When I first started shooting with my D200 4 years ago, I was amused with the AUTO ISO setting. I had thought to myself, “Why would I ever shoot at anything past ISO 400”? Above 400, the noise starts to show up. Unlike with the D70, the noise is somewhat bearable, but it’s still there, and very distracting. I tried without much luck to refine my shooting style, adopt better camera-holding techniques, or lug about heavy tripods. None of them work – especially the last one. Even when I’ve packed my tripod to come with me, it’s usually left in the car, due to it’s bulk and added weight.

As much as I hate the noise in the shots, I also hate discarding whole sets of shots because I was trying to compensate for a low shutter speed, and not doing a good job. The last panorama I shot standing on a parking deck in the Spice Souk of Dubai was ruined by motion blur. Without a $1300 plane ticket, there’s no way to shoot that again. And, honestly, my work isn’t yet worth that much money to take a single panorama.

The reason I bring all of this up was I noticed recently that I’ve set my AUTO ISO all the way up to 1600, and I almost never turn it off. Of course, if I’m shooting on a tripod at night, sure. Otherwise, I just leave it alone. The reason? A grainy picture is better than a blurry one. I can work with a grainy picture. I can’t fix a blurry one.