Film speed is the setting that governs the sensitivity of your camera’s image sensor. It mirrors the way that we used to rate physical film in terms of sensitivity, and follows a pretty standard scale. The speed of the film referred to its ability to sense light and fix the image. The speed was given as an ASA number, or sometimes ASA/ISO, but is now fairly universally referred to as the ISO sensitivity, or simply ISO. Most offthe-shelf slide or print film was available in speeds noted as multiples of 100:

  • 1600 – very fast
  • 800
  • 400 – middle of the road

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