What the...? Tech support please?

[militarymama]

I like to think that I'm a smart person. But nothing confuses me faster than acronyms in my camera manual. Except for maybe calculus, but that belongs on another forum.

I have a Canon PowerShot A95. I want to take nice night shots. I found the following quotes in my camera's instruction manual. After reading them multiple times, they seem contradictory to me. Can anyone explain this to me (using short, non-acronymy phrases)?

"The ISO speed is the numeric representation of the camera's sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO speed, the higher the sensitivity. A high ISO speed allows you to shoot images in dark indoor or outdoor conditions without a flash and also helps prevent blurred images due to camera shake."

"Higher ISO speeds increase the image noise. To take clean images, use as low an ISO speed as possible."

Thanks for any clarification you can offer!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

please refer to my lesson thread regarding ISO. ISO is no longer an acronym but it's a value. Just like saying 18 miles or $20 or 15 Knots.

 

[jann1033]

I like to think that I'm a smart person. But nothing confuses me faster than acronyms in my camera manual. Except for maybe calculus, but that belongs on another forum.

I have a Canon PowerShot A95. I want to take nice night shots. I found the following quotes in my camera's instruction manual. After reading them multiple times, they seem contradictory to me. Can anyone explain this to me (using short, non-acronymy phrases)?

"The ISO speed is the numeric representation of the camera's sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO speed, the higher the sensitivity. A high ISO speed allows you to shoot images in dark indoor or outdoor conditions without a flash and also helps prevent blurred images due to camera shake."

"Higher ISO speeds increase the image noise. To take clean images, use as low an ISO speed as possible."

Thanks for any clarification you can offer! [/QUOTE


the iso would be similar to what used to film speed( well still is on film cameras). like you probably bought 200 film for outside pictures...so the higher iso speed ( 400, 800, 1600, 3200)allows you to use it in darker conditions(more sensitive to light so needs less light to make a picture, just like 400 speed film would let you take pics inside) but it also makes the picture look more grainy/noisy, with more speckley marks in it. you can reduce that grain/noise with software programs though. Kelly has a basic photo 101 thread going somewhere on here and i sure she explains it in there better than this

edited:
well i see she beat me to it!!!

 

[militarymama]

Perfect... And it covers a lot of things I'm wading into with my camera.

Thank you for putting that together!

So...according to my "fabulous manual" I can up the ISO to 400 max. Do I have any chance of getting decent night shots?

Up until this point, many have been fuzzy and if my subject (my poor friends) is more than arm's length away, they generally look like aliens. Am I doomed to crummy nightshots with this camera?

Thanks again for any input!

If I had only known about your thread BEFORE I purchased my camera...

 

[jann1033]

Perfect... And it covers a lot of things I'm wading into with my camera.

Thank you for putting that together!

So...according to my "fabulous manual" I can up the ISO to 400 max. Do I have any chance of getting decent night shots?

Up until this point, many have been fuzzy and if my subject (my poor friends) is more than arm's length away, they generally look like aliens. Am I doomed to crummy nightshots with this camera?

Thanks again for any input!

If I had only known about your thread BEFORE I purchased my camera...

do you have a night shot or night portrait setting?( my daughter' canon a 610 does) i think that sets off a flsh and then does something so the background is lit too. not sure how well it works but might be your best shot

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I don't think the A95 has Night Snapshot (that's basically ISO 400 with flash on)

For getting rid of the digital noise, use Imagenomic Noiseware Community Edition. It's free.

Here's an example of ISO 400, no flash, taken using Canon A95, cleaned using the freeware.

 

[jann1033]

I don't think the A95 has Night Snapshot (that's basically ISO 400 with flash on)

For getting rid of the digital noise, use Imagenomic Noiseware Community Edition. It's free.

Here's an example of ISO 400, no flash, taken using Canon A95, cleaned using the freeware.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f159/landakmedia/Sceneries/cdc027ae.

jpg

nice shot kelly ,makes me think .... i really gotta slow down and pay attention to what i'm doing,,,maybe i wouldn't flub so many shots

speaking of that noiseware...if you register do you have to pay? after i used if for a few shots they told me "register or else" so i figured i had to pay but maybe not?

 

[caniswolfie]

The Powershot A95 has a night snapshot mode. It should be on the wheel. I know I've used it before. It's what Kelly has previously said, ISO 400 with flash. It's fun to use and sometimes comes out like you want, sometimes not. But at least it's better than the random people with a black background.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Maybe because I've downloaded mine such a long time ago, it never asked me to register. However, as long as you're using the community edition, you should not worry about the people of Imagenomic come to your house and try beating you up or something drastic like tha

 

[jann1033]

Maybe because I've downloaded mine such a long time ago, it never asked me to register. However, as long as you're using the community edition, you should not worry about the people of Imagenomic come to your house and try beating you up or something drastic like tha

hmm wonder who the guy in the dark suit & sunglasses with the violin case banging on the door last week was then ?

 

[Kelly Grannell]

hmm wonder who the guy in the dark suit & sunglasses with the violin case banging on the door last week was then ?

See? only banging on the door, not beating you up.