Today’s digital cameras are exceptionally good at high ISO. For those unaware, ISO can be understood as a measurement of the sensitivity of a digital sensor or film emulsion to light. The more sensitive, the more grainy or noisy, which degrades the image quality. My question is: why do our Fujifilm X-series models even have ISO 51200? Who would ever use it?
I remember way back in the film days that ISO 400 was considered to be “high ISO”—that’s what the “H” stands for in Fujicolor PRO 400H, actually. ISO 800 was largely used only if you really had to (or for the novice that didn’t know any better—Kodak made a lot of sales of ISO 800 and ISO 1000 film back in the day marketed specifically to the uninformed). ISO 1600 was basically for emergency situations. ISO 3200—the upper limit—was for the truly brave. The higher ISOs were more acceptable (and more widely used) for B&W than color, where the grittiness could be used artistically. Still, the rule of thumb back then was to always use the lowest ISO that you thought you could get away with.
Nowadays, with modern gear, I use ISO 800 without even batting an eye. ISO 1600 is more like how ISO 400 was back them—perfectly usable, but the high-ISO limit for some. ISO 3200 on my Fujifilm cameras is actually much more usable than ISO 800 film ever was—ISO 6400 is probably a closer parallel to ISO 800 film, yet cleaner.
For color photography, ISO 6400 is often my upper limit, but sometimes I’ll use ISO 12800, like with the GAF 500 Recipe. For B&W, ISO 12800 is often my upper limit; however, there are times when I’ve used ISO 25600 or (more rarely) ISO 51200, like with the Ilford HP5 Plus 400 Push-Process Recipe. I feel like ISO 25600 is probably the closest equivalent on Fujifilm X cameras to ISO 3200 with film.
The fact that I use ISO 6400 and sometimes ISO 12800 (particularly for B&W) without being too concerned about the quality is mind blowing. Even going back just 15 years… I remember accidentally shooting at ISO 1600 on my first DSLR, and the pictures were essentially ruined by it. ISO 800 was pretty much the upper limit for that camera before the image quality degraded too much. Some people probably don’t realize just how good their Fujifilm cameras are at high ISO photography.
Several people have told me that they avoid Film Simulation Recipes that use DR400 because the Dynamic Range settings are ISO-dependent, and DR400 requires a higher ISO than they are comfortable using. Everyone has their own tastes and preferences, but I would encourage anyone who is afraid to try higher ISOs to just give it a try and see what you discover. Don’t be afraid to bump it up a little.
On Fujifilm models that don’t have a dedicated ISO Dial, I will use the front Command Dial to adjust the ISO. The unfortunate aspect of this is that I occasionally bump the Command Dial, which changes the ISO—most often, to ISO 51200, which is the camera’s maximum ISO. I usually catch it right away, but sometimes it’s not until after a few exposures.
Whenever this happens, I wonder why Fujifilm even has ISO 51200. Why not top it out at ISO 25600? While ISO 25600 isn’t especially useful for color photography, it can be good for gritty B&W. ISO 51200 is marginal even for gritty B&W, and is pretty much unusable for color. And who needs ISO 51200 anyway? Certainly the situations are extremely rare where ISO 12800 is too low, let alone ISO 25600.
Just recently, though, I had a change of heart. Actually, I had an epiphany: ISO 51200 on Fujifilm is a lot like Kodak Kodacolor VR 1000 film. When Kodak released that emulsion in the early 1980’s, it was the highest ISO color film available. However, the pictures were quite grainy and textured, and the film was shunned by most “serious” photographers at the time (and discontinued after just four years). Nowadays, there are actually some people who search out the film (which has long since expired), and shoot it for its aesthetic. Instead, they could simply use ISO 51200 on a Fujifilm camera and get similar results. You won’t want to print very large, but for web use or small prints, it’s surprisingly fine.
Below are some pictures that I captured recently using ISO 51200 on a Fujifilm X-T50. It began as an accident, but then I did it on purpose. The “Recipe” is a modification of an upcoming Film Simulation Recipe that I’ve been working on. Most of the pictures below are the Nostalgic Neg. film simulation, and one is Eterna. Those two film sims seem to be the best for ultra high ISO color photography.
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Fujifilm X-T50 in black:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Wex, Nuzira
Fujifilm X-T50 in silver:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Wex, Nuzira
Fujifilm X-T50 in charcoal:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Wex
Could you share those eterna settings they’re beautiful
It’s an upcoming Recipe, just with Eterna instead of Reala Ace… 😀
I once took my X100V to a local jazz performance in a very small venue. It was dark, and I certainly didn’t want to ruin the mood (or distract the musicians) with flash. I shot a B&W recipe, both because of low light and because jazz looks better that way. My Auto ISO maxed out at 12,800 which didn’t do the trick, so I manually jacked it up to 25,600. No problem. Then I started getting some motion blur so I went up to 51,200. Those photos are absolutely wonderful, and the band loved them, too. However, gritty black & white photos work well for jazz, but not for everything, so I’d say, it really depends on the subject matter.
Great experience and totally agree: all depends on the subject being shot.
It’s a possibility, not a general rule / dogma.
Matter of (personal) taste and aesthetics.
Awesome! So glad that it worked out for you. I agree: the subject can make all the difference.
Haha ! Another interesting subject / post Ritchie 👌👍
Congratulations and also on your change of heart.
I’m welcoming you to the High ISO world like for the Infrared one 😉
Coming from film, I used a LOT the Fujifilm Superia 1600 in colour and the Ilford 3200.
The Ilford 3200 was even my preferred BW film when going high ISO / night shots.
Matter of taste but more so an aesthetic choice but also technical not having at the time the possibility to use a fast and thus costly + heavy lens…
Therefore I NEVER had ANY concerns what so ever on my digital Nikon (the D3S was especially good in high ISO at the time) and more so now with my Fujis since the X-T1 to go all the way up and beyond!
Of course the sensor tech is critical along the processing algorithms. And having bigger pixel is must like on the GFX system…
And with the Fujis thanks to their X-Trans sensor along the special conversion + algorithms Fujifilm uses, they do produce as many wrote, a film / organic like aesthetic.
So why not using the facility !!!
Basically I’m a grain / ex-film lover. Also why I choose Fujifilm for this particular rendering.
So I love using the on-board grain functionality too when it appeared 😉
Hence my default auto-ISO setting go up to the maximum (for the moment 6400) and I do not hesitate when in need or by aesthetic choice to go up to to the “roof” even when using the “One” (XF 50/1), especially for my night shots. Both in colour and BW.
More so in BW in my night shots I must admit as indeed in colour you will run to the extreme many times.
But even in BW I can add on-board grain, so to ‘mask’ the digital noise produced.
For exemple for my Ilford 3200 recipe, I put DR400%, starting base ISO at 3200, strong grain…
And of course, cherry on the cake, I’m doing all this in SOOC jpg with no post-editing / or using dedicated software for reducing the digital grain produced….
I might be considered as mad man, but common, it is the same silly discussion as doing SOOC jpeg!
My question is : will like FF over APS-C or doing SOOC, doing high ISO will take another 10 years (and with further technical achievements) to be recognised as ‘normal’ / acceptable ???
Well, you know what ? I do not care much. I’m simply enjoying using the possibility, having fun and be creative with it.
That’s awesome! If you are a madman, then I’m happy to join you in your “madness”!! 🤣
More than welcome Ritchie 👍👌👋🤣
Just to add that this (very) high ISO philosophy, is mainly du to one of my major creativity constraints I set to myself, among being light when possible + use only 1 lens during a shooting session (more 1 or couple of equivalent film room of 36 exposures), is that since quite a very long time I’m shooting everything handled.
My tripod is only use for my very long and heavy lenses which over 200mn / astronomy observation.
Hence when with a slow lens, well you need push the ISO, my nightshoot are all handled, so IBIs is a big plus but all also very high ISO so to freeze moving object, unless you want effects, during concerts, etc…
On those case you learn to use high ISO, it’s organic ‘grain’ with the Fujis.
I would say Ritchie I really love your pictures shown in this post. Very good demonstrations of what aesthetics dcan be achieved straight out the box with a Fuji 👌👏
Congratulations again.
Much appreciated! 😀
I also like to be light whenever possible, so I definitely understand.
I can’t believe I did exactly this a few days ago and also by accident. I had knocked the ISO on to 51,200 and didn’t know.
The pics I took (only about 5 before I noticed the mistake) all came out very good with any noise still being fairly good to look at. The shutter speed was very fast due to the very high ISO, which I guess helped to keep them sharp and they looked a lot better on the computer than I thought they would.
Maybe I won’t be so worried about increasing the ISOn a bit from now on. I do try to keep it very low usually.
It’s not quite a happy accident, but there’s definitely a silver lining, and discovering it is a bit liberating, knowing things aren’t so bad if you have to go higher. Thanks for the comment!