ISO and Noise.related or not?

Ashok Kandimalla has been in the photographic field for over three decades and has extensive experience in both film and digital photography. Being an electronics engineer by profession and a photographer, he possesses a unique and deep insight into the technical aspects of digital photography and equipment.

- Ashok Kandimalla

He has published more than a 100 articles on photography and some of his writings have also been published in the well-known international magazine Popular Photography. An avid collector of photographic books and vintage cameras, Ashok has a keen interest in the history of photography and a passion for sharing his knowledge on photography through teaching and writing. He is the only Indian photographer to be featured on the Nikon Centenary website. He is presently working as a Management and Engineering consutant. He can be reached at kashokk@gmail.​com.

High ISO values mean high levels of noise. Right? Dig deeper and we will know that the linkage is not even tenuous, as it is totally absent! Your reaction would be, that is impossible and you have images to prove that they are inexorably linked. To understand the relationship or lack of it between the two we need to appreciate what these two terms mean starting with the ISO. We will then discuss the issue of noise.