Hot answers tagged low-light
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The moon can be a tricky subject. It is a very bright subject compared to the rest of the night sky. It is also a moving subject, and it moves just fast enough that it can be problematic. Its luminosity changes depending on the time of the month. If you wish to capture any other elements in a scene with the moon, exposure can become fairly complicated.
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In the daylight focus on a very, very far away object, like a radio tower. Mark your focusing ring with a bit of tape or something, and you have your infinity setting.
For closer focusing in the dark carry a laser pointer. Tape it to the camera or tripod so it points at your subject. The red dot should be easily seen through the viewfinder, and it will ...
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For both cases I strongly recommend looking for something with
a fast lens (A 2.0 aperture is faster than 2.8 for example)
reasonable ISO handling (at least 400, but preferably 800)
the biggest sensor available
The sum of these factors are really critical for low light situations.
In 2012, both the Canon S110 and the Lumix LX7 offered that set of ...
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Noise is better than blur (and much less of a problem than you might think from reading the internet), so don't hesitate to vigorously boost ISO.
Underexposing won't help; it's basically the same as increasing ISO w.r.t. noise. The only time to do this is when you've already maxed out the ISO adjustment.
Consider a "fast fifty" - you can get a 50mm f/1.4 ...
23
Yes, this can work. I know because I've taken photos of children lit only by their birthday-cake candles and they've come out nicely.
First, some general tips, without regard to your specific camera. These are probably most appropriate for a DSLR or other advanced camera which gives a lot of photographer control:
Use manual exposure. The camera's ...
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Many suggested answers so far assume that you can see something through the viewfinder or the focal point is close enough to use a focusing aid. While all great suggestions for low light focusing, I think you're dealing with no light focusing.
I spend a lot of time photographing similar situations where there is just no light in the viewfinder at all. ...
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It should be fine, but watch out for shadows if you are using flash. Wide angles lenses, particularly with APS-C / DX, tend to throw a shadow, especially with on camera flash. Having the lens hood on makes this shadow bigger since it's adding a few inches to the end of the lens.
See Len Abrams answer below for the benefits of a hood in long exposure shots.
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It's at times like this that digital photography really out-shines anything you could ever do with film... because you're going to get a lot of missed shots.
Here's a strategy that's worked for me in the past: Get an external flash with TTL (very important) and an off camera cable. A mid-ranged zoom will be fine, it doesn't even have to be a good one, ...
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Its easiest to understand the difference when both the larger and smaller sensor have the same megapixels. If we have a couple hypothetical cameras, one with a smaller APS-C sensor and one with a Full Frame sensor, and assume both have 8 megapixels, the difference boils down to pixel density.
An APS-C sensor is about 24x15mm, while a Full Frame (FF) sensor ...
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I personally have the 1.8 and my friend the 1.4. Obviously the 1.4 is much better build quality and fairly better optically, but the 1.8 is a bargain and still a good lens as long as you don't plan on throwing it around. Also more easily replaced if it breaks. Both give pleasing pictures and both will be better in low light than your current lens...
but..
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It is simply too dark for the camera to focus. And by default it will refuse to take the shot unless it has focused.
There are some possible workarounds:
- Some cameras can be forced to take the shot when you press the button, no matter what. The inevitable result is an unsharp photo. I don't suppose that this is what you want.
I assume that you are using ...
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I've done quite a lot of club photography, and a fair deal in other dark places like theatres.
Personally I'd recommend not using a flash. A flash completely changes the atmosphere: yes, flashes let you capture the people, instantaneously as they were, (probably posing for your camera...), but you won't capture how it felt to be there.
Shooting without a ...
17
The moon is still lit by sunlight -- I've had success around the 1/60 second at f/5.6 at ISO 100 in the past -- you'll need to fiddle around there to get settings that work for the amount of high cloud in the way etc.
Changing the metering mode can help too - if you can use spot metering, then that should help and if your camera supports exposure ...
17
The most important body features are:
The max ISO levels (and the noise levels at high ISO)
Low light shooting is much easier at high ISO settings, but many lower end cameras have trouble with noise as you increase the iso. A good indication of the high ISO performance can be found at www.dxomark.com by looking at their "Sports (ISO)" rating for the ...
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Re. your answer - you don't have to have the focus set to Manual just because you're in Manual mode, but autofocus systems generally don't work in the dark. Therefore the camera will fail to focus and refuse to take a picture. By switching to manual you remove that problem.
Switching to Auto mode may allow autofocus because it turns the AF illuminator on. ...
14
Your choices are:
Autofocus using some bright/contrasty point at infinity, switch to manual and don't touch the focus any more (still it's a good idea to verify your focus between shots).
Focus manually (again using some bright point; most of the cameras will confirm focus, if it agrees with you, this can be helpful, but don't rely on it).
Focus using the ...
14
If anything using a lens hood is more important in low light than in normal circumstances. I do a lot of low / available light photography with long exposures (20 - 30 secs) where glare and flare are often a big problem which you cannot easily anticipate as you do not 'see' these effects with the naked eye under low light conditions. I always use a lens ...
13
Take a tripod and experiment!
Different displays will suit different settings. Is it going to be mainly rockets, or will there be roman candles? Is the scenery worth capturing? And etc.
From experience you're going to want a tripod as your exposures won't be in the handheld range. I would also err toward very long exposures and shoot often — you're more ...
13
What settings/properties of a camera affect how it takes pictures in poor lighting?
Size of the sensels, not the size of the sensor itself.
Sensel size depends on the sensor size, the number of pixels, and some physical aspects of the sensor design. For a given format--that is, sensor size--as the number of pixels goes up, the sensel size goes down, ...
13
The colour of light is a strong visual cue that it is night time. Strong blues trick the brain and can make a well lit scene look like night. Making artificial lights extra warm (orangy) further enhances the contrast to the cool "moonlight". Lighting obliquely also seems to help as it suggests the scene is darker whilst maintaining details. Here is an ...
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Some of the following suggestions will depend on your camera (I have a Nikon so I'm not sure about Canons).
Rather than press the shutter button directly, try using a remote shutter release or alternatively there may be a timer function which delays the shutter - this will allow (at least some) vibrations to settle down.
Look in your camera manual to see ...
12
Note: The dark adjusted human eye can detect a single photon!
Short: About 5 picolumen per pixel with the best commercial DSLRs such as a Nikon D3s.
Long :-) :
Minimum detectable light source will depend on camera and how much of the image area the source occupies. For best detectability, a source will be "brightest" if all it's energy arrives in a ...
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I think that you can be pleased with the overall result given the equipment that you are using. You are fighting against effects which are unbeatable without cheating and compromise. If you want substantially better you need better equipment or you need to "cheat" or both.
There are several apparent affects at work here.
As Matt says, there are ...
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The problem with the prime 35mm is that in order to frame your shot properly, you'll need good mobility. Which you may not always have in a busy and crowded car show. So I would give one point to the 18-200 for that: It'll let you frame your shots even if you can't get yourself at the exact right position you'd need with the 35.
Then, the thing is: it's a ...
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If you want to focus on the stars there are many ways to accomplish this.
A few possibilities are:
A right angle finder with magnification (I've used a Hoodman with 2.5x magnification). Choose a bright star to focus on.
A Hartmann or Bahtinov mask (can be generated online here and here). This is basically a piece of cardboard or plastic with a certain ...
11
Aperture is king. As opposed to higher ISO (noise) and slower shutter speed (blur), a larger aperture (ie: a lower f-number) often results in better-looking pictures in lower light. The lower f-numbers give a shallower depth of field, resulting in blurry backgrounds. This gives a nice separation between the background and your in-focus subject.
A 50mm f/1.8 ...
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In addition to the tripod I use a remote to trigger exposures around 8 second. Or you could set it to 'bulb' (or the equivalent on your camera) and click to open and close the shutter manually with the remote, so you can capture the action you desire.
I've shot fireworks at 200 ISO, no need to go higher, in my experience. In fact I stop down the aperture to ...
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Certainly it's okay to use a lens hood in low light -- it doesn't block anything that would be involved in making the picture unless it's the wrong size or shape for the lens you're using. (In fact, it makes a better lens protector than the oft-suggested UV filter since it usually has a bit of give and doesn't degrade the image at all.)
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Strictly speaking it is NOT the sensor-size that makes it better, it IS the pixel-size.
Larger pixels have more surface areas to capture light and accumulate a higher voltage from the release of electrons when photons (light) hits the surface. The inherent noise being mostly random is therefore relatively lower compared to the higher voltage which increases ...
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In a situation like this there is no substitute for a faster lens. Kids are a challenge to photograph at the best of times but with low light you only have two options flash which kids tend to hate or a faster larger aperture lens. Something like an f/1.8 or f/1.4 prime lens aren't too expensive and let in a lot more light than your kit lens which is f/3.5 ...
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