How many iso do i need for my digital camera?

am confused i want to buy a cmera and dont know what is the importance of iso

The first guy's answer is right for digital camera's. ISO = sensitivity to light. The higher the sensitivity the faster the picture will take, and generally the picture will come out brighter. Also keep in mind that at higher ISO levels, there will be more noise (the annoying little off-color pixels).

You generally won't need more than 400-800, and most consumer camera's don't work that well at ISO's of 400+.

ISO refers to the speed at which a photograph is taken, ranging from 100 to 400.
Simplistically, 400 is the fastest and would be used for fast moving objects such as motor racing whereas 100 would be used for subjects that are not moving.
A digitalcamera should allow you to select which speed you want touse from its settings.

ISO is actually film speed. when you buy film the number (200, 400 800 etc.) is the ISO. ISO used depends on the amount of light that will be available. The lower the ISO the more light you need. 400 is a safe bet . 800 is good for outdoor motion shots. ISO can go as high as 6400 or as low as 16.
Usually when buying a digital camera your concern should be Mega Pixels . Digital cameras do give you an ISO option in their menu that will help control the shutter speed and apeture . Many digital camera owners don't use those options. But you can play around with it.

every camera has iso settings
they are automatic
so don't worry about them
pick the camera that appeals to you

Always remember that on a sunny bright day if you plan to make any enlargements your lowest setting should do the job. Setting could be 80 or 100. Your highest setting should it be 800 will result in a grainy photo for enlargements and probably not suitable for 8X10s. ISO 400 should be ok for low light situations.

ISO aka ASA during the film days represents the speed.
The higher the ISO the faster ur camera is able to capture when
the surrounding is in low light. ISO plays a huge part into capturing good images.. Most Pns comes with low basic ISO lvl which are very nosiy as u pump them higher...The best for ISO use would be using a Dslr which offers a much greater flexiblity.
A ISO of 400 would be good for normal low light. ISO 100 would be great for a sunny day.

The most important thing that u need to knw when u are buyin the camera is the optical zoom and the mega-pixels. Try not to get a camera with to much digital zoom as it is not a real zoom. Just digital enchancing and manifyin the image which make affect the image quality. The higher the megapixels the bigger the size of print u can print easily.

I disagree with the posters who say not to worry about it. In a digital camera, the ISO setting allows you to make a tradeoff between light sensitivity and picture quality. A low setting (less than 200) is great if you have lots of light or are going to take a flash picture of something that isn't far away. A high setting (more than 200) will have less picture quality, but it allows you to take a flash picture of something that's far away or take a picture of something without a flash in low light. There are many cases where you might want to take a picture but can't or shouldn't use a flash. I have the Fujifilm Finepix F10 and it goes up to 1600 ISO, which is pretty good for a compact digital camera. I've used it to take pictures of a circus and other live shows where a flash isn't allowed and a regular camera simply won't take the picture. I'd highly recommend getting a digital camera that goes up to at least 800 ISO.