Night shots handheld seems to be a baaad idea

[taskoni]

Howdy. On the way home I stopped and tried a night shot for a first time. I don't have a tripod yet and I know how important is for that kind of shoot. However, I decided to try the M mode and with my very little knowledge on that matter I set the shutter speed and the aperture and focus manually. Obviously I did not succeed with the focus but I am hoping to find out if the shutter speed and exposure are more or less correct. Looking forward to get your c&c's.Ah, and one more thing - I was wondering is it going to be right to put the focus in background (this blurry nokia sign) or closer focus will be better...
Regards,
b.

EDIT:
Olympus E-420
Lense 14-42mm f/ 3.5-5.6
exposure 6.0 sec at f/8.0
focal length 17mm
ISO 100
No flash

 

[wescobts]

For a night shot, that's not bad, considering no tripod, looks pretty good :thumbup: I have always found the images to be a tad fuzzy , I believe because the extended exposure. Maybe some who knows more will chime in.

 

[Pugs]

Eh... it looks pretty damned sharp for handheld at night. If you're worried 'cause the blue Nokia sign is blurry... then don't be. Blue signs at night will do that, even to the naked eye. Blue is a really short wavelength and just refuses to focus right in mechanical or organic lenses when other colored lights are predominant.

 

[Layspeed]

:lmao: Damn guy you handheld that for 6 SECONDS! I don't think you can ask for much more than the photo you got. I couldn't do that for 1/5 second! Also if you don't have a tripod, you can always look for something to prop your camera on. Just make sure no one comes up and runs off with it!

 

[thebeatles]

:lmao: Damn guy you handheld that for 6 SECONDS!

Yeah, mine look like that handheld at 3/4 of a second.

 

[taskoni]

Thank you for your comments folks! It is the first positive C&C I've got so I am really pleased Of course, right after I took that shot I found a place where to rest the camera and that's how I got confused - the more "stable shot" looks much alike the handheld one but I don't believe I have a gift for a handheld night shooting I thought it must be some of the settings but I can not figure what... Or I just got lucky
Here is the "camera rested on a trash can" shot to compare:
exposure 5.0 sec at f/8.0
ISO 100
same lens but wider. 14 mm
flash DID FIRE
self timer 2 sec.

Many thanks for your help in advance.
Regards,
b.

 

[altitude604]

wow... those are pretty good for handheld.

probably wouldn't recognize the buildings if i tried that. lol

 

[boogschd]

no wai!!! ... 6 sec handheld? ... thats amazazzzing

 

[johnj2803]

yeah for a 6 second shot that is truly amazing!

but yes a tripod is essential

also note:
1. it would be nice to activate mirror lock up to eliminate the vibration from slapping of the mirror (sharper image)

2. set the timer to 2 secs so the movement from the pressing of the shutter will also get eliminated.

3. turn off IS (image stabilization) or VC (Vibration Compensation) or some similar technology in the lens

of course these will benefit from using a tripod.

 

[Cojaro]

Six second exposure...handheld? That's pretty damn good handheld shot considering how long the exposure was. I know I'm too shaky to pull off anything like that.

 

[taskoni]

Thank you all! Your kind comments made me more confident and I'll shoot some more and see how to improve!
johnj2803 - thank you for the tips, I'll definitely try to follow what you're saying My camera, Olympus e-420 doesn't have IS, VC or something similar I know of :blushing: I know it has noise reduce (?) but it never came to my mind to try to switch it ON I'll dig in the manual to see if I can do the mirror thing
Thanks again guys, you are really keep me going.
Regards,
b.

 

[Foques]

holyl crap!!
for a handheld thats amazing