What f/stop for night skyline shots?

[sharkylittleton]

My question is what f/stop to use when shooting skyline night shots on a tripod? The distance between my lens and the buildings range from a mile or two or somewhere in between. I've noticed my shots aren't perfectly clear. I'm using my kit 18-55mm kit lens. Shooting auto exposure bracketing (-2,0,+2) for HDR in Av mode at ISO100. Does shooting wide open or f/8.0+ have an effect on clarity in this case? Thanks for any advice!

[tkoutdoor]

My question is what f/stop to use when shooting skyline night shots on a tripod? The distance between my lens and the buildings range from a mile or two or somewhere in between. I've noticed my shots aren't perfectly clear. I'm using my kit 18-55mm kit lens. Shooting auto exposure bracketing (-2,0,+2) for HDR in Av mode at ISO100. Does shooting wide open or f/8.0+ have an effect on clarity in this case? Thanks for any advice!If what you want is as relative to absolute clarity in all parts of the picture then you'd want to choose the sharpest aperture and the lowest ISO you can manage. From there you'd put the camera on a tripod and let the camera choose whichever shutter speed it wants (if using av mode). Typically the sharpest aperture in a lens is from f/8 to f/11. You may find that at f/11 everything looks clear enough to you so that may be fine. The closer you get to f/16 the more things will be clear throughout the pictures (from foreground to background). Past f/16 your image can degrade due to diffraction. You will find that the 18-55 isn't going to be as sharp as the lenses with better IQ, but the advice is still relevant as it is generally consistent throughout any group of lenses.

[SkipD]

My question is what f/stop to use when shooting skyline night shots on a tripod? The distance between my lens and the buildings range from a mile or two or somewhere in between. I've noticed my shots aren't perfectly clear. I'm using my kit 18-55mm kit lens. Shooting auto exposure bracketing (-2,0,+2) for HDR in Av mode at ISO100. Does shooting wide open or f/8.0+ have an effect on clarity in this case? Thanks for any advice!Another thing....

"A tripod" may not be good enough to hold your camera/lens absolutely steady. In other words, a $30 department-store tripod usually isn't what you want under your camera if you really need the camera/lens held rock solid steady.

What are you using for a tripod?

Are you using a remote shutter release or holding onto the camera while it's on the tripod?

Good results usually require paying attention to a LOT of little things all at once.

[sharkylittleton]

Another thing....

"A tripod" may not be good enough to hold your camera/lens absolutely steady. In other words, a $30 department-store tripod usually isn't what you want under your camera if you really need the camera/lens held rock solid steady.

What are you using for a tripod?

Are you using a remote shutter release or holding onto the camera while it's on the tripod?

Good results usually require paying attention to a LOT of little things all at once.

I have a stainless steel quantaray tripod. It was an upgrade to my $15 walmart upgrade. It is much sturdier and has a few more adjustment methods as well as twist handles. It was about $60, by no means a really expensive tripod but 10x better than my old one. I picked up a POTN remote shutter cable, it is indeed AWESOME.

[sharkylittleton]

If what you want is as relative to absolute clarity in all parts of the picture then you'd want to choose the sharpest aperture and the lowest ISO you can manage. From there you'd put the camera on a tripod and let the camera choose whichever shutter speed it wants (if using av mode). Typically the sharpest aperture in a lens is from f/8 to f/11. You may find that at f/11 everything looks clear enough to you so that may be fine. The closer you get to f/16 the more things will be clear throughout the pictures (from foreground to background). Past f/16 your image can degrade due to diffraction. You will find that the 18-55 isn't going to be as sharp as the lenses with better IQ, but the advice is still relevant as it is generally consistent throughout any group of lenses.

Thanks for the tip! I've been shooting at f/8 but I'll increase it to f/11 and see if there is a difference. I've been loving my 50mm f/1.8 prime but definately need to upgrade to a better lens. I wonder if I'm starting to reach the kit lens limitation.

[amd is the best]

Thanks for the tip! I've been shooting at f/8 but I'll increase it to f/11 and see if there is a difference. I've been loving my 50mm f/1.8 prime but definately need to upgrade to a better lens. I wonder if I'm starting to reach the kit lens limitation.

Sounds like you may want to check out the 10-22 :)

[PhotosGuy]

The distance between my lens and the buildings range from a mile or two or somewhere in between. Your lens is sharpest 2-3 stops from wide open, so I'd use that. With the subject "a mile or two" away, you don't need an f/11 depth of field. Small apertures will slightly start to degrade the images due to diffraction.

[Dchemist]

You might also consider taking photos before its totaly dark - at dusk you get more detail and you can use somewhat faster shutter speeds.

[tkoutdoor]

Another thing....

"A tripod" may not be good enough to hold your camera/lens absolutely steady. In other words, a $30 department-store tripod usually isn't what you want under your camera if you really need the camera/lens held rock solid steady.

What are you using for a tripod?

Are you using a remote shutter release or holding onto the camera while it's on the tripod?

Good results usually require paying attention to a LOT of little things all at once.

Yeah, that's absolutely true. The difference in technique could make more difference than the aperture you choose so it's very important. If you used a tripod and then fired the shutter with your finger that would yield poor results in a long exposure like this. Using the self-timer at the long setting (10 seconds instead of 2) will allow the tripod to settle down and stabilize. Mirror lockup is also a good idea for the ultimate in "lack of movement", however I've found with the Canon cameras that I'm using that when I use mirror lockup and self-timer that the self-timer goes to something like a 2 second delay (instead of 10) which is hardly enough time to settle down a tripod that moves a little. It's okay for using with a beanbag/shirt on a solid object like a bench or car rooftop though. The best possible thing I've found is to use a "wireless" remote shutter release. Since there is no cord attached the cord can't transmit movement to the whole mechanism. I've found that even a corded one can have movement from a slight breeze or from myself if I'm not uber careful at what I do with the end of the cord. Other things that can help are to hang weight from the tripod and shoot when the wind is down. Sometimes that means finding a windbreak, other times you might be okay (with shorter exposures) of waiting for a break in the wind.

[tkoutdoor]

Your lens is sharpest 2-3 stops from wide open, so I'd use that. With the subject "a mile or two" away, you don't need an f/11 depth of field. Small apertures will slightly start to degrade the images due to diffraction.
Yeah, this is more correct than what I said. With lenses that have a 1.4 to 1.8 max aperture the sharpest spot could range from f/4 to f/8 instead of f/8 to f/11. However, if you want the picture to be sharp from front to back you'd still want to be using f/8 to f/11 probably as that's what will give the depth of field you're looking for. You may be satisfied with some parts of the photo being out of focus or you may not, that's for you to determine. Just don't overlook checking out what you get from f/11 to f/16 for sake of comparison. Once you know what your lens is capable of you won't need to compare again and again.

[JCH77Yanks]

Here's a few steps I make sure I take when I'm doing a sunset or night cityscape...

1. Use a tripod with a good load capacity.
2. Use mirror lockup w/ a remote cable release - (support the remote, never let the remote hang on its own and put tension on the camera).
3. Manually focus.

I usually hover around f/11, give or take a stop or two. Also, always use manual and never trust the meter - I start out with a 10 second shutter speed, chimp, then adjust.
Happy shooting!

[JIJ123]

I would normally use f/11 if shutter speed is not a priority. If shutter speed is a priority (in cases where you would like to capture motion), I will generally try to shut the shutter speed to my liking and then play with ISO and aperture and try to get something arounf f/8 or f11