the image quality.

My old DSLR would start showing signs beyond 400, but my new one holds up well to 1600 but starts to lose it after 3200. Therefore I set my maximum ISO to 1600 and let the camera work out what's best based on shutter speed and aperture.

A little grain is easily remedied with a photo editing suite, but high ISO on a camera that can't handle it can be hard to correct.

Andy