ISO

ISO put simply is the sensitivity of the camera sensor. It's another part of the puzzle to understanding the functionality of a DSLR. Don't worry about how it affects other parts of the puzzle, or how to compensate or anything like that. I will tie al the pieces in during a future blog post. For now, attempt to understand what it does. Below are some sample images taken at different ISO's. Observe what bringing your ISO up will to to the image. These images are straight out of the camera.

ISO 100

ISO 200

ISO 400

ISO 800

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 6400 f20 1/500

If you notice, the last two images are both at 6400 ISO. So why is one blown out (extremely bright) and the other look like ISO 200. Well that is because I pumped the Aperture up to f20 which makes the opening very small; letting in minimal light. Now we will leave these details to later but what I would like to point out in this image is the noise. For those who are unfamiliar, noise is that grain that can be seen in images, and is the downside to having a high ISO.

Hope this helps

Cheers