FZ HELP!!!

[wastickslinger]

Can someone help me out. Maybe I am expecting too much or maybe just need to do some more research I dont know. Shouldnt I be able to take pretty clear shots with the FZ18 at dusk? I am really struggling. It was free hand but I had no option. I would love to get a few pointers from you guys about low light shooting with this camera. What settings, modes, ect. If I zoomed past about 12Xit got real fuzzy.

Any suggestions, tips?

This is what came of the shots tonight. It was dusk.

[addicted]

dont know anything bout cameras but you could always tell me where you took those pics lol

[boneaddict]

Got to have it on a tripod in low light conditions.  You can slow down your shutter speed but thats hard if the animals are moving at all.  Even in auto mode, just have to have it on a tripod, and hopefully they are standing there lokking at you versus feeding or walking.  Works that way with any camera really.  The higher the magnification the more distorted it will get. 

[wastickslinger]

Thanks Bone. That is what I was thinking. I slowed my shuuter down but it made is worse cause he wouldnt stand still long enough. Guess I need to find them sooner. 

[MuleySniper]

Slinger, are you typing and driving you crazy MF'r???
MS

[wastickslinger]

 

[popeshawnpaul]

What you did wrong is that you didn't have your camera on the fastest ISO possible.  You shot these shots at ISO 800.  You need a faster ISO (larger number) to get these shots at dusk.  I can't see what shutter speed your camera was set at from the exif data but I see you had it on the fastest f-stop of f4.2.  That was good.  I looked up the specifications for your camera and they have the following options for ISO speeds:

Sensitivity Auto ISO
Selectable ISO (100, 200, 400, 800, 1250, 1600)
High Sensitivity Mode (1600-6400)

So you need to look in your manual and figure out how to turn your ISO up to 1600, 3200, and 6400.  That is 3 full stops of light had you put your camera at 6400 ISO instead of 800.  What does that mean?  Your shutter speed was probably 1/15th of a second.  That is really slow.  The faster it is the better it stops the action.  At ISO 6400 in this situation your shutter speed would be 1/125th of a second, much better (1/15 to 1/30 to 1/60 to 1/125)  That would have stopped the action and got you the shot. 

Now you are probably asking me what the downside is to turning up the ISO so high?  Noise or grain.  And since your pictures were already really noisy at ISO 800, then 6400 would have been really noisy.  However, a lot of noise is introduced when your exposure is off as well.  These shots are underexposed and that added quite a bit of noise.  Properly exposed shots at 6400 ISO would have worked in this case.  Remember, you don't want to keep your ISO high all the time because all your shots will be noisy even when the light is good so lower your ISO when the light is good.  Good luck and read that manual on how to adjust your ISO.

[wastickslinger]

Much appreciated. I will play around with it in the yard with the kids running around at night. Practice up a bit so I dont blow too many more close encounters.

Again, thanks for the pointers.

[cohoho]

What you did wrong is that you didn't have your camera on the fastest ISO possible.  You shot these shots at ISO 800.  You need a faster ISO (larger number) to get these shots at dusk.  I can't see what shutter speed your camera was set at from the exif data but I see you had it on the fastest f-stop of f4.2.  That was good.  I looked up the specifications for your camera and they have the following options for ISO speeds:

Sensitivity Auto ISO
Selectable ISO (100, 200, 400, 800, 1250, 1600)
High Sensitivity Mode (1600-6400)

So you need to look in your manual and figure out how to turn your ISO up to 1600, 3200, and 6400.  That is 3 full stops of light had you put your camera at 6400 ISO instead of 800.  What does that mean?  Your shutter speed was probably 1/15th of a second.  That is really slow.  The faster it is the better it stops the action.  At ISO 6400 in this situation your shutter speed would be 1/125th of a second, much better (1/15 to 1/30 to 1/60 to 1/125)  That would have stopped the action and got you the shot. 

Now you are probably asking me what the downside is to turning up the ISO so high?  Noise or grain.  And since your pictures were already really noisy at ISO 800, then 6400 would have been really noisy.  However, a lot of noise is introduced when your exposure is off as well.  These shots are underexposed and that added quite a bit of noise.  Properly exposed shots at 6400 ISO would have worked in this case.  Remember, you don't want to keep your ISO high all the time because all your shots will be noisy even when the light is good so lower your ISO when the light is good.  Good luck and read that manual on how to adjust your ISO.

Yea what he said..... Wow gave a better understanding of why my evening photos look like crap...  Do or should change back for daylight sunny days?

[billythekidrock]

Well it sure is a nice buck.

[popeshawnpaul]

Yeah Cohoho.  Your ISO should match the light outside.  When I start shooting at dawn I start at 800 or 1600 ISO.  I go down to 400 and then eventually to 100 if it's bright enough by 9 or 10AM.  Then in the evening I bump back to ISO 400 and eventually to 1600 or even 3200 at dusk.  You don't want to shoot at a high ISO if you don't need to because it makes your photos more noisy. 

That bring up a good point.  A lot of people ask why do I need a DSLR.  There are many reasons but one of the main ones is the digital sensor in them is much larger than that if the fz18 or other point and shoot cameras.  Because the sensor is larger, they are less noisy.  I can shoot at 1600 ISO and it will look about as good as a point and shoot at 400 ISO.  It's one thing to consider when buying cameras.

[wastickslinger]

I was playing with a few settings tonight and found out how important light is. I turned my ceiling fan on medium speed and wanted to capture the blades as still as possible plying with my shutter mode. The first shot was with no flash. Second shot with flash. WOW. Stopped the blades in stride just by turning on flash!!!!

I could not figure out why sometimes I could get good action shots of the kids and sometimes it was a blur. LIGHTING/Flash is huge.

[wastickslinger]

This is why during the day I can get great shots of critters while they are moving and with poor light I cannot. Now I need to mess with the settings for dusk when flash is not an option.