[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Digital Focus: Use ISO to Take Low-Light Photos here

[wyhtmgm]

I'm surprised there's no mention that most cameras set the ISO automatically. It's still better to set it manually sometimes; like, some cameras won't set it over 400 automatically, others have a "high iso" setting to allow automatic setting that includes going over 400, and sometimes you might want to use a diffent ISO than the camera would set automatically, but auto ISO is good enough "sometimes" and it does solve the problem of "accidently capture a month's worth of pictures at ISO 800".

[BrianPC]

Thanks for an interesting article. One small correction - ASA = American Standards Association not Organization :-)

[mjd420nova]

Kodak has spent a lot of money on the R&D needed to decrease the size of the particles of silver on their film substrates. Since 2003, the ASA 800 films have had the same size particles as their ASA 64 films, making these previous problems non existant. I exclusively shoot 800 speed fim for all settings, light dark and even no light such as fireworks and cityscapes at night. I've been totally pleased with the results and would not think of dumping my film cameras until a unit is marketed that will give me full control of both aperature and focus. I achieve over 95% printable shots with film which is essential in action shots that you can't capture with a digital. Telephoto lenses will give you the shots with film that will never be available until the optics of digital cameras are reduced to prices anyone but a professional can afford.

[wyhtmgm]

I'm confused by your comments (mjd420nova). The Canon S5 (just an example) is relatively inexpensive and has full manual control of exposure and focus (plus AV, TV, etc), with a 12x zoom that goes out to a 35mm equivalent of 400+, and teleconverters are available. The lenses of a digital SLR aren't more expensive than those of a film SLR; using Canon as an example again, the lenses are the same except for most of their DSLRs the sensor is smaller so the effective focal length differs and the cheaper and smaller APS lenses can also be used. And what do you mean about action shots? Do you find the shutter lag is worse? That's possible, I never compared. I think the burst rate favours DSLR.

I'm interested in your comments about recent films. The ASA800 films impress me 10 years ago, but I haven't tried since 2003. I think I will try for curiousity, but I'm happy with digital.