Night photos - ISO100,400,1600?

[SR071]

G'day,

I love night shots, and was just wondering what people commonly use for ISO settings?

When I learned, many moons ago...I used 50ASA slide film, left the camera to its own devices for 30 seconds to 4 minutes, depending on what I was shooting and was generally pleased with the results on slide film. 50ASA was always a constant for me, and enabled huge blow ups.

Now in the digital age, I was going to set purely on 100 (20D) and then make all other adjustments around this. I have the long exposure noise reduction thingy turned on always.

Camera shake is not an issue at all. My tripod has similar rigidity properties to the QEII on dry dock. I typically shoot on overcast/rainy nights so star blur is not an issue either.

Thanks Muchly! :)

[JMAS]

That's how I do it. I shoot mostly in AV, setting the aperture (ranging f/8 to f/16 usualy).

Never tried 4 minutes (bulb exposure) though.
Since ISO 50 is not available on the 300D as well as on the 20D I guess ISO 100 will do. I sugest no usage of any filters as glare or lines will be visible from my experience.

[KevC]

If you're on a tripod, and don't mind having long exposures, shoot as low ISO as you can. Shoot ISO100. The only thing I'd be worried about, is extremely long exposures (astrophotography) and having the sensor exposed too long. But this is the difference between 5min at ISO200 and 10min at ISO100.