I always thought ISO was an acronym... it is not

I had always thought that ISO was an acronym for International Standards Organization; it is not. The organization is actually called the International Organization for Standardization.

From Wikipedia

I had learned this in a class (nothing to do with photography).. Wiki agrees with the material presented.

I had always pronounced it I-S-O. I think I will start saying iso, like a word.

Then what about ASA?

Radtech1 wrote in post #11025607
Then what about ASA?

american standards association.

alt4852 wrote in post #11025631
american standards association.

RIght. ASA = American Standards Association.

And, ISO = International Organization for Standardization

From thier website: Within the context of international standardization or related activities "ISO" (or "iso") is the short name of the International Organization for Standardization.

Go figure, but iso is a prefix to be combined with a word like isometric and such no?
A prefix can't be a word in and of itself or can it? I'm not sure.

It is is a name/word, shouldn't it be "Iso" and not all caps which generally denotes an acronym?
Not that it makes any difference whether someone says I.S.O. or "eye so." as we all know what they are saying.

They were originally founded with the goal of setting a standard for blackpowder as used in canons and firearms. Before ISO standards were in place, french powder in a british canon might overshoot the target, while german powder in a prussian canon might bounce balls short of the target. Now there are ISO standards for almost every aspect of manufacturing, sensitivity to light for film emulsion and now for digital sensor calibration is only one very small corner of their wordwide organisation.
We work with ISO standards for medical devices everyday, and pronounce it eye-so. I think the photograhy industry standard pronunciation of I-S-O is a holdover from A-S-A wich no one pronounced aysuh.

Hey, It could happen.

The word ISO is also Latin or Greek (I think Latin) for "same". So a navigation buoy light characteristic described as ISOPHASE means its on and off for the same amount of time.

Tee Why wrote in post #11025700
Go figure, but iso is a prefix to be combined with a word like isometric and such no?
A prefix can't be a word in and of itself or can it? I'm not sure.

I guess some language rules go out the window with names. For example, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing calls themselves 3M.. I don't think numbers and letters normally go together in words, except for things like 2end. But, like ISO, that entity is better known by their self appointed nick name than their proper name.

Tee Why wrote in post #11025700
It is is a name/word, shouldn't it be "Iso" and not all caps which generally denotes an acronym?
Not that it makes any difference whether someone says I.S.O. or "eye so." as we all know what they are saying.

I agree... it is a name, not an acronym, so it really should not be capitalized. But it sounds like they really wanted an acronym, but they knew it would be different in different languages and since they were about setting international standards..

When I heard this, it immediately rung true; I thought of an isosceles triangle (which should really be the name of an equilateral... never mind ).

I found this explanation on the ISO website:

birdfromboat wrote in post #11025978
They were originally founded with the goal of setting a standard for blackpowder as used in canons and firearms.

Great piece of trivia.. And I like the spelling!

Let's throw another one into the mix,, DIN..

Deustche Industrie Norm..

I've been in photography long enough to remember films being rated in both ASA and DIN.. From memory,, 21 DIN is equal to 100 ASA/ISO, 24 DIN = 200 ASA/ISO, 27 DIN = 400 ASA/ISO.

yogestee wrote in post #11031314
I've been in photography long enough to remember films being rated in both ASA and DIN.. From memory,, 21 DIN is equal to 100 ASA/ISO, 24 DIN = 200 ASA/ISO, 27 DIN = 400 ASA/ISO.

I had remembered that all film I bought years ago had two ratings. One was ASA (the one I considered) and, I thought the other was ISO. But I knew my memory was faulty because I remembered that the two ratings had different values. Now that you mention it, the second was DIN, not ISO.

I don't know where you got this
ISO means Increase Shot Overexposure
and ASA is clearly Association sans-ASA a recursive acronym coined by the French.

But I think the real question everyone is asking after reading this thread...

WHO CARES?

jk... but not really. :P

yogestee wrote in post #11031314
Let's throw another one into the mix,, DIN..

Deustche Industrie Norm..

I've been in photography long enough to remember films being rated in both ASA and DIN.. From memory,, 21 DIN is equal to 100 ASA/ISO, 24 DIN = 200 ASA/ISO, 27 DIN = 400 ASA/ISO.

My Voigtlander VSL-3E from the 70's has ASA and DIN ratings on it. I had no idea what DIN was before I actually had the VSL-3E and shot with it.