S30 shooting in the dark & underground garage

[hshot_rooke]

Hey everyone

I just bought a S30 and I take quite a few night pics.

I switch to the darkness mode on the camera and shoot the pictures but I always always get a camera shake icon when taking these pics. Most of the pics come out blurry because of my shaking hands I'm assuming and the slower shutter speed. Anyone got any ideas on how to correct this?

Also, I'm shooting in my underground garage and I get some awful light on the pics in there too. Very dark or I get a super bright light flare at the center of the object where it catches the flash and the rest of the pic is dark.
What the heck? Anyone know good settings for this situation?

I'm a total newb at photography and I've read the manual cover to cover......Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks a lot

[paulmog]

i'm by no means an expert either but...
first off, i would try using a tripod for your night shots. this will enable you to open the shutter longer without the shaking that occurs when holding the camera and blurring your shot.

as for the lighting problem. others have complained about this. i guess the flash on the s30 isn't the absolute greatest but there are things you can try. try getting closer to the subject and zooming out, or just the opposite, move further away and zoom in. you might find the correct distance that allows your flash to flood the whole subject more. also you can try playing with the flash power. but you can't be in auto mode to do this.

[hshot_rooke]

Thanks for the info PaulMog, I'll give it a try.

I've played with a few settings here and there and I finally got a decent pic, but damn...the majority of pics are crap.

I'm trying to figure it out using the P mode or other manual modes, but I don't know what the heck to adjust!!

Anyone know a general adjustment or tips for dark shots in P mode?

[octathlon]

I believe that in the night scene mode the camera is using flash but keeping a slow shutter speed to lighten the background. So you will definitely get the shake warning.

You could try increasing the exposure compensation to "overexpose", or increase the ISO setting, which is like having faster film, better for low-light situations.

I've just had the S30 for a month and I'm still experimenting. I am learning to use P, Tv, Av, and M and I'm getting a lot better results that way. I look at what aperture/speed the camera picks in P, then go to M and adjust from there.

-Glenna

[mako]

Hi, I just got my S30 for 2 weeks - newbie

Found dat' the with the flash used for subjects up to ~6 feet away, eg portraits, I get better results with -ve 2/3 to 1 stop of flash compensation. the normal flash tend to overexpose the shot.

take care though, there are 2 diff' compensation modes, the exposure & the flash. U see the "lighting-flash" symbol when U adjust the flash compensation. - I fumbled over this 2 settings initially & confused myself...the solution? Viewing the shot properties either on the PC/S30 helped me realize the mistake. (Great tool!)

I guess that's one of the advantage of digital-photography, U can take the same shot with a few diff' settings, study the results & learn w/o burning a hole in the pocket.

Great forums like this are also wonderful where we can exchange tips & learn from one another.
- CHEERS! to all U chaps!!

[bigdave]

i used my camera to take some shots of the northern lights at around midnight. here are some tips for night shots of any kind. if you have a tripod and there's enough light, you may avoid flash all together. switch to manual (M on the dial), set your iso to about 200 (pic won't be so grainy this way), 8-15 seconds (play with different settings), make you shutter wide open (that's 2.8). these settings worked for me, i hope they help you out.

[scotten]

Try shooting in "fast shutter" mode; this will automatically shoot the highest shutter speed by adjusting the ISO (all the way to 800 if necessary). Night mode is for close subjects with flash where you want to have a slow shutter speed to expose the background, as in a city street.

Sam