Digital camera for night shots

itgirlinuk

Hi,

I have a point-and-shoot digital camera now and I am looking for a digital camera especially to shoot in low light (evenings and nights). Can anyone recommend any from experience or usage?

I have read loads of reviews and they all talk about noise and various other technical terms. Honestly, I am confused ;-)

Your suggestions and ideas would be very appreciated.

TIA
K

raa_thistle

Noise is just a term used to describe how grainy the image goes when shooting in low light/high ISO speeds. Basically higher noise = worse photo.

For real night time shots, your looking @ ISO 1600 at least, and i dont think that you'll get anything cheap. Even ISO1600 will need a long shutter time if you dont have a good lens.

What type of night photography are we talking about?

Contains_Mild_Peril

Digital cameras do still tend to be quite noticeably inferior to film at high ASA/ISO or digital equivalent ratings. Unless you're planning big enlargements, digital should still give acceptable results. 1600 ISO should only be necessary if shooting handheld or trying to capture moving subjects. If shooting a stationary scene or if you want to record light trails, I'd use the lowest ISO setting you can and use a tripod or other suitable support (e.g. beanbag on a wall).

Colcoops

I recently bought a canon A710IS which is a lovely camera but every night shot of people has red eye even with the red eye selected

ManAtHome

At the cheaper end, Fuji digicams are pretty good - the S5600 is pretty cheap at the moment (is "end of range", but still a lot about). There are other models with simlar performance, but this is the only one I've used.

When you get a few recommendations, have a look at http://www.imaging-resource.com/ - you can compare images from 2 cameras side-by-side.

ollyk

I took this with a Fuji 2800 zoom which is almost fully automatic and quite an oldish camera by todays standards.
Pick one up on ebay for cheap but obviously there are much better alternatives out there. It really does depend what you want to take! saying 'it's for Night shots' ain't good enough!



The only secret was to disable flash and support the camera on somthing solid. ISO should be manually set to the lowest possible if noise is anissue but exposure will take longer as a result. Just don't expect to take piccies of anything other than the most patient of people with equipment like this though!

itgirlinuk

To begin with, thanks for your input and comments.

ollyk wrote:

I took this with a Fuji 2800 zoom which is almost fully automatic and quite an oldish camera by todays standards.

- I like that picture.

To answer some of the questions asked:

I would like to take outdoor pictures like landscapes or animals (for moving objects) in low-light, especially when are travelling.

Right now my Canon either blurs the image (even when I put it on something stable) or does not brings the colours out properly. All the lit objects in the scene I am taking, ends up blurring the objects around it. Ie, its not sharp.

And I wont be enlarging the picture to A4 size or anything like that.

moonrakerz

Most digital cameras have a "scene" setting for night time use, this should automatically adjust the colours.

1. Don't try and capture anything that moves.
2. Use a small tripod or a bean bag.
3. Use the "self timer" on the camera - just press the button and stand back, then there is no chance of you shaking the camera.
4. DON'T use the flash - they are a waste of space !

Go out and play - if it's digital you're not wasting film.

shopndrop

I use a Sony T10 - great for taking shots of moving objects. Bought mine in Costco but I notice M & S now sell them for just over £200.

ollyk

itgirlinuk wrote:

To begin with, thanks for your input and comments.

- I like that picture.

To answer some of the questions asked:

I would like to take outdoor pictures like landscapes or animals (for moving objects) in low-light, especially when are travelling.

Right now my Canon either blurs the image (even when I put it on something stable) or does not brings the colours out properly. All the lit objects in the scene I am taking, ends up blurring the objects around it. Ie, its not sharp.

And I wont be enlarging the picture to A4 size or anything like that.

Hmm, you are delving into the relms of SLR photography now. I recently bought a S/H Nikon Coolpix 8700 which is known as a 'prosumer'. It has good optics (v. important) and full manual control, except for focusing which is a bit of an issue. Anyway, despite the advanced features this camera holds it is still quite poor at taking early evening shots at short exposures - if I up the equivilent film speed (ISO, which allows you to increase shutter speed = less blur) then you get lots of noise - this is due to a relatively small sensor you see! The auto focus is poor in low light and uses an 'illuminator' to help - this would generally scare most wildlife off and has a limited range anyway.... Manual focus as mentioned is rubbish with this camera..
If you are serious you could look at a Fuji 5600 or 9500 maybe but I can't vouch for these models personally.
Really, you might be expecting too much from standard or even prosumers but SLR with good lens will set you back over a grand!

itgirlinuk

Has anyone used or can say anything about Canon Powershot S3 IS or Sony H2 ?

These are not digital SLRs, but my friend says it will do the job. I was also recommended the Konica Minolta Dimage Z5, but reviews over the internet does not make it sound good.

All this is so confusing and there are so many cameras around...What do I do?