New Camera day 28 - Legoman gets close and personal with ISO

“Hi! It’s me again, Legoman” “ISO is fairly straightforward, so won’t keep you for long. The pictures say it all really, as the ISO doubles, the shutter speed halves. The ISO is the sensitivity of your camera sensor (or film) to light. The higher the number, the more sensitive it is, and the faster it can capture an image. This is useful at night when you don’t have a tripod or for fast-moving sports.” “The problem is that not every pixel is captured properly at a high ISO and this results in ‘Noise’ – the speckly, grainy dots that you can see. This usually isn’t wanted, unless you are aiming for grainy retro looking B&W images.” “The best things come to those who wait… so take your tripod!” All photos taken at f/11 in fairly low light & I reckon that it performs reasonably up to ISO 400 - then it goes pear shaped - what do you think?

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Comments

tootdood says:

I would agree with that jo, another excellent demonstration : )

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Seen on your photo stream. (?)
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Mojo... says:

Thanks Toot!

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Seen on your photo stream. (?)
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

i.rashid007 says:

Well I am your Student who is really enjoying these illustrations!!!

Great Work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Mojo... says:

Many thanks Irashid - glad you are enjoying them :-)
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

...the truth is hidden... says:

cool idea jo
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Zach_ManchesterUK says:

Jo - these are fab! You should do these as postcards or prints
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

bitrot says:

Another fab lesson there, Mrs 74! A friend of mine was just asking me about ISO, f-stops etc. yesterday so I'm going to send him your way. Have you thought about gathering these into a set I could point him at? (hint hint... ;-)
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Air Adam says:

Hooray for Jo and hooray for Legoman :o) Another crystal-clear explanation!
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Claire Howson says:

Clever little dude. Agree about 800 and 1600 speeds, though they are good for very low light situations.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Asim237 says:

Great lessons.... keep them coming in ..
I m learning cause i got this canon rebel xt abt 2 months ago and your lessons are helpfull...
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

djalpes says:

I love your lessons. Very constructive and funny at the same time. You're a perfect professor !
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

jonwild says:

I second that hooray! Another fine slice of edutainment (to steal Zach's phrase).

For my money 800 and 1600 are perfectly usable for low light shooting - you won't be able to make massive prints from them, but for web use they're fine and at least you'll get a shot in the bag which is better than nothing.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Mojo... says:

Thanks, Grazie, Merci, Danke, xie xie, koszonom, efcharisto, khawp khun kha!!!! I'm really glad if you are finding them helpful - I may continue with requests even afer the 30 days with my new camera set is done :-D

They are all in my 30 days with my new camera set, but i can set up a special set just for you as you asked so politely. Will call it "chuck out your photography books - the toys are back in town" or something similar...

The 800 & 1600 are cool for low light and of course this shot is heavily magnified. I would only change ISO as a last resort though to catch the pic - is that right?
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Mojo... says:

ps. I have a slight drought as far as toys go, no 7 year-olds here to poach from. I'm gonna have to buy some new props as lil' swimmer, George & Legoman have been seeking union advice about long hours.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

jonwild says:

I used to push ISO400 B&W film to 1600 all the time, because it does great things to contrast and grain, as you say. For digital I'd add any grainy look in photoshop, so yes I think you're right about it being last resort.

This is actually something Nikon does a bit differently to Canon. There's an auto ISO function where you can specify a minimum shutter speed (say 1/30th) and if it goes below that the camera raises the ISO by just enough to get the shutter speed back up to that minimum.

This is quite nifty if like me you are always forgetting to put the ISO back to 'normal' after raising it manually.

I mention this only in the interests of a balanced education for your viewers
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

wackocatho says:

yay!!! another lesson - you're tops miss jo - a fun and useful teacher, my favourite kind :D
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Mojo... says:

Thanks Jon - that sounds like a really useful function. I stupidly left mine on the wrong ISO for a bit in Wales & the shots looked rubbish. Glad to see you're still waving the Nikon flag against the growing numbers of Canonites in the Manchester group

*blushes*
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

bitrot says:

I meant to say, Jo, there's just one topic you haven't covered yet which I've been having trouble with. It's a bit hard to explain but I'll try. Basically, if I look through my camera then give the lens a bit of a twist, everything seems to come a bit closer. If I give it a really good old twist, everything seems to come a lot closer. And yet when I look up from the camera - and I know how weird this is going to sound - nothing's actually moved at all. ???

Any chance George or Legoman could nip down to the bottom of the garden and give us an idiot's guide to focal length?

Help me, mojo74, you're my only hope.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Mojo... says:

hee hee - thanks for the request! I still also have the metering lesson to do, which is proving quite difficult to do with the toys. They are demanding higher wages & equal rights, so until this dispute is settled they are on strike. When an agreement is reached, we will cover metering & focal length too
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

bitrot says:

Phew! Thanks Jo. Just don't take too long, will you? The Empire is closing in on our secret plans!
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

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Taken with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi.
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New Camera day 28 - Legoman gets close and personal with ISO

Comments

tootdood says:

Mojo... says:

i.rashid007 says:

Mojo... says:

...the truth is hidden... says:

Zach_ManchesterUK says:

bitrot says:

Air Adam says:

Claire Howson says:

Asim237 says:

djalpes says:

jonwild says:

Mojo... says:

Mojo... says:

jonwild says:

wackocatho says:

Mojo... says:

bitrot says:

Mojo... says:

bitrot says:

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Mojo...'s photostream

Chuck out your photography guides - the toys are back in town!!! (Set)

30 days with my new camera (Set)

Beginner to Intermediate Photography (Pool)

Canon EOS 400D (aka. Rebel XTi / KISS Digital X) (Pool)

My New Digital Rebel XTI (Pool)

Canon DSLR users UK (Pool)

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