High film speed, or low shutter speed (digital still life)

Garbz · Dec 3, 2003

Hey all.

I have an Olympus C740 3.2mpixel digital camera. Like all other cameras it suffers from electrical noise on the CCD.

I did a test once @ iso 400 shutter 16 seconds at night and the picture was almost unrecognisable. But i don't ever require that type of exposure anyway.

So the question is when doing digital photography at night. Is it better to use ISO400 (or larger if the cam supports it) and a fast shutter. Or drop to ISO100 and stand there for a few seconds?

metroshane · Dec 3, 2003

Slow film, long exposure time. Use a tripod.

Garbz · Dec 4, 2003

thanks that's what i thought.

Btw do you have the same (next model down) camera as i do by any chance?

do you ever find that the long range focus is pretty average? That is using only optical not digital!

metroshane · Dec 4, 2003

Yes, I do have the same camera (one level down). At first I loved it, but now I'm finding it to be inconsistant and unreliable...so I just bought a Canon 10d. Yes that's right folks I bit it and bought the 10D with a Canon17-40mm f4 lens.

I have gotten some great pics out of the olympus but I've had to shoot a whole lot to get those. My biggest problem is with the focus. With a tripod it'll make a decent camera....with live subjects I knew I couldn't build my business with it. Also I tend to get a fair amount of noise in the black areas of the pic (there's a name for this but I don't know what it is).

Dew · Dec 4, 2003

i have an Olympus E20 ... i was doing some test shots in the house the other day with the lights out (just light coming in from another room) ... i went with an iso of about 300 ... a 60 sec shutter (just testing it out) and the noise reduction feature ...

i would even try an iso 100 with a long shutter speed or bulb