Seeking tips for taking better night pics with P&S cameras

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raksrules

raksrules

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I have a modest P&S camera (panasonic LZ8) and as per me, it works quiet well in day shots for normal pictures etc.
But using it at night using the default intelligent auto settings, it does not give good night pics.
Now i am sure the camera is capable of delivering decent night pics, provided i am ready to tinker with the manual settings.
Now my observations of last 24 hours have been as follows.... (please correct me if i am wrong)
1. My camera has aperture priority setting, which i guess aids in better night pics at lower ISO settings ??? I tried with Aperture priority-2 sec timer and camera kept on a railing to support (no using hands and don't have a tripod)

2. For the Program AE settings, i turned off the intelligent ISO and set the ISO to various levels like 100,200,400,800,1600 and found that pics at higher ISO range provide better night shots ?? (streets etc)

3. I have not tried the exposure setting (i am guessing it is important as there is a dedicated exposure button on my camera). The settings are ranging from F3.3 to F8 and seem to be available when aperture priority is used and not available in P mode (program AE). How is this settings used for night shots especially ??
 
Well Higher ISO might provide brighter image but the noise makes the quality of image very less. Instead the best bet for you would be stabilizing the camera by a tripod or handheld shooting techniques so that the image will be crispier.

regarding aperture, its good to shoot on higher f/stop (which is f/3.3) while shooting portraits. and in landscapes lower f/stop (f/8) is better.

and yeah 2-sec timer is very essential to minimize camera shake even while using tripod. (and hold Ur breath also for sometime)
 
The F thing is for exposure right and not aperture. I am not sure if m camera has settings to change the aperture settings but it does have 3 options as Aperture priority, shutter priority and Manual exposure.
 
The LZ8 does have a fully manual exposure mode as well as Aperture priority and Shutter priority modes.

Your best bet would be to rest the camera on a stable surface (or a tripod) and use the timer to release the shutter. This will ensure in well exposed pictures without having to increase ISO. However, this can only be used for non-moving subjects. In aperture priority mode, you have select the f-stop, while the camera selects the shutter speed accordingly and gives you an exposure. Most digicams are already maxed out on their aperture and shutter speed in auto modes anyway, so this might not help a lot, but do try to set the aperture at f/3.3 as it will allow the sensor to collect more light. Do not select an ISO above 400 (even 400 is pushing it) on a digicam, unless you want water colour paintings instead of photographs owing to the aggressive high ISO noise reduction used by these cameras.
 
I don't know this will help or not, but if u keep getting high iso images you might want to buy noiseware plugin for Photoshop, its absolute necessary for some people like me.
 
I had LZ8. It gives quite good result at night for a camera in it' range.

To shoot at night you have to play around in Manual mode. Start with keeping your camera in Aperture Priority mode and then you will come to know what exactly is ISO, Aperture and exposure time( or maybe you can read some tutorials over dps or some other photography web-site). Once you get hang of it, you just need to put your camera in Manual mode and get a tripod.

Here are some the images that I have clicked at time( check EXIF data to know what settings were used):

@Rankala Lake | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

P1040423 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

P1060127 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Day or Night? | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

P1060287 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

SMD | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
 
For using the aperture priority mode properly, i will need to ensure that i keep the camera steady when clicking pics and that means that i will need to get a tripod.

Any suggestions for a cheaper (foldable preferred) tripod ?? May be from ebay.com HK sellers.
 
You get plenty of cheap tripods for P&S cameras in Croma outlets for > Rs. 500. Since you're in the US, a visit to any small camera store should easily do the trick. Shouldn't cost more than $15, IMO.
 
raksrules said:
For using the aperture priority mode properly, i will need to ensure that i keep the camera steady when clicking pics and that means that i will need to get a tripod.

Any suggestions for a cheaper (foldable preferred) tripod ?? May be from ebay.com HK sellers.
Click to expand...

In aperture priority mode you can control Aperture size and ISO of camera, while exposure time is set automatically by camera.

Have a look at some tutorials/tips over here:

Digital Photography Tips and Tutorials
 
pageisgod85 said:
You get plenty of cheap tripods for P&S cameras in Croma outlets for > Rs. 500. Since you're in the US, a visit to any small camera store should easily do the trick. Shouldn't cost more than $15, IMO.
Click to expand...

Can you link me to some websites where i can see what type of tripod i should be getting ? The only tripod i know are those being sold by HK sellers on ebay.com, those 1 $ ones.
 
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