I've never been to any cruises.....but I'll be in for photography meet ups!...

Yeah I would come to a photography meetup. What would we shoot, cars I supposed.

p-diddy paparazzi!

Trying to understand this all...since i have a huge problem taking pictures when there is no light. What kinda lens would i need to get for a lets say 350D so it's not blurry and that i dont need use a tripod with?

Not canon related but a good photography site .
Well worth a look.
www.nikonians.com

rgds
Emil

that would depend on how much available light there is...

there are three things that can make ur image 'brighter'.

1) shutter - the longer u leave it open the brighter the image will be (more exposed) - however, at any speeds slower than AROUND 1/15 - 1/30 it will start to blur as u can't hold it steady enough with your hand. note also this also depends on the focal distance u'r taking the picture at. the inverse rule applies. So for example you're taking the photo at 20mm, then u will need at least 1/20 seconds shutter speed or faster to be able to hand hold it.

if your lens doesn't allow u to shoot at 1/15 or fastter (it says LO meaning not enough light), then u need to:

2) increase the aperture. that means going to a f/2.8 or f/1.8 etc. Notice it is a ratio, so smaller 1/X will be larger apertures: f/2.8 >> f/5.6. If you have maxed your aperture and u still can't shoot at speeds of 1/15 or faster, then you need to raise the iso. Faster lenses have bigger apertures.

3) Raising ISO gives u more light sensitivity, at the expense of noise. Usually in darkish areas you will need ISO at least 800. When it's street lighting or u need to shoot fast, u may need to raise it to 800 - 1600 or more. Sometimes ISO is raised intentionally to promote noise for effect.

Basically to answer your Q, lenses that open BIGGER than aperture of f/2.8 will be best for low light, but again, it depends how much light there is available. You can max out ur aperture and ISO and still have not enough light to shoot faster than 1/15... so each circumstance is different.

It also works the other way around for 'speed'. Sometimes for cars racing or sports shots, you NEED a shutter speed faster than 1/400 or thereabouts. So the corresponding aperture needs to be bigger. Lenses that go up to f/2.8 and bigger aperture will accomodate this whereas cheaper lenses f/3.5 and small cannot.

so much to learn this thread shoudl be chucked into the photgraphy section now yay for new section lol.

i have a panasonic lumix DMC-FZ30, when i want to take a photo you have to hold the button down then 2 seconds later it takes the shot. how do get to be instant. i am very much the amateur.

cheers

jason

__________________
back on the road. woo hoo

it is adjusting for the available light. there is only so much light available so it has to open for longer to let more in. the other way to get around this is to increase ISO and increase the size of the aperture if u have a manual mode. this will allow a shorter shutter time.

that half the reason i got an slr as well lag time in the shutter specially if your trying to capture that special momment just hold button down and u have instant shot and on burst most 20 shots in secs

Yep, Nothing like being at the drags and holding the finger on the shutter and getting heaps of shots in a short time.

Get home and maybe 1 out of the 16 or so is perfect

I took these with my 55-200 USM without a tripod so they are a little blurry but not too bad (Well I think they are ok so that's all what matters )


Also came across these just a minute ago, They were done at Mt Diablo in California. I was in a 550 my cousin let me use from his dealership. SMG Gearbox goodness! I love the cloud cover in the picture!


Arty farty photo