Human eye vs Camera

[KmH]

What is the max aperture, and focal length of the human eye? What the human eye's ISO range?

The Photographic Eye | B&H Photo Video Pro Audio

 

[480sparky39 38]

I wonder if the ISO "calculation" took into account dark adaptation.

 

[Destin]

Simply amazing.

 

[SCraig]

That's really interesting information. Thanks for posting it.

 

[KmH]

I wonder if the ISO "calculation" took into account dark adaptation.

Well they talked about how averted vision works once the eye is dark adapted.

Either way they said the max ISO of the human eye is about ISO 800.

 

[mjhoward]

Yea but what is the Dynamic Range of the eye? Seems pretty high.

 

[Big Mike]

Yea but what is the Dynamic Range of the eye? Seems pretty high.

I think I read somewhere that it's something like 10-12 stops, but it's highly subjective.

Also, it's hard to compare because we typically don't look at a whole scene at one single moment in time. Our eyes dart around a scene, adjusting as they go, then our brain puts that together into an image.

 

[usayit]

Also, it's hard to compare because we typically don't look at a whole scene at one single moment in time. Our eyes dart around a scene, adjusting as they go, then our brain puts that together into an image.

There was a recent documentary that I watch that investigated this (it was pretty interesting but I don't recall the name of the show).

The brain plays a much larger role in our vision than we think. They ran a bunch of experiments to show how the eye really only sees a small portion at any single moment and relies on the brain (and intuition) to assemble knowledge about the scene we are observing. That act of "assembling" knowledge is also filtering to subtract things that are seemingly unimportant to the current situation. Slight of hand artists... know this and exploits inherent disadvantages. We do the same with sound.

One experiment was performed at a retail counter. The subject approached and asked a question. The retail counter person would drop something and quickly duck under the counter as if to pick it up. What is not known to the subject is that there is another retail person hiding underneath.... same sex, similar look, but wearing a different color shirt. The second hidden retailer would pop up and continue the conversation with the subject. The subject never realized that the retail person was "switched". The details of their face and cloths wasn't important at the time so it was filtered out. kinda neat

 

[KmH]

Yea but what is the Dynamic Range of the eye? Seems pretty high.

The total dynamic range of the human eye is huge, but it can't all be used at the same time. The 10-12 stops Mike mentioned is what can be used at any given moment.

 

[Dominantly]

I was going to talk a bit about the way the human eye focuses on any given scene, in another thread, to kind of put into perspective the difference between what you see in front of you that looks desirable enough to photograph, and what actually translates in your photo after it's taken.
I think when people start off, they don't take this into account and are surprised at their final image.

 

[Big Mike]

Also, it's hard to compare because we typically don't look at a whole scene at one single moment in time. Our eyes dart around a scene, adjusting as they go, then our brain puts that together into an image.

There was a recent documentary that I watch that investigated this (it was pretty interesting but I don't recall the name of the show).

The brain plays a much larger role in our vision than we think. They ran a bunch of experiments to show how the eye really only sees a small portion at any single moment and relies on the brain (and intuition) to assemble knowledge about the scene we are observing. That act of "assembling" knowledge is also filtering to subtract things that are seemingly unimportant to the current situation. Slight of hand artists... know this and exploits inherent disadvantages. We do the same with sound.

One experiment was performed at a retail counter. The subject approached and asked a question. The retail counter person would drop something and quickly duck under the counter as if to pick it up. What is not known to the subject is that there is another retail person hiding underneath.... same sex, similar look, but wearing a different color shirt. The second hidden retailer would pop up and continue the conversation with the subject. The subject never realized that the retail person was "switched". The details of their face and cloths wasn't important at the time so it was filtered out. kinda neat

There is/was a video floating around the internet. It was some people/kids bouncing one or more basket balls. You (the viewer) are supposed to count the bounces for 30 seconds or something like that. Halfway through, someone in a gorilla suit walks through the scene, but very few people notice it...the first time anyway. Once you know about it, you are amazed that you could have missed it in the first place.

 

[480sparky39 38]

 

[rexbobcat]

Finally my questions are answered. I have been wondering this for YEARS.

I still have a question though. How many frames-per-second do we see at?

 

[cgipson1]

I have read that that human eye actually has close to 20 to 24 stops of dynamic range.... pretty amazing! Understanding Dynamic Range in Digital Photography

Some interesting stuff about the human eye's dynamic range and color range. Clarkvision Photography - Resolution of the Human Eye

 

[Garbz]

I like it. It's a good article in that it points out the flaws and assumptions it makes. I've seen all sorts of studies online that ignore some basic biological aspects of the eye such as it's honeycomb layout of rods and cones, the heavy concentration of one type of receptor in the centre of our field of view etc, and yet insist on spitting out some hard number at the end.