Digital Camera Questions Fire Works

[hrcollectibles]

Hello All

I am looking for digital camera to take on my next trip. I want to take nite time pictures. Can anyone advise me on what digital camera you use.. Thank you

 

[mousermerf]

Pretty much any decent digital camera can get you decent pictures - you moreso have to know how to use it.

I'm by no means an authority, but i do know that just putting a camera on the "Fireworks" setting and snapping away is a recipe for disaster and dissapointment. You need some sort of tripod and either a timer to take the photo after you stopped touching the camera or one of those squeezy things that pushes the button for you.

Touching causing wobbly camera = yuckey photos. Lack of tripod = no hope.

Oh - and a really basic version of Photoshop is your friend. It can correct the majority of mistakes that occur from not being a camera genius. Like wrong exposure settings and such.

 

[ZapperZ]

As mousemerf said, almost any decent digital camera can take a good picture at night, including fireworks. I use a point-and-shoot camera that fits in my pocket, and so far, the quality is rather decent. All you need to know is if the camera either has a built-in fireworks setting, or a manual setting that allows you to turn off the flash and set it to a higher ISO. Knowing that, along with a tripod (or resting it on a stable surface) and timer function, gets you very far in taking night pictures.

Zz.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

There's very little to be added after PhotoDave219s post .......................

 

[mattjs]

I say tackle which camera you want first. The reason being that the particulars of ISO and aperture settings are going to vary depending on what you buy. With a DSLR, PhotoDave has some good suggestions. With say a Powershot though (or any compact point & shoot) many of those tips go out the window.

For example, with a compact, f8 is probably going to be be the smallest aperture available (you won't have f10+). Some shots you'd need to use f8. The sweetspot on a Powershot lens (where it produces the sharpest pics) will actually be more like f4-f5 though. Whether that would be useable for fireworks (or any aperture setting lower than f8) would depend on how close you are (how bright they are) how long you want the shutter open, what part of the show it is (finale is always much brighter), etc.

Also for example, with a point & shoot, ISO800 is going to be really noisy (grainy images). Too noisy to be useable. Long exposures are noisier with a point & shoot too (again much noisier than a DSLR). With a point & shoot, you might actually be inclined to avoid shutter speeds in the 10 second range.

It may sound confusing, but it's really not nearly as complicated as it sounds. It just depends a lot on the particular camera. Once you know what you'll be using, it'll be easier to offer a few good, easy, specific tips (both fireworks, and general flashless night pics).

I wholeheartedly second looking at the Canon Powershots. I use a PowerShot G7 though so I'm totally biased The Powershot "A series", "S series", and "G series" cams are great! Great feature sets, nice internal processing of images, great lenses, and a wide range of prices. I'm guessing you're thinking point & shoot?

The one thing I'd say is an absolute must in a compact camera these days is Image Stabilization. Most point & shoots have it now though, so it's not hard to find. A general fireworks tip with IS though is to turn it off when you're using a tripod, or setting the camera on a railing, or a trash can or whatever (not just for fireworks, but any time the camera is already stabilzed on/against something). I know (at least with Canon) that the IS is always trying to stabilize the image. If the camera's sitting on a railing, or a tripod and there's no camera shake to correct, the stabilizer gets fooled into making corrections anyway...slighty blurring your pics. Just have to remeber to turn it off (and then turn it back on of course when you're just holding the camera again).

What are you thinking you want to spend? $100-$300, $300-$500, no limit (don't we all wish ). Anything you have to have in a camera?...like it has to fit in my shirt pocket, or it has to have 12x zoom, or are you pretty flexible on size/specs?

 

[celticdog]

Another reminder: For roughly every 20 pictures taken, only one may be a keeper. On our last trip, between Wishes and Illuminations, I shot over 6 rolls of film (36 exposure) and got about 15 decent pictures.

This year it will be digital. I should be able to save on developing costs.

In reference to: The National Geographic Field Guide for Photography (2nd Ed). This can sometimes be found at college bookstores relatively cheap. It's a good compact guide that's full of useful information.

 

[Master Yoda]

Another reminder: For roughly every 20 pictures taken, only one may be a keeper. On our last trip, between Wishes and Illuminations, I shot over 6 rolls of film (36 exposure) and got about 15 decent pictures.

This year it will be digital. I should be able to save on developing costs.

In reference to: The National Geographic Field Guide for Photography (2nd Ed). This can sometimes be found at college bookstores relatively cheap. It's a good compact guide that's full of useful information.

This is why I love digital. I keep my camera on continuous mode and take literally hundreds of shots and sort through them later. This works incredibly well when taking action shots and even when just taking pictures of the family. Nine out of ten shots might be crap but the tenth one is just perfect.

 

[celticdog]

This is why I love digital. I keep my camera on continuous mode and take literally hundreds of shots and sort through them later. This works incredibly well when taking action shots and even when just taking pictures of the family. Nine out of ten shots might be crap but the tenth one is just perfect.

This is exactly the reason I switched to digital.

 

[Master Yoda]

I know I would love any tips you can offer any time, on anything photography related. General thoery, whatever. You obviously have years worth of knowledge, so please share it. I for one, think it would great if this board were more active, with tips and that kind of stuff. The catch for me is that I shoot with a Powershot G7, so any time you can throw in a few alternate suggestions for those of us with more limited aperture range, and lousy high ISO, and all the little problems that come with compacts would be hugely appreciated too.

Here's a compact related fireworks question. I see a lot of compact shooters suggestiing f8 with fireworks (seems to universally be the smallest aperture on most P&S cameras). I guess what I'm asking is (disregarding the relation to desired shutter speed)...is there any reason you want/need to get the aperture as small as possible with fireworks?

I mean, ideally (when the shutter speeds work out) I'd generally rather not be right up at the very end of the aperture range. But is there a reason I should be?

In regards to the aperture you have remind yourself of what fireworks actually are...a really bright light. To get that nice cascading effect you need to slow your shutter speed down a little but if you do this with your aperture all the way down the shot will be over exposed.

At least that was the way it was explained to me and it seems to work out pretty well.

Here is a pretty good how to guide on photographing fireworks.

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-photograph-fireworks/

 

[mattjs]

That's a great link. To refine my question, take the discussion on aperture on that page. They're suggesting a range of f8-f16. In that case, I'm guessing they're talking about an SLR/DSLR? Where f8-f16 might be more around the middle of the range for the lens. With compact cameras I often see people suggest you go to f8 and then play with shutter speeds.

On my compact though (and most of them really), f8 is the smallest aperture I have. So to shoot at f8 I'm at the very end of the range. It's not like I don't like the quality I get at the extremes, but whenever possible, I try to back off the very end of the aperture range at least a little. So (in theory, disregarding shutter speed) I'm wondering if there's a particular technical reason with fireworks for me to get as small as I can at f8. Or (if the shutter speeds work out for what I want to capture), from a technical standpoint, can I back the aperture off with equal or better results. One of the reasons fireworks are so tricky is you get so few oportunities to experiment.

 

[NowInc]

Cleaned up all the non-post related stuff, plus the argueing. Keep it clean people