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Low light street snapshots (10 pics S5 Pro)

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hpicckcy

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My initial impression of the S5 was that it's capable of better high ISOs and Auto WB than my previous dSLR, the Nikon D80. I therefore decided to select Auto ISO (1600) and Auto WB in trying it out further... I've now taken over 2,000 pics; pleasantly surprised that I don't feel much need to change the settings and that I can concentrate my attention on composing and capturing the "moment". :-)

Hope you'll enjoy these snap shots:



1. Curious eyes @ F4.2, 1/28s, ISO 1600



2. Grace... @ F4.5, 1/30s, ISO 1600



3. The old Central Police Station @ F4, 1/28s, ISO 1600, EV -1/3



4. A pawn shop and The Exchange Square @ F6.3, 1/60s, ISO 1000



5. "The Index is up again..." @ F5.6, 1/60s, ISO 640, EV -1/3



6. The Legislative Council Building & Two IFC @ F4, 1/20s, ISO 1600



7. A risky job... @ F3.5, 1/30s, ISO 1600



8. Eye-catching food @ F5.6, 1/60s, ISO 640, EV +1/3



9. Mexican street performers @ F4, 1/60s, ISO 800, EV -1.33



10. Four ladies... @ F4.5, 1/100s, ISO 800, EV -2/3

As always, comments and advice will be much appreciated.

Best regards
Hugo



‘Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.’
Henri Cartier Bresson

http://www.photo.net/photos/hpic
http://hugopoon.blogspot.com
 
You have the courage.
Night shots are a real challenge.
I like the last one best, great composition, colors and focal plane.

--
 
SteveMac said:
These are wonderful, Hugo... especially, for me, the juxtapositions
of fake and real life... and thanks for sharing settings, I'm still
getting to grips with my S5, especially at night!

Cheers

Steve
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemac/
Click to expand...
I guess my previous experiences with the Fuji F-series and the Nikon D80 help me alot in handling the S5. Compared to the F-series that are prone to "blow" highlights and the D80 that has a somewhat "difficult to predict" exposure (metering) behaviour, the S5 is a relatively straightforward machine, thanks to its reliable and consistent auto modes...

One thing though - I notice that the S5 is underexposing a little (1/6 step). Nevertheless, this is easily remedied using the "Fine Tune Exposure" option.

Have fun and take care,
Hugo

‘Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.’
Henri Cartier Bresson

http://www.photo.net/photos/hpic
http://hugopoon.blogspot.com
 
Zarathustra said:
You have the courage.
Night shots are a real challenge.
I like the last one best, great composition, colors and focal plane.

--
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot Zarathustra!!!

Only during the night, I can be a free man again ... all my time and energy during the day have to be devoted to my job!

The last one is my fav too... When I was drawn to the scene, I just had to take the shot! :-)

Best regards,
Hugo

‘Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.’
Henri Cartier Bresson

http://www.photo.net/photos/hpic
http://hugopoon.blogspot.com
 
Hugo, I simply cannot thank you enough for posting some real pictures taken with the S5! Sharp and @ 1600 in poor light! Whew, finally... You are a photo god among photo geeks!

Really good pictures too! I especially like the last one of the ladies walking.
--
Dennis
 
hi hugo,

i was wondering if you could post a couple at their full resolution? these look better to me than anything else i have seen so far. many S5 hi iso shots have been totally dissappointing. these seem to differ from what i have seen so far...well lets say at this resolution they look very good to me. downsizing usually helps reduce noise.

is there "automatic" NR in the higher ISO's on the S5? are you able to adjust the NR at all? can you dissable the NR? did you ever shoot with the S3? is so what is your impression as to how the two cameras compare and how they interpet low light with their HI ISO's.

i looked at your site and you work is incredible....very creative and interesting. its nice to see photos that have the photographers unique "thumbprint" etched into their art. very unique.

very fine work!
thanks,
david
http://www.davidprobst.com
hpicckcy said:
My initial impression of the S5 was that it's capable of better
high ISOs and Auto WB than my previous dSLR, the Nikon D80. I
therefore decided to select Auto ISO (1600) and Auto WB in trying
it out further... I've now taken over 2,000 pics; pleasantly
surprised that I don't feel much need to change the settings and
that I can concentrate my attention on composing and capturing the
"moment". :-)

Hope you'll enjoy these snap shots:



1. Curious eyes @ F4.2, 1/28s, ISO 1600



2. Grace... @ F4.5, 1/30s, ISO 1600



3. The old Central Police Station @ F4, 1/28s, ISO 1600, EV -1/3



4. A pawn shop and The Exchange Square @ F6.3, 1/60s, ISO 1000



5. "The Index is up again..." @ F5.6, 1/60s, ISO 640, EV -1/3



6. The Legislative Council Building & Two IFC @ F4, 1/20s, ISO 1600



7. A risky job... @ F3.5, 1/30s, ISO 1600



8. Eye-catching food @ F5.6, 1/60s, ISO 640, EV +1/3



9. Mexican street performers @ F4, 1/60s, ISO 800, EV -1.33



10. Four ladies... @ F4.5, 1/100s, ISO 800, EV -2/3

As always, comments and advice will be much appreciated.

Best regards
Hugo



‘Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and
when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can
make them come back again.’
Henri Cartier Bresson

http://www.photo.net/photos/hpic
http://hugopoon.blogspot.com
Click to expand...
 
Hi Hugo,

Shot in Auto WB, and I think they turned out pretty well indeed. 2000 shots already! Don't forget to buy your wife some flowers on the way home ;o)

Love the dog in shot 1 - I didn't see any when I'm in HK. And I continue to enjoy the way you interact commercial advertising with people and the city.

You must be loving the DOF you are now able to get (compared to your F30) - you can really tell the difference in your shots.

Hong Kong is a lot safer than the UK (in the cities mainly), that you are able to walk around with such an expensive camera and nobody tries to steal it. In London, you don't have the confidence to show anything worth stealing when out on your own in the dark. (Unless you're able to take care of yourself I mean).

The only problem I always get, when shooting with an SLR (no DSLR yet), is that I often get told off by security and warned that I'll be taken to court if I use any shots commercially (the government is even trying to licence [pro] photograpers over here now! - see: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1000&message=22144287 ). Hence the buying of the F30, which, as you know, allows you to get away with not looking like a pro :o)

Keep up the good work, and I'll keep an eye out every week for you're posts.

Regards

Ian
 
hpicckcy said:
My initial impression of the S5 was that it's capable of better
high ISOs and Auto WB than my previous dSLR, the Nikon D80. I
therefore decided to select Auto ISO (1600) and Auto WB in trying
it out further... I've now taken over 2,000 pics; pleasantly
surprised that I don't feel much need to change the settings and
that I can concentrate my attention on composing and capturing the
"moment". :-)

Hope you'll enjoy these snap shots:
Click to expand...
Yes I did
And I like your gallerys as-well

You should buy your self a tripod... hand holding is nice but you need real steady hands at 20th of a second.. at night the more still you are with the camera the better ...not that I see movement in these but I know for myself a 20th of a second is pushing it.

And I see you used Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 I'm not sure if you can do Raw with this version BUT if you were to shot these in raw you will see it is sharper and have less noise ... the lower the ISO the better. I found ISO 100 for night shots works the best on the S3.

Good luck and keep posting

http://www.fotomat.net
hpicckcy said:
‘Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and
when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can
make them come back again.’
Henri Cartier Bresson

http://www.photo.net/photos/hpic
http://hugopoon.blogspot.com
Click to expand...
 
Good work Hugo! thanks for sharing.

Btw, your remark about S5 beeing better than D80 in low light is interesting for the S5 bashers... knowing that D80 in commonly accepted by them as beeing superior to D200 in that matter...

Regards
--
Paulo Abreu,

'It is not worthy to make a video of your life - just keep the best moments in pictures!'
 
these shots dont look anything like all of the other "painted" type S5 shots we have seen so far...whats up with that?

is it just an issue of turning off NR on the S5 to be able to get clean natural looking shots like these vs the cheese we have been seeing elseware?
david
http://www.davidprobst.com
 
It makes my day to read such incredibly wonderful comments as yours, though they're also making me blush.:-) My sincere thanks to everyone!!!

Your kind response is a superb encouragement especially because I lack both formal training in photography and experience in digital equipments... Having got started only two years ago, this hobby has turned to such a passion (or even obsession). And when my eyes see "something" and my heart feels it too, I'll do anything to capture that moment!:-)

But on the other hand, I must admit that I've seldom felt interested in pixel peeping. What I have been striving is to capture the mood of the scene; and to preserve / enhance that feeling (rather than to create one) through some mild PP works... Moreover, having got so many photos to edit but so little time to do it, I'm keeping my PP workflow as simple as possible. Here's a summary of my standard PP workflow (PS Elements 3.0):

1. noise reduction with Neat Image (if needed),

2. shadows and highlights (if needed),

3. contrast / local contrast enhancement (to enhance clarity and remove hazy look),

4. USM,

5. desaturate or remove color (to reduce the distractions of the colorful details),

6. contrast again (to increase the visual impact of a b&w conversion),

7. add a slight sepia (only if it adds to the mood).

Pretty elementary and primitive, aren't they...

Regarding the camera settings, I'm basically using the "Standard" and "Auto" options as long as they're producing satisfying results:

Film simulation, color, tone, noise reduction – Standard

ISO, white balance – Auto

DR – 400%

Sharpness – Medium hard

Quality – Fine (what a shame, I have yet to shoot in RAW)

Recording pixels – L 4256x2848

Fine Tune Exposure – +1/6

LCD brightness – -1

Comments and advice will be much appreciated.

Always learning, experimenting, seeking inspirations and having fun in sharing ...

Best regards
Hugo



‘Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.’
Henri Cartier Bresson

http://www.photo.net/photos/hpic
http://hugopoon.blogspot.com
 
hi hpicckcy,

thanks for the detailed rundown of your workflow and settings for the S5.

would it be possible to post 1 or 2 of these shots at full resolution so we all can study them in photoshop? since these appear to be the best hi iso's so far from the S5 it would be helpful to get a closer more discreet look at them.

thanks in advance...keep up the fine work!

david
http://www.davidprobst.com

p.s. i like you philosophy on shooting photos!
 
David, two pics have been sent to you...

Thanks again and best regards,
Hugo

‘Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.’
Henri Cartier Bresson

http://www.photo.net/photos/hpic
http://hugopoon.blogspot.com
megapixeldave said:
hi hpicckcy,

thanks for the detailed rundown of your workflow and settings for
the S5.

would it be possible to post 1 or 2 of these shots at full
resolution so we all can study them in photoshop? since these
appear to be the best hi iso's so far from the S5 it would be
helpful to get a closer more discreet look at them.

thanks in advance...keep up the fine work!

david
http://www.davidprobst.com

p.s. i like you philosophy on shooting photos!
Click to expand...
 
Excellent photos, I love how nice the night shots are. I was surprised to had gotten a S5 Pro, I thought you had bought a Nikon, but as I uderstand the S5 is about the best camera there is.
JD
 
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