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What settings good for light filled shot?

291 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Mootsfox, 
iandroo888
My cousin and I are planning on going down to the strip tonight to take some pictures. Trying to find out what settings are best for taking pictures of lots of lights during night time i.e. casinos. Lol

with current nub experience, id say to use, fast shutter speed?

i only have the d5000 and 18-55mm. he had d90, 18-105mm and 35mm. i wont get the 50mm till january when my other cousin comes.
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tK FuRY
it's kind of hard to tell you exactly what settings to use because we don't know what available lighting there will be.

to capture a full bright view, you will probably end up going tripod with >1" shutter speed @ f/5.6 or higher to get everything in tack focus.
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iandroo888
avail lightning? all the casinos, sign boards, cars, etc. xD
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tK FuRY
Probably the best advice we can give is, just try it. Try a decent handheld shutter speed (depending on how steady your technique is) go for like 120th, and then work on it from there.

Bump up your ISO a few stops also so you can work with 3.5/5.6 and have a decent speed.
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iandroo888
what does ISO do?
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GoneTomorrow
Quote:

Originally Posted by iandroo888 View Post
what does ISO do?
ISO increases the gain of the sensor and makes it more sensitive to incoming light, giving you a boost in shutter speed and consequently allowing you to stop down the aperture if necessary. However, it comes at cost when you get past a certain ISO. 800 and above can be fairly noisy in low light.
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tK FuRY
Quote:


Originally Posted by GoneTomorrow
View Post

ISO increases the gain of the sensor and makes it more sensitive to incoming light, giving you a boost in shutter speed and consequently allowing you to stop down the aperture if necessary. However, it comes at cost when you get past a certain ISO. 800 and above can be fairly noisy in low light.


Gone has hit the nail on the head.
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iandroo888
hmmm i have a feeling we gonna gonna be standing there for a while tryin to get it right hahaha
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tK FuRY
Lol, well do this.

Base ISO 400. (you can bump it up more if metering says you need a really slow Shutterspeed)
the largest aperture you can get for the focal length you're going to be using.
That's pretty much it lol.

If you want a really typical city night shot, where everything is bright and the lights of moving cars are just beams of light;

ISO 200/base ISO
f/8 or smaller
1-30 second shutter speed.

If you're going to be capturing motion.

ISO 800 or whatever ISO it takes for you to get a 1/60th 1/100th or faster shutter speed.
f/3.5
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Mootsfox
  • Stay at 18mm if you can.
  • Stay at or below ISO 400.
  • VR on - a MUST
You'd be better off in full Manual at f/4 or f/5.6. f/3.5 which is the max is a bit soft. Take a few shots using the metering and find out what shutter speed works best for what you want.

With VR on, at 18mm, you can get sharp images at as slow as 1/2 to 1/4" if you are careful.
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