Photography Iso
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Photography Iso
What does ISO (in DIGITAL photography) means?
Hi,
I’ve lately being interested in the ‘advanced’ photography.
I know what is the shutter speed (the amount time that the camera lets the light get inside the photo).
On my camera (SONY DSC S70) I’ve noticed that the ISO is always 100, but the shutter speed changes.
I’m about to buy a new digital camera, and I’d like to know what ISO stands for, and why in higher ISO there’s lots of noise, what is the ultimate ISO for photographing in particular situations (close-up nature, buildings, moving objects (you’re taking a train and photographing out of the window)).
I payed my attention to Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 (new model should come out soon), if you got another suggestion (price should be upto 1,000 including the lens ((optical zoom should be x12 or more)).
Thank you freaking very much!
Arcady
ISO, in the photographic sense, is a standard measure of light sensitivity for your imaging medium. There are actually TWO standards to speak of (and before ISO became *the* standard, there were *other* standards, like ASA…but let’s not get sidetracked). Folks will always refer to “film speed,” which is a reference to the ISO standard for light sensitivity in *film* imaging, which technically not the right definition to refer to anymore. Actually these days, most people refer to *digital imaging* ISO, which is similar, but different than film ISO. The term itself–ISO–It’s really a shortened reference to the International Organization for Standardization’s, which documents hundreds of standards, not just film speed and digital still camera exposure index standards.
ISO earned the name “film speed” because a film emulsion that is more sensitive to light would require less exposure time to capture an image (or alternatively, a smaller aperture). A film that took less time to expose a shot was considered a “faster” film, hence, a higher ISO rating. Faster films were useful to shorten the exposure time necessary to catch low-light shots. But a downside to those film stock was that the grain of the emulsion was rather noticable in development–literally, bigger fatter crystals vs. slower film emulsions. You would get grainy pictures. If you ever shot an old b&W 3200ISO film, you would remember how grainy the images were compared to the same image shot with an ISO100 film.
The digital photography equivalent ISO standard is actually an entirely separate set of ISO standards. But it serves the same purpose–a method for assigning and identifying ISO standard speed ratings, ISO standard output sensitivity values, and recommended exposure index values, for digital still cameras. The ISO rating says that a given photosensor array, must be able to produce a particular image quality for a manufacturer to be able to say that it takes images at that ISO rating (technically called a “digital still camera exposure index”).
Unlike film, which is capable of working at only one ISO rating, photosensors are capable of operating at various ISO sensitivity ratings because their output signal can be electronically amplified. Is your sensor actually “becoming more sensitive to light?” No. You can’t change a sensor’s native sensitivity. You’re simply turning up it’s output signal, like you would turn up your radio if you could barely hear the station broadcast. So, when you set a digital camera to take pictures at an ISO1600 setting instead of ISO100, you’re telling it to amp up the weaker signal so that it will still produce an image of a particular light intensity given a specific amount of incoming light.
But here’s the key for you…just like film speed ISO, photosensor ISO loses image quality when you force the photosensors to work at at higher sensitivities and with less light.
The root cause isn’t emulsion grain (as it is in film ISO’s problems), but signal noise. Since you have less light to work with, the camera tries to “turn up the volume” to reach higher ISO sensativities, as if you were trying to hear a very quiet song over your radio. The “image signal” becomes more and more difficult to distinguish from the “static,” or noise. You’ll see mottled patchwork of variations in the color of a blue sky, for example, when in real life, the sky is a smooth blue color. That’s image noise, and it’s significantly more noticable in higher ISO settings.
There’s the crux of your answer.
When should you put it in high ISO?
If photodocumenting reality is your objective, the answer is simple: as seldom as you possibly can. Keep the ISO as low as possible to avoid unnecessary noise. This, of course, is only an issue when you’re trying for low-light shots without flash. You’ll find that in brightly lit scenes, or when using a flash, you can always stick to ISO100 or ISO80 (some cameras go as low as ISO 50). But when the lights dim, and you have an artistic preference for not using flash, that’s when you’ll have to start pushing the ISO up. What happens is that the shutter speeds start to get so long that you can’t keep the subject from blurring in the picture. That’s when you know that you’re going to have to push the ISO up. If your subject is inanimate (doesn’t move), then you can avoid pushing ISO up by putting your camera on a tripod, and use those longer shutterspeeds to get more light in the camera. But if your subject is moving, then you’ll have no alternative but 1) push ISO up, or 2) use a flash. If you use a flash, you’ll change the artistic impression of the shot. If you push the ISO up, you’ll concede image quality. Both are a mixed bag. One thing you could do if you had the option, is switch to a camera/lens that is capable of wider aperture settings, letting in more light. Lenses that can stop down to f2.0 or less are highly sought after for it’s ability to catch images in low light without going up to a noisy ISO.
There is one camera company (currently) that is changing the relationship between noise and higher ISO. To get to the higher ISO indexes, instead of just turning up the volume on a regular sensor, Fuji has put the work into developing a more sensitive sensor. Somebody smart is working at that company. They’ve been blowing away competition with their Super CCD sensor, by getting very low noise in high ISO shots, and as far as sensor technology goes, theirs is the best sensor out there to date. Personally, I hope to see other manufacturers follow its lead.
One last note regarding noise, and photography with high-ISO. It can be argued that *some* noise is not only an acceptable part of imaging, but can lend character that can add to an image’s artistic qualities rather than detract. Would old world-war II era photographs posess quite as much nostalgia if they didn’t have that grainy texture? That sepia tone? That point is of course debatable ad nauseum, when imaging steps away from photodocumentation, and into photography as an art form.
Photography Iso
ISO to use in photography?
Is there a specific ISO to use during photography?
For example : ISO 100 is for still-life [?]
And such.
Thanks.
Great question which deserves a thoughtful answer (which I hope to provide).
It would be presumptuous to label an ISO with a purpose as might be suggested by others in this forum and here’s the reason why I’m reluctant to do so.
ISO is a gauging of the sensitivity of light in film. It is replicated in part with the transition to digital only in it’s relative application to exposure conditions and, as such is a reasonable determining factor to consider in making a composition.
ISO really has nothing to do with the graininess of an exposure or image. Current technical limitations which are changing rapidly with noise management technologies do not change the ISO, only the handling of noise.
You, as the photographer are the determining entity of what ISO should be used in the design and purpose for the image you wish to produce and that is why I hesitate to apply a label to any specific ISO as a choice for any form of creative expression.
With this thought however, does come the recommendations of some ISO’s over others for specific forms of image creation. If the photographer wants to affect certain responses or get certain results to produce acceptable images, sacrifices are made. ISO selection is, along with aperture and shutter speed, among many decisions that are taken into consideration to produce an end result.
Naturally then, it would be reasonable to assume that to photograph sports action, you may want a faster ISO coupled with a faster light gathering lens to produce stop action results but this is not always the case. Let me give you an example to ponder.
Suppose you are in a marsh where a lizard makes daily travels across a small pond by running on top of the water to get to it’s usual hunting ground (a particular photo comes to mind). You could set up on a point with focus priority that you know the critter will cross using a high ISO like 800 or 1600 to stop the action with a wide open aperture of say f/1.4 giving you, according to the lighting available, a shutter speed fast enough to stop the action and produce a natural capture of an interesting phenomenon that occurs in nature.
Then again, to produce an even more dramatic image, let’s say you have the ability to mount a few strobes around that same crossing point which are linked to your camera and, since now you have additional artificial lighting to illuminate and stop the action, you might chose to use ISO 100 instead to produce a similar image with more dynamic impact.
Two different ISO’s used to produce the same results with slight variations in technique.
ISO is, like your aperture settings and shutter speeds, a tool of creative choice.
Everything in photography is linked… increase the shutter speed, open the aperture, use the same ISO; keep the shutter speed, close down the aperture, raise the ISO…. same results with compositional elements changing slightly (perhaps a slight and more desirable change in depth of field).
I hope I’m making my point and giving you more tools.
.
ISO
Im a beginner to photography – What does the ISO mean on my camera?
Ok, so recently i brought a Kodak Digital camera, But as i looked throught the menu, I wondered what “ISO” means?
A the moment its set to auto – what is it and what does it do?
Thankyou =)
The ISO number is how sensitive to light the camera is. It’s descended from film cameras, then it would be how sensitive the chemicals were. The higher the ISO setting the more light your camera picks up, useful for low light conditions. However, as the ISOs get higher so does the amount of ‘noise’ (visible pixels that aren’t supposed to be there) on your photos. It’s up to you to decide what’s a suitable level of noise and how sensitive you need your camera for each particular photo.
Camera Tutorials – ISO
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