Why 160 ISO?

[Laren]

What is the purpose of 160 ISO?

Larry

[memobug]

To match the equivalent film/flash speed, of course!

[Tom V]

Larry,

There are many professional films that have an ISO of 160 (Kodak Porta, etc.). I am sure that many shooters, myself included, have IS0 160 eyesight, and are just used to studio lighting setups that give a good aperture at ISO 160.

I think it may come in handy for trying to get around the 1/2 stop exposure limitation of the S2. The S2 shutter speeds and apertures are in 1/2 stop increments. Exposure compensation and bracketing have 1/2 stop increments. But the difference between ISO 160 and ISO 100 is 2/3 stop, and the difference from ISO 200 is just 1/3 stop. I know I would get a headache figuring out how to make a bracket of exposures full of 1/3 stop increments using ISO 100, 160, 200. I would probably end up with some 1/6 steps in there too. Ugh! Maybe I will just move the light stand out a few inches.:p