meaning of ISO?

travcat

I know this is probably an incredibly dumb question, but what does ISO mean?
Thanks!
Catherine:dunno

gus

Its the film speed catherine. Remember back in the days when you bought a roll of 35mm film & it had number on it like 100 or 125 & you set the camera dial to that speed.

Thats why i love my 20D at ISO 3200. Makes the shutter go really fast in a dark room for example & the photo is still a keeper.

Gus ..whom really should not be answering even the most basic of tech questions.

gus

Or you can read Phils explanation. Not as technical as mine but still good reading.

wxwax

Good link, Gus, but hold back on the jargon, would you?

Trav, it's a way of making your camera more or less sensitive to light. A lower ISO means it's less sensitive. A higher ISO means it's more sensitive and is better suited for shooting in low-light situations.

On film cameras, as gus says, you had to change film to change ISO. On digi cameras, it's just a switch.

colourbox

travcat wrote:

I know this is probably an incredibly dumb question, but what does ISO mean?
Thanks!
Catherine

As far as what ISO actually means, and how it related to the old ASA, I dug up a thread (click here) on Google. ISO and ASA were standards bodies that defined exposure standards.

travcat

Thanks for the help - now I can feel like I know a little bit!!

Catherine:):

colourbox wrote:

As far as what ISO actually means, and how it related to the old ASA, I dug up a thread (click here) on Google. ISO and ASA were standards bodies that defined exposure standards.

luckyrwe

I still say ASA. I guess it comes with age. I also think f/2.8 lenses are slow, and 400 speed film is fast.

colourbox

I felt old the other day when I walked into the camera store to buy a pack of storage pages for negative filmstrips!