Help with taking nighttime pics

[almousefan]

I am looking for advice on my digital camera and taking nighttime pics. We were at Disney a couple of weeks ago and after downloading my pics, I noticed that most of my nighttime shots including those of the castle, Epcot ball, TOT all turned out fuzzy. I have a Kodak Easy Share Z740 and usually takes great shots. I tried using the Nighttime setting and I also tried setting the camera up on a steady surface to make sure it wasn't me moving. No luck!

Does anyone have advice on how to take pics at night that won't turn out fuzzy? Thanks for any advice!

 

[Furgus]

Biggest tip, tripod and your timer. Steady surface will work too prob, if you use your cameras timer. Get it set, set the timer for like 5 sec, and press the button. This should allow the camera to settle down after you let go of it.

Good luck.

 

[Groucho]

What I'm guessing that you're seeing is "noise", this is a extremely common ailment with compact point-n-shoot digital cameras. Basically, it's caused by too many megapixels being squeezed out of a very small sensor, and nearly every PnS camera (with a couple exceptions) suffers from this. This is directly related to the ISO level - the higher the ISO, the more noise you get. Going to a higher ISO is often necessary at night though, it allows your image sensor to be more sensitive and not need as much light to get a proper exposure.

Like Furgus, you can extend the shutter time and use a tripod to keep the picture from blurring, while keeping the ISO level low. (This isn't much help when taking a photo of something moving, like a nighttime parade.) Beyond that, there's not much to do when taking the photos.

However, you can use software like Noiseware or Noise Ninja to reduce the levels of noise in your photo after the fact, but you will lose detail and skin tones often become look like plastic. There's a free version of Noiseware you can try, to give you a feel for how it works.

 

[almousefan]

Thanks for the info. I will have to get out my owners manual and see how to extend the shutter time and give that a try. I see I have a lot to learn still about using digital cameras.