I.S.O. Problems And The Defintion Of?

Question

I have been reading in magazines that the higher the ISO, the worse the pictures come out in DIGITAL Cameras.

Also what does I.S.O. mean?

Answer 1

ISO stands for "International Organization for Standardization" (I know, the acronyms seem out of order.) The standard is known as "ISO 5800:1987" to define a scale for measuring film speed. In the film world, higher ISO means you can take photos in darker situations at faster shutter speeds. The tradeoff was that you get more 'grain'.
In the digital world, higher ISO also enables you to take steadier shots in a dark situation...but instead of 'grain', you get 'noise', especially in the shadow portions of your shot. Higher ISO enables you to shoot in a situation where flashes are prohibited. ISO 1600 can be very noisy; however, there are tools within Photoshop that can do a very good job of removing that noise. Apart from what comes in Photoshop, there are other independent tools like Noise Ninja and NeatImage (see link).
I avoid ISO's above 800 unless it is really necessary. Although you can confidently remove the noise, you seem to lose out on the range of color that is normally associated with lower ISOs.
If your camera has an 'auto ISO' function, the camera will aim to give you the lowest ISO for the situation (but still with enough speed for you to get a steady shot if holding the camera by hand.)

Answer 2

ISO is the film speed. It is the same on digital cameras and film cameras, 200, 400, 800, 1600. The higher the number the faster the camera can produce an image. Higher numbers are good for fast action or low light situations where a flash is not allowed. With a higher ISO grain becomes more evident. Think of grain as the pixels on your computer. When you make an image bigger and bigger you can start to see the pixels, this is somewhat what grain looks like, little dots of information. The smaller ISO has finer grain so smaller dots. Bigger ISO has larger dots. Digital cameras do not have worse pictures with higher ISO, Fast film just has grain.

Answer 3

The ISO is how sensitive the film is to light. The higher the ISO the less light is needed to take the picture. The problem is with digital the higher the ISO the more noise in the photograph, and in film the grain becomes more apparent. So it has its perks and its downfalls.

Answer 4

ISO sensitivity expresses the speed of photographic negative materials (formerly expressed as ASA).

Since digital cameras do not use film but use image sensors instead, the ISO equivalent is usually given.

What ISO denotes is how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light present. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the image sensor and therefore the possibility to take pictures in low-light situations.

And, where you would have needed to physically change to a different roll of film if you wanted a different ISO speed, digital technology allows you to simply dial one in. In this way, you can record images taken at different ISO speeds on the same memory card.

Answer 5

ISO tells you what speed the film is, or how sensitive the photographic image is. There's good news and bad news ... if the number is 400 or 800 for example, you can get good photos indoors and with little light. But the photos come out grainy. With numbers 50-100 for example, you can't get photos indoors, at all, but what it does do is to allow for crystal clear photos outdoors in the sunlight, beach, snow, etc.

Check out this website and it'll explain it all to you

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/iso-settings/