Re: ISO for beginners

Didn't you already talk about it in your proposed language?

My position is that I see peer-review articles on this and similar subjects, in-depth ones, well-structured, easy to understand yet without any factually wrong shortcuts; and the Beginner's Questions discussion is where the beginner's questions are answered.

Let's keep it simple:

The lower you can get to base ISO (typically ISO100) for your camera the better. You'll maximise DR (dynamic range) and lower the noise in your image. Because you're using your sensor at it's optimal settings. ENDS.

The reason I simplify this is that such threads are aimed at beginners. And getting too scientific will confuse that audience.

Remember folks, threads like this are there to inform the target audience. In this case beginners. It's not to get into scientific minutiae that scare such folk away......

The higher the better, actually. Of course, that needs a context but so does your statement.

This puts the cart before the horse. The more photons you can get counted the better. You'll maximize DR and lower the noise in the image.

Simply setting the camera to base ISO and leaving the exposure the same as it was at a higher ISO won't help the DR and the noise, unless the high-ISO exposure was already clipping.

I think that the CFA is in front of each photosite, and that pixels are a construction of the neighboring photosites to arrive at a more precise RGB value for that physical space in the frame.

I'm thinking the purpose of this thread in particular is to fine-tune whatever becomes the default explanation used at this website. I also think this would be a useful way to proceed with all the topics we want to include in a DPR Beginner's Primer.

And clipping.

And cross-talk, by splash. 🙂

Eric Fossum calls the light-sensitive, charge storing, buffering thingies in a sensor pixels, and that's good enough for me.

And ISO.

I was being deliberately simplistic, to counter the very technical replies on this thread. I did that because this thread is entitled "ISO for Beginners" and its posted in the "Beginners Questions" category.

In this context, I'd ask everyone to consider if they're meeting those objectives for beginners? Or maybe getting a tad too technical? Maybe there should be a separate section for advanced theory and practice?

I'm fairly sure nobody wants to scare beginners away from signing up :)

We have seen how to explain ISO in a simple and incorrect definition, as well as in a complex and correct definition.
For beginners, we must have a simple and correct definition of describing ISO. In my (short) teaching experience, this often works only by omitting details.

Simple is good. Simplistic -- treating complex issues and problems as if they were much simpler than they really are.-- is not. We do beginners no favors if we say things that are wrong in the service of making the result simple. They will have to unlearn that stuff later.

And, in this case, the right explanation of exposure is simple, and it doesn't involve ISO. I sometimes liken the ISO knobs on cameras to the plastic steering wheels that you stick on the dash with suction cups so your kid can pretend he's driving. A bit over the top, but it gives the idea. For raw shooters, the ISO control can't do much good, but it can do great harm.

Yes I hear you and I agree..... to an extent. I still stand by my central point though. This thread has gotten really quite technical. Yet it's aimed at beginners. Maybe we all need to step back for a moment and get back to explaining the basics when aimed at beginners.

An analogy:

If I buy a new car and it has a button I don't understand, I'll look online for the answer.

Do I want to learn what that button does? YES

Do I want an answer that includes a wiring diagram for the car, a lesson on ohms, amps, volts and relays? NO :)

The quest for a simple and correct definition is made more difficult by the fact that there are so many ways to implement ISO changes, and they all have different effects on photography. In the GFX 50S, I'd say do one thing; in the case of the GFX 100S, I'd say another. An Fuji is not transparent about their implementations.

I think you're confusing the sausage making with the sausage. This thread is about how to construct a tutorial for beginners. It is not itself such a tutorial.

Well its a thread called "ISO for Beginners" and it's posted under a category called "Beginners Questions". So I'll have to disagree with who is confused here Jim, sorry.