Digital Camera for night time pictures

[ToontownPrincess]

I've been looking for a new digital camera because mine isn't so great with night pictures and doesn't have a decent zoom feature. I found this on a website and it got great reviews :Kodak Z760 Black 6.1 MP Digital Camera CCD 2.2" 153K LCD 3X Optical Zoom 4X Digital Zoom. I was curious is there was anyone here that has this camera and wants to tell me the pros and cons of this camera. Or if anyone knows of a different camera they love I'd really like to hear about it. I'm looking for a camera for less than $200 that takes some nice pictures at night. My Kodak I have now takes beautiful day pictures but the night are very poor quality. I'd appreciate any opinions. THANKS!!!

 

[mabas9395]

Do you want to take night time pictures with or without a flash?
Do you want to take night time pictures with or without a tripod?
Do you want to take night time pictures of moving or still subjects?

Knowing what and how you want to shoot will help give you the best answer.

 

[ToontownPrincess]

Both with or withouth flash, both moving and still (mostly still) and withouth a tripod. I found this camera which is a lot cheaper than the previous one I mentioned :Kodak C743 Silver 7.1MP Digital Camera 1/2.5" CCD 2.4" LCD 3X Optical Zoom 5X Digital Zoom. This is the list of shooting modes :auto, portrait, sport, landscape, night portrait, snow, beach, fireworks, self-portrait, close up, backlight, children, party. I mainly use my camera for my disney vacations. I like to take pictures of me and my family and alot of landscape pictures. I've tried taking pictures of fireworks and the electric water pageant and they were disasters. I LOVE disney at night so I would love to be able to get pictures of that. As you can tell I'm kind of a picture dummy so any info will be helpful!

 

[ToontownPrincess]

bump....can nobody help me???

 

[handicap18]

You can take decent night time pictures with any digital camera. You will need to use a tripod to get the best results. If a tripod is not an option, then you will need to find something solid to place your camera on or lean yourself up against a solid object (tree, fence, wall, etc...), use a slow shutter speed to capture more of the light (for fireworks and buildings at night for example), slowly release the shutter as you hold your breath to help cut the camera shake while hand holding.

If you want to get pictures at night of moving objects then you will need to set the ISO as high as you can (400, 800 or 1600). Keep in mind that P&S camera's will usually display a lot of noise at high ISO's (noise meaning the image will be in focus but will not look sharp, will look more grainy especially in dark area's). However, to stop moving objects you need to have a fast shutter speed. And to get this at night where light is not abundant, the ISO needs to be higher to help compensate.

No matter what camera you have, it is best to practice around your house with different settings before going to Disney. Take pictures of people walking in an area that is somewhat lit, like a downtown street. See what the camera does at different ISO setting and what shutter speeds it gives you. Or maybe a family member standing on a lighted porch. Take a picture of the outside of your house with the outside lights on and maybe even some lights on near windows. This will help you understand what settings to use and what you can get away with while hand holding the camera and/or using a tripod (or other solid object). It will also give you an idea of how much noise the camera will produce at night and what you will find acceptable. Get creative. Think of the kind of pictures you want to take while on vacation and try to replicate the senerio as best you can. Practice, practice, practice.

 

[ukcatfan]

I've been looking for a new digital camera because mine isn't so great with night pictures and doesn't have a decent zoom feature. I found this on a website and it got great reviews :Kodak Z760 Black 6.1 MP Digital Camera CCD 2.2" 153K LCD 3X Optical Zoom 4X Digital Zoom. I was curious is there was anyone here that has this camera and wants to tell me the pros and cons of this camera. Or if anyone knows of a different camera they love I'd really like to hear about it. I'm looking for a camera for less than $200 that takes some nice pictures at night. My Kodak I have now takes beautiful day pictures but the night are very poor quality. I'd appreciate any opinions. THANKS!!!

There are a few things I picked up on while reading your posts.

You currently do not have a decent zoom. By this I am assuming that you have some zoom, but not much. The basic optical zoom on most digital cameras is 3X. The ones you are considering are the same, so do not expect much improvement there. Look for 6X or more to see improvement. Completely ignore the digital zoom stated on any camera. All that it is doing is cropping the image and making it look worse. You can do a better job cropping with just about any editing program.

You are looking to spend less than $200 for nice pictures at night. As it was already stated, about any camera can do this if used correctly for stationary subjects. You might not even need to upgrade. There are some features that help though. If you are going to use a tripod then look for a delay feature. That means that it waits X amount of time to take the pic after you press the button (usu 2 or 10 secs). That eliminates the chance of causing shake by pressing the button. If you want to take handheld pics, then you should look for image stabilization. It goes by many names for different brands, but essentially acts like a virtual tripod by either shifting the glass or image sensor to compensate for movement. It can only do so much though. For long exposures you still need a tripod. It might be tough to find IS for under $200 anyway. If you want low light motion photos, you are probably going to need a camera with some manual controls. Look for shutter priority mode or full manual mode. It also is helpful to be able to have control over the ISO sensitivity. With those features, you should be able to get pretty good shots that will likely make you happy. If you want to get great ones or low light fast motion pics, then you will need to spend more than $200.

Another word of advice; Do not get caught up in the megapixel game. A 6MP DSLR camera will likely blow away a 10MP point & shoot camera. Not all pixels are created equal. The sensor used to capture them is more important. This is just a matter of opinion, but if you plan on viewing on screen, printing mostly 4x6s, and sometimes an 8x10 or so then 4-5MPs is enough. More MPs also mean less pics will fit on each memory card.

Take a look at the "A" series from Canon. They are some of the most highly respected P&S cameras out there. They have all of the auto and scene modes with the addition of manual controls. I am likely to get flamed over this comment, but Kodak is more known for their ease of use and not their image quality. I am not saying that they are bad, just that in general there are other brands that do better. There are even generic brands that can spit out decent quality these days. I will give Kodak credit, they do great marketing. But do not take my advice on brand, I suggest that you go out to a store and try some out for yourself. Pay attention to how they feel in your hands because if it is uncomfortable, then who cares how nice the pics are. Pick out a few you like and then read their reviews on places like Steve's and DCResource. What some find to be unacceptable and annoying others find to be acceptable and useful. It is all about what makes you happy and nothing else.

Good luck!

Kevin

 

[Groucho]

ukcatfan is absolutely right about the megapixels. Chances are that most people's photos don't go further than the screen, and often get downsized anyway. I have a screensaver going of photos taken with both my old 2 megapixel 6x zoom PnS and my 5 megapixel 12x zoom PnS and much as I don't like to say it, the 2mp ones are consistently higher quality - and they're all shrunk down, since even the 2mp produces 1600x1200 photos, far larger than you'd view on your monitor (unless you're got a really huge monitor!)

And, to stay on topic, neither one worked very well at night. This is a problem with most any camera ever made, digital or not. Nighttime or dim indoor photography is, by its very nature, more challenging than bright outdoor photography. There are no magic cameras that will take consistently take great photos of outdoors activities. (I love when you see a nighttime sporting event, and you see spectator camera flashes going off - like a flash is going to help when you're a couple hundred feet away from the action!) In other words, hope for the best but don't be surprised if you find that you're still not overjoyed with the night photos produced by any camera, especially any under-$200 one.

The other problem with higher megapixels is that the sensor is usually the same size, so you end up with more noise, especially visible in low light situations - exactly what you don't want. (This was the killer with my 5 mp camera, and why I soon moved on to a DSLR.)