CravenMoarhead;9567783]Can you clear up my misconceptions please?

The way I understand it, Shutter speed is simply how long the shutter stays open when you hit the button.

Correct

ISO I thought, was Film Speed, and I assume that in the Digital world, the setting causes the camera to mimic the properties of the film ISO you set it to.

Correct but...


I think I'm starting to understand it. Basically you want a low ISO to produce the finest quality images. A higher ISO will result in a grainier image, but it will work better in low light applications where lengthening the shutter speed would produce a not-so-sharp image.

In the digital age the higher the ISO the more "noise" in the picture. That said I have shot at 3000 and higher with a Canon 50D and there was no noise worth commenting on. Of course this depends on the situation. If your shooting at night and using ambient light available and you need to raise your shutter speed (because its gusting 40) these options are available. Couldn't even think about this 1 decade ago.
However, I will use 100-200 in normal conditions.

F-stop controls the aperture and by extension the Depth of Field. a Higher F-stop will produce a larger depth of field meaning more things will appear in focus in the image.

Yes. But you need to increase your exposure as you tighten up the aperture. Without a flash of course. On the Canons I use I usually let the camera decide on the shutter speed while I decide what I want for depth of field.

am I at least close with these statements so far?

Yup