A question to photographers about night photography
 

I have a quick question:

I want to be able to shoot pictures at night without any light other than natural. I am using a Cannon D80. I get so-so results but the amount of "noise" in the image is driving me crazy.

Which method is best for keeping the amount of noise as low as possible:

1. Keeping my ISO high? Or

2. Keeping my ISO as low as possible but keeping my shutter open longer.

Help!

if the subject is still....

you put the camera to auto or 'b'

then you keep the camera on a stand.

then open the lense for different lenghts of time.

its trial and errer to see what gives you best results.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulb_(photography)

ps

set the iso as low as the camera can go, and keep the shutter open.

Get a Nikon D3S.

I have been trying this with video cameras for quite some time now.

Luckily Canon just changed their sensors to shoot better at night. But still doesn't get quite the look I was going for.

You see those incredible shots of the stars without any extra light and they are just as crisp as can be.. must take a lot of money.

Hi -

It's not a video camera, it's a still. And I know how to use the B setting - my question was about the "noise" (random pixels) I get when shooting at night. Will a low ISO but extended open shutter mean lots of night time image detail without the noise?

Lowest iso your can go - and long bulb exposures. Usually a 30-sec exposure on 80-100iso will capture almost anything (still) in very low ambient light. Should go without saying to use either a cable release or shutter remote...and tripod.

Remember to close the viewfinder diopter to avoid stray light coming in from behind the cam.

Cool, thanks for the info. And actually I just ran a test myself and you are right. For night shots always use the lowest possible ISO and keep the shutter open longer. You get much nicer images.

Use a tripod so that you can use a very slow shutter speed

Nevermind, lol this thread was answered already.

I'm with this man. If the subject is moving you get some nice effects.

Try using a light meter as well, less trial and error then.

yup............... tripod is a must :2 cents:

Canon D80? Not sure I've heard of that. If it's a digi camera your using, there may be an option for long exposure noise reduction somewhere in the menus, this effectively means that a second 'black' exposure is taken after each shot you take and it merges the two images together to eliminate/reduce noise.

This also means that your time between taking shots is increased by 2. If you take a 2 minute exposure, the 'black' exposure the camera takes for you will be 2 mins also.

Something to try and see if it works for you.