What is camera ISO? How to adjust the camera ISO for the best shot

If you own a digital camera, you can almost always change the active ISO at any time before shooting. So what is camera ISO? How to adjust the camera ISO for the best shot. Let’s find out with lassho.edu.vn!

What is ISO speed?

ISO speed is a widely used camera term. ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization , an organization that decides to standardize and rank sensitivity for camera sensors.

ISO is one of the factors that affects the brightness and darkness of an image. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the sensor is, which reduces exposure time. However, the higher the ISO, the more color and grain noise increases .

So the trend when shooting is to try to keep the ISO as low as possible. After opening the maximum aperture as well as reducing the shutter speed to the maximum allowed, but the image is still not bright enough, one must resort to increasing the ISO sensitivity , as a last resort. Take a look at the image below to see the difference between low and high ISO.

What is the meaning of ISO index?

ISO and image noise

Increasing the ISO speed has a downside. As sensitivity increases, image noise becomes more apparent, especially in darker areas . The photos can then be processed through the software, but not as smooth as expected.

Usually, the noise at a given ISO depends on the size of the camera sensor and its resolution in megapixels. The large sensors in mirrorless cameras and DSLRs produce much less noise than the small sensors in smartphones and conventional compact cameras.

Although grit often makes us uncomfortable, quite a lot of people like this element, even having to use editing software to create them, simply because grit also makes photos bring a bit of mood and memory. older old.

ISO and exposure

ISO is adjusted in steps that double exposure like shutter speed and aperture adjustment, allowing you to easily combine to achieve the same exposure.

For example, increasing the ISO from 100 to 200 will double the camera’s sensitivity, which is equivalent to increasing the exposure time from 1/60 second to 1/30 second, or opening the aperture from f/8 to f/ 5.6, each of these adjustments doubles the exposure .

The ISO value has been calculated over a standard range of values so that it is equivalent to doubling the amount of light or reducing the amount of light to half of the successive values.

Just like shutter speed and aperture, ISO also provides intermediate values, for example between ISO 100 and ISO 200 you can set ISO 125 and 160. Some cameras have ISO settings below. 50 , and up to ISO 12,800 .

How to adjust ISO to take the best photos

When setting up ISO, you should keep the following issues in mind:

• Lighting: Is the subject well lit?
• Noise: Do you want the image to have more or less noise?
• Tripod: Are you using a tripod?
• Movement: Is the subject to be photographed moving or stationary?

When to use high IOS:

If you are shooting in low light and without a tripod , you need to make sure that the shutter speed remains high enough to avoid the risk of camera shake. If you are going for a walk to photograph a street or city at night, for example in a public building or restaurant, you need to use a higher ISO .

Shutter speed is especially important when the subject is moving, because you’ll need a faster shutter speed to avoid blur, including shots of street performers and many indoor sports.

When to use low ISO

If you are using a tripod and shooting still subjects , you don’t need a fast shutter speed, so you can use a low ISO setting and this will give you the best image quality, including Includes landscape and night photography .

High exposure also allows you to capture subject movement, such as waterfalls flowing in landscapes or traffic roads at night, which enhances the quality of your images.

ISO is a very important factor to understand in photography if you want to create professional photos. Experiment with different ISO settings to get the right shots. Good luck!