Recently I bought a digital camera with ISO 3200. What is this ISO and what is its significance?

Zbeckabee

ISO sensitivity expresses the speed of photographic negative materials (formerly expressed as ASA). Since digital cameras do not use film but use image sensors instead, the ISO equivalent is usually given. What ISO denotes is how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light present. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the image sensor and therefore the possibility to take pictures in low-light situations. And, where you would have needed to physically change to a different roll of film if you wanted a different ISO speed, digital technology allows you to simply dial one in. In this way, you can record images taken at different ISO speeds on the same memory card. http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_iso.html Mar 25 10, 10:59 PM

Watchkeeper

ISO is the International Standards Organisation, the world's largest developer and publisher of International Standards. Not only does it set standards in photography (as shown above) but in may other fields also. Because "International Organization for Standardization" would have different acronyms in different languages ("IOS" in English, "OIN" in French for Organisation internationale de normalisation), its founders decided to give it also a short, all-purpose name. They chose "ISO", derived from the Greek isos, meaning "equal". Whatever the country, whatever the language, the short form of the organization's name is always ISO. http://www.iso.org/iso/home.html Mar 26 10, 6:12 AM