A Simple Explanation of ISO for Digital Photography and Video

In this video I give a basic explanation of ISO in digital photography and video. I explain why a higher ISO results in more noise.

• Category

  Education

[Sean Donner]

As an engineer, this is exactly the type of photography videos I was looking for. I have a few questions after watching this video. 1) Does ISO stand for the same governing body that defines the CD format ISO 9660? If so it seems odd to name a sensitivity level after the governing body. 2) Why don't cameras offer a 'black body compensation' feature where you put the lens cap on and have the camera record the crosstalk noise so that it can subtract this out. Seems a lot cheaper than shielding

[Dylan Bennett]

1) Yes, it does. And you are correct that it's odd, but as with many naming conventions, they have lazy backgrounds. (TWAIN? The interface to connect scanners and imaging devices... Technology Without An Interesting Name.) :)

2) As a matter of fact, they do have just that. It's called a Black Balance function. It's too lengthy to explain here, but the summary is that it mostly works well, but there are many, many factors that make it not a perfect way of negating sensor noise.

Hope that helps!

[Umesh Daundkar]

another gr8 video from you ... gr8 Thanks

[Geoff Sanchez]

Great explanation. Pitched very well and easy to conceptualize. The same can be said for your posts on depth-of-field and aperture/f-stop/focal length. I found them all very very helpful. Thanks

[liotube7]

it feels so good to understand this concept, thanks a lot

[aviator408]

Well done... I very much appreciate your explanation.

[gora92]

1)Yes 2)It can't work well briefly because the noise has a random behavior.

[Shreyans Shrishrimal]

Brilliantly explained. 

[Roman Skrada]

I disagree. What degraded high iso performance is thermal noise, which gets amplified along with the desired signal. This is unrelated to whatever interference there may be.

[Samapti Dastidar]

awwwsome video dude...thnx so much..

i ve jst prchsd d5100 n m a bit cluelss abt aprture, iso n evry othr this...

this really helps..(y)

[Kunal Bhardwaj]

Amazing Explanation .... exactly what i was looking for ..!!

Thanks ... one question though ... does interference is the only problem? or there are some more ??

[Dianne Coil]

You have a great speaking voice, you don't talk fast, pleasant to listen to. Your videos on F stop, DOF and this one are excellent. Thank you, thank you.