# Taking photos in low light, help needed!



## Lion (Sep 4, 2006)

I always have to adjust my pics on low light, now ive got ons of those Fujifilm S9600 (great cam  ) 
But whenever i try night pics i can never seem to get it right.
Can someone please tell me what settings & method i need to get good pics? 
I've tryed just forcing the flash in auto mode, but this is the kind of results i get...


----------



## -ROM- (Feb 23, 2007)

You need to up the ISO as high as it can go.


----------



## Lion (Sep 4, 2006)

ISO, is that shutter speed?
Cheers


----------



## CK888 (Apr 23, 2006)

Put cam on the tripod/wall, use manual mode (if you have) play with the shutter speeds and have the aperture wide open (I prefer this than cranking up ISO)


----------



## Lion (Sep 4, 2006)

yes its fully adjustable mate, thanks i'll give it a go.
Just found the iso speed  
Cheers


----------



## -ROM- (Feb 23, 2007)

ISO is how sensitive the camera's sensor is to light, look up in your manual how to increase it....

As suggested above if you have a tripod then decreasing the shutter speed is another solution, but how often do you carry a tripod with you?


----------



## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

The higher the ISO the noisyer (grainyer) the image will be, night pics can be taken at lower ISO speeds, just a longer shutter time needed, if your camera has shutter and aperture priority try setting the aperture, say f8 and allow the camera to select the speed but as said already a tripod or wall are a must.


----------



## Lion (Sep 4, 2006)

S500 said:


> The higher the ISO the noisyer (grainyer) the image will be, night pics can be taken at lower ISO speeds, just a longer shutter time needed, if your camera has shutter and aperture priority try setting the aperture, say f8 and allow the camera to select the speed but as said already a tripod or wall are a must.


Cheers :thumb: 
I've been thinking about getting a tripod anyway, as my nerves are as shot as a 90 yr old lol.

Those gorilla pods look ok to carry around.


----------



## Guest (Mar 9, 2008)

as said mate try upping the iso a bit
and then opening the apature right up to let as much natural light in and the camera will set the shutter speed 

i used to be able to work these things out easy but got new camera and still trying to figure it all out on the new one


----------



## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

^^^^^ opening the aperture right up will give you a very shallow depth of field, with a steadied camera (maybe not tonight) a longer exposure and smaller aperture is a good starting point, but there again the whole beauty of photography is experimenting!


----------



## Guest (Mar 9, 2008)

S500 said:


> ^^^^^ opening the aperture right up will give you a very shallow depth of field, with a steadied camera (maybe not tonight) a longer exposure and smaller aperture is a good starting point, but there again the whole beauty of photography is experimenting!


must be more tired than a thought if i put that oooops!!!

i meant a longer exposure not bigger aperture:thumb:


----------



## jedi-knight83 (Aug 11, 2006)

keeping the lense zoomed out will help as on those fixed lens fujis they have a sliding max appature depending on the focal length... so for instance if your fully zoomed out you can get an f4 (not exactly sure on the exact spec of this camera but take this as an example) thus allowing you to use a faster shutter... thus avoiding shake.. and still capture alot of light....

.. as you zoom in the max apature will become smaller.. maybe around f5.6 and then you will need to slow the shutter down to capture the same light giving more shake.

In the complete dark though you will just need a tripod and a shutter speed anything from 1-10 seconds.


----------



## GateKiller (Jul 6, 2007)

You have the following options:

> Putting on a tripod and
> Decreasing the shutter speed
> Opening the apature
> External Flash Guns
> Increasing the ISO as a last resort

Any of these should help you and should be done in that order to keep the quality of the pics.

Stephen x


----------



## -ROM- (Feb 23, 2007)

GateKiller said:


> You have the following options:
> 
> > Putting on a tripod and
> > Decreasing the shutter speed
> ...


On compact/bridges cameras a long shutter speed is practically as bad for noise as high ISO as the sensor has such a small surface area with so many pixels crammed in to it that is gets hot and this causes noise in the same way as high ISO will.


----------



## GateKiller (Jul 6, 2007)

rmorgan84 said:


> On compact/bridges cameras a long shutter speed is practically as bad for noise as high ISO as the sensor has such a small surface area with so many pixels crammed in to it that is gets hot and this causes noise in the same way as high ISO will.


I suppose my next advise would be to buy a DSLR


----------



## jedi-knight83 (Aug 11, 2006)

a few low light with the settings aswell all on a tripod









Fuji s9500
shutter 1/9
aperture f3.4
iso 80









nikon d200
shutter 1/8
aperture f2.8
iso 200









Nikon d200
shutter 9sec
aperture f8
iso 200









Nikon d200
shutter 30sec
aperture f5.6
iso 250


----------



## jedi-knight83 (Aug 11, 2006)

GateKiller said:


> I suppose my next advise would be to buy a DSLR


no the fuji 9600 will handle long exposure... see my pictures above. 3 are with my nikon but 1 is with my old fuji


----------



## -ROM- (Feb 23, 2007)

1/9 is hardly a long exposure.


----------



## Jackster1 (Jun 18, 2007)

> 1/9 is hardly a long exposure.


No, but it does warrant a tripod....


----------



## matt (Jun 29, 2006)

GateKiller said:


> You have the following options:
> 
> > Putting on a tripod and
> > Decreasing the shutter speed
> ...


Is that a little kiss after your name Stephen or is it the first letter of your surname??!! Or is there some love goin on?! :lol:


----------



## Lion (Sep 4, 2006)

matt said:


> Is that a little kiss after your name Stephen or is it the first letter of your surname??!! Or is there some love goin on?! :lol:


:lol:








Cheers for the help everyone!


----------

