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Focus at Night

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Shekhar Wadekar

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Hello STFers,

I have a question for the wise. When I was in Florida, I was trying to take pictures of Cinderella's castle at night with all the lights etc. I found I was unable to focus on the building, even though there seemed to be plenty of light to focus on.
What's the secret? Did I miss something?
Thanks in advance,
Shekhar
--
DSCF-717
 
Anyone?
S
Shekhar Wadekar said:
Hello STFers,
I have a question for the wise. When I was in Florida, I was trying
to take pictures of Cinderella's castle at night with all the
lights etc. I found I was unable to focus on the building, even
though there seemed to be plenty of light to focus on.
What's the secret? Did I miss something?
Thanks in advance,
Shekhar
--
DSCF-717
Click to expand...
--
DSCF-717
 
Hi Shekhar
How are you?
I never had a problem focusing at night.
Though I have not shot buildings that often.
I did post that one of a light filled temple near laxmi rd.
for you along time ago...not a problem.
I have no idea why you would have an issue.
Sony focuses excellently at night in my experience.
Best wishes..
Bruce
Shekhar Wadekar said:
Shekhar Wadekar said:
Hello STFers,
I have a question for the wise. When I was in Florida, I was trying
to take pictures of Cinderella's castle at night with all the
lights etc. I found I was unable to focus on the building, even
though there seemed to be plenty of light to focus on.
What's the secret? Did I miss something?
Thanks in advance,
Shekhar
--
DSCF-717
Click to expand...
--
DSCF-717
Click to expand...
 
Actually I've been able to take some great photos at night of lit up buildings with my 717. I use shutter prioriety mode with auto focus. No secrets really. Here's a sample.



--
A picture is worth a thousand words, at least....
 
Shekhar,

I'm not familar with the 717, I'm using the 828 and don't have any problems with night shots. However, I use a tripod whenever possible.

Are you using a tripod? At night you end up with a slower shutter speed and many times it's difficult to hold the camera still enough to get a sharp pic.

Additionally, if your using telephoto it will also affect the sharpness w/o a tripod.

--
Steve
Sony F828
http://www.pbase.com/txan
 
Hi Bruce,
Long time no spea...how are you? How's summer?
My lens kept trying to focus and kept defocusing....strange...
Regards,
S
Bvcuma said:
Shekhar Wadekar said:
Shekhar Wadekar said:
Hello STFers,
I have a question for the wise. When I was in Florida, I was trying
to take pictures of Cinderella's castle at night with all the
lights etc. I found I was unable to focus on the building, even
though there seemed to be plenty of light to focus on.
What's the secret? Did I miss something?
Thanks in advance,
Shekhar
--
DSCF-717
Click to expand...
--
DSCF-717
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
DSCF-717
 
Hi Steve,

I was not using a tripod, so maybe that's what the problem was....I'll try again.
Thanks for the input,
Shekhar
TXan said:
Shekhar,

I'm not familar with the 717, I'm using the 828 and don't have any
problems with night shots. However, I use a tripod whenever
possible.
Are you using a tripod? At night you end up with a slower shutter
speed and many times it's difficult to hold the camera still enough
to get a sharp pic.

Additionally, if your using telephoto it will also affect the
sharpness w/o a tripod.

--
Steve
Sony F828
http://www.pbase.com/txan
Click to expand...
--
DSCF-717
 
Hi Dan
My night pictures are horrid enough that I won't even botherr to post..

I didn't think to use shutter priority, but I'll try again. My focus kept going in and out....
Regards,
Shekhar
DanC said:
Actually I've been able to take some great photos at night of lit
up buildings with my 717. I use shutter prioriety mode with auto
focus. No secrets really. Here's a sample.



--
A picture is worth a thousand words, at least....
Click to expand...
--
DSCF-717
 
One thing you might want to try for night photos if the AF system is hunting a lot is to switch to Manual Focus and set focus manually to infinity. Also, switch to Aperture-Priority mode and set your aperture to F4.0 or higher to maximize DOF (depth of field).

I have found my F717's AF system to be very reliable when it comes to taking night shots and have been generally very impressed with the results at night. But I do switch to manual focus set to infinity if I find the AF system hunting around.

Hope this helps,

--
Salman Ahmed
http://www.pbase.com/ssahmed
 
Yes getting hot..
but it is not soo bad.
The occasional hot spells in Canada can compete imo.
: )

Regarding focusing
just make sure your hologram AF is on.
But I am sure it is...so, who knows
Shekhar Wadekar said:
Bvcuma said:
Shekhar Wadekar said:
Shekhar Wadekar said:
Hello STFers,
I have a question for the wise. When I was in Florida, I was trying
to take pictures of Cinderella's castle at night with all the
lights etc. I found I was unable to focus on the building, even
though there seemed to be plenty of light to focus on.
What's the secret? Did I miss something?
Thanks in advance,
Shekhar
--
DSCF-717
Click to expand...
--
DSCF-717
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
DSCF-717
Click to expand...
 
Shekhar

Agree with everyone re shutter priority and tripod,
although you can probably get away with it without a tripod,
if you brace the camera against an immovable something :-)

I find that with night subjects like floodlit buildings, I also
have to experiment with shutter speed a few times,
maybe betw a sloooow 3 or 4 and up to 8, or wherever.

I usually take a few at different speeds until it seems right.

Good luck,
Keith
 
Shekhar Wadekar said:
Hello STFers,
I have a question for the wise. When I was in Florida, I was trying
to take pictures of Cinderella's castle at night with all the
lights etc. I found I was unable to focus on the building, even
though there seemed to be plenty of light to focus on.
What's the secret? Did I miss something?
Thanks in advance,
Shekhar
--
DSCF-717
Click to expand...


Shekhar,

I had a similar problem with the same exact spot in front of cindarella's castle with autofocus. At the time I was shooting with an S85. I tried some manual modes but got less than average pictures. Then I took the picture on auto mode with no flash...and I took it in front of a lit-up statue so that both the castle in the background and the statue would be in focus. This worked and the picture came out decent. Hope this helps for next time.
 
Thanks Salman! I will set out tonight and experiment a bit..
Shekhar
555 SWRT said:
One thing you might want to try for night photos if the AF system
is hunting a lot is to switch to Manual Focus and set focus
manually to infinity. Also, switch to Aperture-Priority mode and
set your aperture to F4.0 or higher to maximize DOF (depth of
field).

I have found my F717's AF system to be very reliable when it comes
to taking night shots and have been generally very impressed with
the results at night. But I do switch to manual focus set to
infinity if I find the AF system hunting around.

Hope this helps,

--
Salman Ahmed
http://www.pbase.com/ssahmed
Click to expand...
--
DSCF-717
 
Thanks Keith, appreciate the insight!
Shekhar
Keith Aitken said:
Shekhar

Agree with everyone re shutter priority and tripod,
although you can probably get away with it without a tripod,
if you brace the camera against an immovable something :-)

I find that with night subjects like floodlit buildings, I also
have to experiment with shutter speed a few times,
maybe betw a sloooow 3 or 4 and up to 8, or wherever.

I usually take a few at different speeds until it seems right.

Good luck,
Keith
Click to expand...
--
DSCF-717
 
That's precisely where I had problems.....I'll try your method....thanks for the advise.
Shekhar
zubikov said:
Shekhar Wadekar said:
Hello STFers,
I have a question for the wise. When I was in Florida, I was trying
to take pictures of Cinderella's castle at night with all the
lights etc. I found I was unable to focus on the building, even
though there seemed to be plenty of light to focus on.
What's the secret? Did I miss something?
Thanks in advance,
Shekhar
--
DSCF-717
Click to expand...


Shekhar,

I had a similar problem with the same exact spot in front of
cindarella's castle with autofocus. At the time I was shooting with
an S85. I tried some manual modes but got less than average
pictures. Then I took the picture on auto mode with no flash...and
I took it in front of a lit-up statue so that both the castle in
the background and the statue would be in focus. This worked and
the picture came out decent. Hope this helps for next time.
Click to expand...
--
DSCF-717
 
i got this one by putting a dsc-s75 into the night scenes mode and propping the camera against a fence post in the hub. the image has been downsized. if you want to see the original, i will email it to you but it came out pretty sharp. if i had used a tripod it would be razor sharp.

good topic



--
DSC-V1, used to have a DSC-P30 and DSC-S75...moving on up!!

http://img39.photobucket.com/albums/v121/timned88/
 
Hi Timned,

Sorry, can't view your picture...but I think I probably didn't steady the camera enough....reviewing my pictures, it appears that the fuzziness may be camera motion as opposed to focus issues...
Regards,
Shekhar
timned88 said:
http://img39.photobucket.com/albums/v121/timned88/Disney%20World/?action=view ¤t=castle_statue_night_wallpaper.jpg
--
DSC-V1, used to have a DSC-P30 and DSC-S75...moving on up!!

http://img39.photobucket.com/albums/v121/timned88/
Click to expand...
--
DSCF-717
 

Shekhar Wadekar said:
Hello STFers,
I have a question for the wise. When I was in Florida, I was trying
to take pictures of Cinderella's castle at night with all the
lights etc. I found I was unable to focus on the building, even
though there seemed to be plenty of light to focus on.
What's the secret? Did I miss something?
Thanks in advance,
Shekhar
--
DSCF-717
Click to expand...
--
DSC-V1, used to have a DSC-P30 and DSC-S75...moving on up!!

http://img39.photobucket.com/albums/v121/timned88/
 
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