Can you guys give me some pointers/teach me something ? :)

[SiCk]

first of all, my camera has the option of Auto ISO Speed, 100, 200, 400 , and i was just wondering what exactly is ISO speed?

secondly... is there any way of making my flash softer? its built into the camera, and it is extremely bright at times, even if i set it to its lowest setting. , i was thinking of putting some sort of material over it? , maybe tracing paper or something? is there anything you guys would suggest?


edit: also.. i'm looking for an analogue camera, got any suggestions for a camera? im looking for something i can take long exposure with, and something i can get a better lens for, maybe zoom lens etc, an upgradable camera even. for a decent price, nothing too pricey :?

im in the UK , as it says over on the left there

 

[LizM]

I can help on the film speed. It basically says how sensitive to light the film is. The lower the number the less sensitive to light the film is.

 

[Jamie R]

"first of all, my camera has the option of Auto ISO Speed, 100, 200, 400 , and i was just wondering what exactly is ISO speed?"

Try www.google.com for a comprehensive answer.
Your camera needs an amount of light to make a picture. ISO 400 is 4x faster than ISO 100 and ISO 200 is 2x faster than 100 speed. Auto chooses what the camera brain thinks you need when your brain doesn't want to choose.


"secondly... is there any way of making my flash softer? its built into the camera, and it is extremely bright at times, even if i set it to its lowest setting. , i was thinking of putting some sort of material over it? , maybe tracing paper or something? is there anything you guys would suggest?"

Depends on your camera and whether it has half-settings. Or whether you can shoot flash on manual mode, and let more ambient light in, and use less flash simultaneously. Tracing paper is fine. It doesn't tend to catch fire


"edit: also.. i'm looking for an analogue camera, got any suggestions for a camera? im looking for something i can take long exposure with, and something i can get a better lens for, maybe zoom lens etc, an upgradable camera even. for a decent price, nothing too pricey"

Why not a manual camera? Try that auction site for a second-hand Konica slr with zoom lenses and prime lenses - you can get a whole kit for less than a hundred quid. Or the Fujica SLR kit. There are loads of second-hand SLRs floating on the market - Canon A1s; Pentaxes; Yashicas.

If you add a bit more detail, no doubt you'll get a lot more answers.

Good luck.

im in the UK , as it says over on the left there

 

[spike5003]

ISO stands for international standards organization. The film speed is directly related to grain size. Faster films (400 and up) will have a larger more visible grain, but are more easily used in lower light conditions and require less shutter time to create a good exposure. Fast films are good for shooting moving subjects or shooting in low light. As for everything else break out ISO 100 and a tripod or a really steady hand.

To soften your flash i reccomend using a rubber band and a single ply tissue. That is of course unless you want to go buy an external flash that can accept filters or be bounced off the cieling to achieve the same effect. With the bounced flash method make sure to open the aperature one stop wider to achieve the same amount of light in the picture as a direct flash.

Hope this helps

 

[SiCk]

by analogue i mean manual... didnt specify that right.. thanks for all the info though, theres 1 thing i dont understand though, why would a digital camera have ISO speeds then, if its for films?

 

[ferny]

The higher the ISO the faster the film reacts to light. If you're using the camera in poor, low light conditions you’re going to want to use a high ISO (or faster film, means the same) so you can use a faster shutter. You may be able to get away with not using a tripod that way. Outside in bright conditions, this film may not be any good to you. The shutter on your camera may not be fast enough and you'll get over exposed pictures. So instead you'll use a film with a lower ISO (or slower film) which doesn’t react as fast so the shutter speeds are a bit longer.
As people said, the faster the film, the grainier it is (or in a digital camera it gets noisier).

In terms of shutter speed and grain/noise, the same principles apply to film and digital. Digital tends to have more problem with noises (it's the same basic idea, but slightly different from grain. It's looks different to) than film so few mid-priced cameras go higher than 400iso. In general, the more expensive the camera, the better it is with noise.

There are different characteristics as well as the stuff I just said above with different iso speeds. In some cases you'll change ISO for the arty side of it rather than the shutter speeds.