Shooting night time shots - no good at it

[gksipps]

Greetings all! Still fairly new to my camera. I always have a hard time taking night time shots. If I'm shooting towards something that has a light on it, say, a hotel sign on a darkly lit street, the camera (XTi) has no problem picking up the hotel sign and street lights, even with no other lights around. However, if I am in a dark area and there is no light in the background of the object, my camera just dies. It says "busy, and tries to take the shot but I never get anything.

Like, last night we tried taking shots of a dimly lit but very cool celtic steeple on top of a church (about 20-25 yds away) it wouldn't even attempt it. There was light where I was standing but only a dim light on the steeple. I just got the stupid busy signal.

Later in the night we were trying to take some cool shots at a cemetery and that was pointless - got not one shot, but it was very dark out, very little moonlight, and no street lights.

What I want to know is...

If I can see it, why can't my camera see it, and just take a shot of what my eye sees? Do I have it on the wrong setting? Do I need to change it to some sort of manual setting? Mostly, I tried the night-time setting on the dial or even all auto. Zip Zilch Nothing. *sigh*

Thanks,
Karen

[John_B]

gksipps,
My first guess is its the camera not able to focus. Try setting your lens on MF (manual focus) and you focus the lens and your camera will then be able to take the photo :)

[masayako]

1. Change AF to MF
2. Increase ISO
Half press the shutter button, if you have the beep sound, that means you can focus.

[blackcap]

How far do you get when the "busy" message appears? Has the lens focussed? Does the shutter click? Pracitse at home in a dark room, and try to isolate the problem.

Note that given the amount of light you describe, you might need to use a tripod due to the slower shutter speed, even after you sort out the "busy" problem.