Minimum shutter speeds in Program & Auto modes

[RhoXS]

I was recently experimenting with my G3 in very low light conditions. I noticed that the minimum shutter speed in P mode seems to be 1/8 sec and one second in Auto mode. I took a look in the manual (pages 75-81) and I could not find anything about minimum shutter speeds. Is there any way of setting the G3 so in P or A modes so it can take advantage of its 15 second shutter if necessary (on a tripod - of course)?

In Manual mode it is posiible to set the shutter speed as slow as 15 seconds. I was very surprised how well the G3 did on a moonless night at ASA400, max aperture, and 15 seconds. It not only captured the green color of the trees (albeit very dark green) but the sky was blue with white clouds. It turned a very dark night into daylight. To some extent the pics were surreal because of the easily visible stars in what appeared to be a daytime picture.

[sdommin]

The "P" and "A" modes are meant for easy, fast shooting with no thinking involved. They're programmed not to go to extreme long exposures, because Canon figures that if you're going to use those modes at very low light levels, your picture isn't going to come out anyway. If you're knowledgeable enough to know that you need to use a tripod, they figure you're knowledgeable enough to use the TV or Manual modes.

[s00pcan]

you should post that night picture.

[gaz63]

Apparently the camera uses noise reduction below 1 second, thus only available in manual... ITS very annoying isnt it!
Great camera tho

[submannz]

Yes this bugs me, because I like to use AV and get the camera to select the shutter. Not sure why they couldn't have allowed the camera to select 15 sec in AV

[s00pcan]

Well just imagine some n00b trying to use this camera. It sets it to 15 seconds and they don't know what's going on, why their camera turns black, and why their pictures come out blurry. The camera has no way to know if you have it on a tripod.

[Andy_T]

Actually, manual mode is pretty cool on the G series.

You get a small icon on the LCD display telling you how much the camera thinks the exposition is off. It goes from red -2 / +2 (EV) when you're far off to white -1, -2/3, 0, +2/3, +1 ... so you just keep tuning the aperture until the camera tells you you're on target.

Regards,
Andy

[s00pcan]

You get a small icon on the LCD display telling you how much the camera thinks the exposition is off.

Yeah but the downside to that is you have to wait for the camera to show you that before you can take the picture. It would be a lot faster with an option to turn that off.

[submannz]

That is why the cameras have the shake warning for slow shutters, if someone can't read that the shutter is at 15sec when the then they press the shutter half way then they probably shouldn't be using a camera in the first place. :lol:

[Andy_T]

You get a small icon on the LCD display telling you how much the camera thinks the exposition is off.

Yeah but the downside to that is you have to wait for the camera to show you that before you can take the picture. It would be a lot faster with an option to turn that off.

Really? Never noticed that. Appeared 'instant' to me.

But then, when you're doing 15 sec exposures, shutter lag is not your primary concern...

Regards,
Andy

[civis]

But then, when you're doing 15 sec exposures, shutter lag is not your primary concern...
Exactly; you're on a tripod, usually thinking more about framing and perspective than anything else.

[555SWRT]

The P-mode on the G3/G5 is very flexible, unlike some digicams which limit you to only 1/30s as the slowest shutter speed in P-Mode. That and the ability to shift between the various combinations of shutter speed & aperture in P-mode make me really appreciate what this camera is capable of.