In the old days the sensitivity of film was a fixed value. Digicams offer a broad range of settings to suit many light conditions.

At the heart of your digicam is a chip that collects light on millions of elements. Each element delivers one pixel of every image you make. But they are not perfect: they produce light information, but also a bit of what we call noise - that’s the specke effect on some pictures. If you use the lowest sensitivity (ISO 50 or 80) there is not much noise, but increasing the ISO value gives more and more noise until some pictures are too speckled to use…

So why would you raise the ISO? Well, to catch more light! If it is a bit too dark, there is a risk of pictures getting shaken. So yes, you have to find the optimal setting for best results!

Many camera’s don’t offer the choice on ISO when set to “auto”. On a “manual” or “program” setting the camera offers you a choice. In bright conditions, always use a low value, but in the evening or inside, consider raising it a bit. Or a lot: never hesitate to experiment with your digicam and simply try all those settings until you find the best one.

Some cameras also offer ranges like “low ISO” or “high values” in which you order the magnitude and the camera has some freedom to choose.

Talking about values: the larger the CCD chip, the lower it’s noise. That’s why DSLR’s can go to ISO values of 1600 or even 3200!

Compact cameras with their small chips don’t go that far. 400 is common, 800 can be seen frequently on new models.

And, there’s that nice Fujifilm Finepix F30 with a very clever design. The elements, put in a honeycomb structure give low noise and you can go to ISO 3200! Do not expect perfect pictures at 3200, but at parties you may be the only one without blurred memories!