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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> low light
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09/09/2003 11:10:17 PM · #1
Does anyone have any good tips for low light indoor/outdoor digital photography. Such as shutter, aperture, iso settings ect, or any other tips outside the obvious tripod, or use of flash. I have an oly 750 and seem to be getting a lot of blurred indoor shots. I am pretty much a novice with the different camera settings.
09/09/2003 11:28:43 PM · #2
I know the obvious is the tripod, but that's also the solution to your blurred indoor shots. Use a tripod, use the camera's timer. If you have problems with grainy/noisy shots, use ISO 100. Use the tripod. Use the tripod. If your camera doesn't shake, you won't get blurry shots. Use a tripod.
09/10/2003 01:56:17 AM · #3
Okay got ya...thanks
09/10/2003 02:24:05 AM · #4
It depends on what you want to photograph. A tripod is only useful if your subjects are still. If you're wanting to do candid photography, a tripod indoors will likely do little good.

If you're planning to hand-hold the camera, or are photographing moving subjects, you have to look at it as obtaining the fastest shutter speed possible (at any means) while both exposing the scene properly and stopping camera shake and (if necessary) stopping subject motion. This means opening the aperture as wide as possible (the lower the F#, the wider the aperture) and boosting the ISO as high as necessary (some people find the noise from high ISO shots unacceptable, so you'll have to decide on how much you're willing to accept).

A good idea is to set the camera to aperture priority and use the widest aperture possible, and boost the ISO as much as possible and then let the camera decide on the shutter speed. You'll find that with your camera anything below 1/30th will be hard to hand-hold effectively. Wider angles are easier to hand-hold than telephoto shots at given shutter speeds, too. Stick to the 1/shutter speed rule (ie 1/50th for 50mm focal length for the 35mm equivalent on your camera will be the slowest shutter speed possible to ensure a sharp image). This is likely a bit of overkill for the very short-focal length digital cameras (actual focal length on my F717, for instance, is about 9mm to 48mm) but you'd never get a 1/9th handhold on an F717.

If it's still too blurry after all that, get a monopod or a tripod (even if your subjects are moving) to minimize blur from camera shake, and if it's still too dark, well, you'll have to use the flash. Turn the flash setting down as low as possible to get a more natural look.

Make sure to check your images by zooming in playback to check focus/blur. A good idea is to take qick successive shots of the same scene (known as 'poor man's image stabilisation') in order to increase your chances of getting a sharp shot. The benefits of digital...

Cheers.

Message edited by author 2003-09-10 02:29:24.
09/10/2003 02:29:46 AM · #5
Originally posted by john22132:

Does anyone have any good tips for low light indoor/outdoor digital photography. Such as shutter, aperture, iso settings ect, or any other tips outside the obvious tripod, or use of flash. I have an oly 750 and seem to be getting a lot of blurred indoor shots. I am pretty much a novice with the different camera settings.

Try taking a photo of the Moon:
F2.8
Full zoom
ISO 200
EV -2.0


09/10/2003 02:32:46 AM · #6
Now try the same with candle and a white object next to it!
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