Mobile photography

[PaulWog]

"Cameras are not light sensitive... sensors are light sensitive."

I think you're getting a little too technical. A sensor is a part of a camera. Hence, a camera is light sensitive.

I also think you're getting a little too technical on how the word "sensitive" applies. It certainly does. The camera becomes more sensitive to light (the tool as a whole, not the sensor). I think you're just being ultra technical about how you are applying the word "sensitive".

And to answer the question about "patronizing beginners", I would say this: Giving ultra-technical advice to beginners is fine, but I wouldn't just dismiss the information in such a confusing fashion. I see this sort of stuff happen a lot on forums and elsewhere. An example of something frustrating is when someone says "A crop sensor doesn't get any more reach. It just has more pixels in a smaller area." And yet, the end result is more detail in the cropped area, hence more reach. I forget the other arguments that bug me, but the problem is that not enough is being stipulated. The word "sensitive" is too short, and means too many things, and requires a phrase in its place.

 

[Ysarex]

"Cameras are not light sensitive... sensors are light sensitive."

I think you're getting a little too technical.

And I think you're making way too much stuff up. You're also disagreeing with yourself which is kind of odd. You did say, "ISO doesn't affect the amount of light the sensor gathers." Well a sensor is part of a camera. Hence a camera behaves like a sensor and as you correctly noted, "ISO doesn't affect the amount of light the sensor gathers." Must apply to the camera too.

A sensor is a part of a camera. Hence, a camera is light sensitive.

So even if I were to acknowledge such nonsense and grant you that a camera is light sensitive, ISO still has no effect on the camera's light sensitivity. The light sensitivity of a digital sensor (therefore digital camera) is fixed in manufacture and can not be changed. Here's a reference for that if you need one: www.Clarkvision.com: ISO and Digital Cameras, ISO Myths And of course we can continue to use you as a reference: "ISO doesn't affect the amount of light the sensor gathers."

I also think you're getting a little too technical on how the word "sensitive" applies. It certainly does. The camera becomes more sensitive to light (the tool as a whole, not the sensor). I think you're just being ultra technical about how you are applying the word "sensitive".

Ultra technical?!! This is not, as they say, rocket science. Explain to me how a digital camera becomes more sensitive to light. When you raise the ISO on a digital camera does the camera become more capable of reaching into the shadows and recording darker information that it couldn't record at a lower ISO?

And to answer the question about "patronizing beginners", I would say this: Giving ultra-technical advice to beginners is fine, but I wouldn't just dismiss the information in such a confusing fashion.

Who's dismissing what in a confusing fashion? I though I did a reasonable job earlier in the thread with this explanation:

If I raise the ISO value on my camera it has no effect on the sensor and does not in any way change the light sensitivity of the sensor. Changing the ISO does two things: 1. It puts a spin on the light meter and causes the meter to calculate different exposure parameters. So if for example my meter had calculated 1/100 sec. shutter speed at f/8 lens aperture with the ISO at 200 then with the ISO at 800 it might recalculate those parameters as 1/400 sec. shutter speed at f/8 lens aperture. The faster shutter speed will then expose the sensor to less light.
2. Then ISO's 2nd function kicks in. This function is strictly a post processing function. It is applied via the camera's electronics and software after the photo has been taken. There are different ways that different cameras handle this so I can't specifically describe one way fits all but basically the camera electronics and software brighten up the underexposed image that the sensor recorded.

Joe

I see this sort of stuff happen a lot on forums and elsewhere. An example of something frustrating is when someone says "A crop sensor doesn't get any more reach. It just has more pixels in a smaller area." And yet, the end result is more detail in the cropped area, hence more reach. I forget the other arguments that bug me, but the problem is that not enough is being stipulated. The word "sensitive" is too short, and means too many things, and requires a phrase in its place.

 

[PaulWog]

There's no point in arguing with someone like you.

 

[Ysarex]

There's no point in arguing with someone like you.

Someone like me!

Well then how about hard proof:
DSCF5641.RAF
DSCF5642.RAF
There's two raw files that prove I'm correct. If you need help interpreting them just ask.

There you go. With hard facts providing proof you don't have to worry about arguing with someone like me.

Joe

 

[TheLibrarian]

Dont confuse the poor kid/ person. Theres plenty of bad info and some people dwell on it or never learn better themselves. I'm out here talking about stuff idk 100% trying to learn. I think whats suggested in the video might not be the inner science of the camera but is practical application. Fiddling with the ISO will allow you to increase your shutter speed when you must or make things brighter by another means than shutter speed and aperture. How it does that we can just assume is magic unless we find a calm collected nice person who will explain it to us.

For me I might use it (increase it) with sports where I want fast shutter speed but have light issues. I think was the point of the youtube video. I also tried using it to take pictures of stars or at night. Made a pitch black night look like daytime though more than a bit grainy and i used too much. Simple explanation is it makes things brighter at the cost of clarity or resolution. Some say they get crisp images at higher ISO.

All this about ISO you wanted a bag of tricks, we can't get this right. Generally keep it as low as it will go now unless thats the only way to adjust the shutter speed on whatever youre using and you have some desire to adjust your shutter speed or if you really want to adjust your ISO. Now you have to just to see what it does.

I'm trying to use my mobile more and i just got my first dslr. Its not the camera its the samurai, Ive seen a few regular people take nicer stuff with their phones than I do so i'm determined. Think they may have the 6s though if that makes a difference.

 

[bribrius]

seen some really nice and interesting phone pics often better than people are taking with dslrs

 

[abhiwar]

So it looks like youtube is not a good place for learning this type of thing. Thank you for answers

P.S. In a digital camera the sensor is light sensitive. It's light sensitivity is fixed in manufacture and can not be raised or lowered. It is what it is and it's staying what it is. The base ISO value for the camera is a fair rating of the light sensitivity of the sensor. So for example 200 is the lowest (base) ISO value for my camera and so it's reasonable to say that my camera's sensor is ISO 200 light sensitive (an oversimplification but we can live with that for now).

If I raise the ISO value on my camera it has no effect on the sensor and does not in any way change the light sensitivity of the sensor. Changing the ISO does two things: 1. It puts a spin on the light meter and causes the meter to calculate different exposure parameters. So if for example my meter had calculated 1/100 sec. shutter speed at f/8 lens aperture with the ISO at 200 then with the ISO at 800 it might recalculate those parameters as 1/400 sec. shutter speed at f/8 lens aperture. The faster shutter speed will then expose the sensor to less light.
2. Then ISO's 2nd function kicks in. This function is strictly a post processing function. It is applied via the camera's electronics and software after the photo has been taken. There are different ways that different cameras handle this so I can't specifically describe one way fits all but basically the camera electronics and software brighten up the underexposed image that the sensor recorded.

Your YouTube guy was saying ISO lets you change sensitivity. It does no such thing.

Joe

Wonderful, thanks for explaining ISO for people like me who was misinformed . So this is the reason why with all cameras with same APS-C size censors have different level of low light performance.

 

[table1349]

www.Clarkvision.com: ISO and Digital Cameras, ISO Myths