What is ISO — Camera ISO and the Exposure Triangle Explained [Ep 2]

light is responsible for everything we see on the big screen or spectacle magic just as often as cinematographers use light to tell a story they also use darkness to capture the range of human emotions through light and darkness it is fundamental to understand the three components of the exposure triangle aperture shutter speed and today's topic iso [Music] this is what is iso to stay in the loop for more filmmaking techniques subscribe and click the bell so how does iso work [Music] back when filmmakers shot exclusively on film different film stocks had different speeds or sensitivities to light the film sensitivity is known as iso the term comes from the greek isos meaning equal and is defined by the international organization for standardization iso sets various international standards for everything from country codes to medical devices in today's digital camera technology iso is used for the sensitivity of a camera's sensor rather than film aperture and shutter speed both physically control the amount of light led into the camera in our previous episode on the exposure triangle we discussed how aperture works like the pupil of an eye it closes to let in less light or opens to let in more light and the iso controls how sensitive the camera sensor is to the light that hits it lastly the shutter speed controls how long light will hit the sensor we'll cover this in our next episode now a lower iso value makes the sensor less sensitive to light making the image darker a higher iso value makes the sensor more sensitive to light making the image brighter when determining the exposure of a shot it is most common to adjust your iso after your aperture and shutter speed are set so why would a cinematographer change their iso let's look at a couple of different scenarios starting with low light situations [Music] the film 1917 spans various long takes to create an immersive 360 degree experience this meant that cinematographer roger deakins had to light many of the darker scenes with practical lights visible on screen [Music] while still retaining a deep focus [Music] look at this it's massive in other words deacons had to contend with less lighting and a closed aperture remember to get a larger depth of field you want to close your aperture as much as possible but this means less light will enter your sensor so to pull this off he needed a camera that could handle extremely low light situations the arri alexa mini lf very thankful for this camera thank you very much certainly served our purpose very well the lf i could rate it as 1600 because there's all the night scenes and the interiors there's quite a lot of footage at night in those little bunkers because of this high iso deakins could light minimally while closing his aperture to achieve a larger depth of field however there is a side effect of increasing your iso that every cinematographer should be aware of noise increasing your iso may help brighten up your shot but there is a catch if your iso is too high your camera sensor will become too sensitive and it will create noise and grain take this low light shot for example this image is clearly underexposed to properly expose the shot without compromising your aperture or shutter speed let's try increasing our iso notice how increasing the iso value brightens up our shot but also produces more noise so how do you minimize noise get to know your camera every camera is a little different so understand its particular settings like its dynamic range and native iso the dynamic range measures the limits of how dark and light an image can be without losing detail so a larger dynamic range results in more detail and color range adjusting the iso in either direction moves that range sacrificing either the highs or lows in the process as a general rule to shoot an image with less noise and greater range of color you'll want to shoot as close to as possible to what is known as a native iso every digital camera has a native iso specific to that camera for instance the arri alexa mini's native iso is 800 although many cinematographers strive for a polished image some filmmakers take advantage of green and noise because the texture can bring a unique quality to a shot [Music] film photography is a chemical miracle and it always looks different always looks real there's grain number one and the grain is always moving it's swimming which means that even in a still life of let's say a flower that flower is alive even though it's not moving because the film itself the image is alive and that's the difference spielberg is referring to film grain not digital noise what are you doing i was filming this dead bird why because it's beautiful remember there is a clear difference between the two [Music] an image captured on a film strip produces film grain during the chemical bath it takes when it's been converted [Music] you never quite know what you're going to get after the film takes a bath and exposes the positive from the negative this is not to be mistaken for noise which is when iso is pushed too far on a digital camera producing less desirable artifacts however some filmmakers intentionally use a high iso value to create noise to create an analog style reminiscent of film grain cinematographer brandon trost uses this quality in the film the disaster artist is this real hollywood movie everyone set yeah ready and uh action trust shot the movie at iso and added additional grain in post purely for style i think i don't like things that look super nice it gives you a variety you know stuff that's interesting texture stuff that you can like reach out and touch and that's sort of what i'm always after a little bit whether your cinematography style utilizes low or native iso values for a polished look or you're looking to use higher iso values to produce noise stylistically what a story mark cut understanding iso is crucial in achieving the shot you envision and to fully understand iso you must learn how it works with aperture and shutter speed within the exposure triangle in the description you'll find a link to download a free ebook on the exposure triangle and how each of the three settings work in combination did any shots come to mind as we covered iso share your favorites in the comments below in the next episode we'll explore shutter speed and how it's used to control light and motion [Music] we've got new content every week click subscribe and ring the bell to find out what we do next we'll see you in the next one

Channel: StudioBinder

Views: 350,085

Keywords: ISO, what is iso, iso explained, camera iso, cinematography, how to, photography, photography tips, photography for beginners, dslr, film grain, photography tutorial, camera basics, exposure triangle, exposure, camera settings, dynamic range, aperture shutter speed and iso tutorial, camera tutorial, think media, which iso to use, iso definition, iso guide, high iso, low iso, camera iso explained, iso tutorial, iso settings, whats iso, iso meaning, what is iso on a camera

Id: cy9wPDKd-dU

Length: 9min 35sec (575 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 19 2020