help me out pls

[longjon75]

hi
im just asking for some settings advice im going to my brothers house tonight n we are setting off some chineese lanterns in memory of his son (my nephew) ive said ill take some shots for them but im a bit worried about settings any advice welcome i was thinking of 800 iso 1/30 f4????

 

[kathyt]

I would up the iso some so that you can increase your SS a bit, otherwise you are most likely going to be OOF. I would not really be too concerned with noise since it will be more about the memory.

 

[Goldcoin79]

I know we all like to control setting of our cameras our self but for something as important as this, that you don't want to mess up the pictures I would be tempted to use auto to make sure you get some decent shots for your memory's.

you could even take a few in auto then have ago yourself with a more manual mode.

 

[KmH]

The camera has a built-in light meter, likely has 3 or 4 metering modes you can choose from, and is a scale that is graduated in incremental steps.

For the type of event you describe Center-weighted metering will likely work best.

1/30 is a fairly slow shutter speed for making images without camera shake blur from hand holding the camera.
A rule of thumb for camera shake prevention is to use 1/the focal length of the lens you are using. If the lens focal length is 60 mm you would not want to use a shutter speed slower than 1/60.
A related camera shake factor is using good camera holding technique - left hand under the lens, right hand holding the camera body, upper arms in against your torso, one foot somewhat in front of the other with somewhat more of your weight on the front foot.

For making photos of people I recommend a shutter speed no slower than 1/100 because people move at least a little bit, which can cause motion blur in the photo.

1/30 to 1/60 is a full stop less of shutter speed. In other words 1/60 lets in 1/2 as much light as 1/30 does.

To maintain the same exposure you had at 1/30 (built-in light meter centered) either the lens aperture or the ISO would also have to be changed to provide a full stop more (2x) light.
1/800 to 1/1600 is one more stop of ISO. On that basis, 1/60, ISO 1600, f/4 is the same exposure as 1/30, ISO 800, f/4
As far as lens aperture, one more stop of lens aperture from f/4 is f/2.8, such that 1/60, ISO 800, f/2.8 is the same exposure as 1/60, ISO 1800, f/4.

You can accomplish the same thing by changing both the lens aperture and the ISO.

Most cameras that have manual mode are set by default to adjust the 3 exposure settings in 1/3 stop steps. So a full stop change is 3 clicks more or 3 clicks less.

Those cameras usually also provide the option of setting up the camera for changing exposure settings in 1/2 or full stop steps. The increments on the built-in light meter scale also change according to the option you select.
That means you could change the ISO and aperture by 1/2 stop each to make a 1 stop change, or you could change them in a 1/3 - 2/3 ratio to make a full stop change.

In summary, your camera likely allows for very precise exposure control, and without knowing how much light you will have to work with no one here can give you specific settings.

 

[weepete]

I think you may need a faster shutter speed if you are planning on taking some portrait shots, and if you want trails of light you may need a longer shutter speed and a greater depth of field and a tripod.. You can combine a longer shutter speed with a flash to get both but it may take some practice to get right. bump you ISO up as far as you need to to get the shutterspeed for the shots you want and remember the rule of thumb of 1/focal length x crop factor to prevent camera shake.

 

[ph0enix]

i was thinking of 800 iso 1/30 f4????

Unfortunately we can't tell if those settings are even remotely in the right ballpark. Every lighting situation is different. Take KmH's advice.

 

[thunderkyss]

The camera has a built-in light meter, likely has 3 or 4 metering modes you can choose from, and is a scale that is graduated in incremental steps.

For the type of event you describe Center-weighted metering will likely work best.

In summary, your camera likely allows for very precise exposure control, and without knowing how much light you will have to work with no one here can give you specific settings.

This.

I'm pretty much a newb myself, but I'm finding everything a whole lot easier since I learned what that exposure meter was & how it applies to what I'm doing.

I haven't messed with Aperture Priority, or Shutter Priority much at all, since Manual has served me well. What I have done (with good results) & will do anytime I'm in a low light situation, is set my ISO to 400 & look at my meter. If I can't get my exposure to near zero by adjusting the aperture & shutter speed, I will increase my ISO until I can. I've come to realize on my camera, D3000, I have to use noise reduction at 1600 ISO or higher.

In my mind, I want to have as much control over shutter & aperture as possible, but I want to use the lowest ISO setting as well. By being able to adjust shutter & aperture, I get to decide how the image is going to come out. I might want a little blur caused by a slow shutter speed, or I might want to freeze time with a fast shutter speed. I might want the image to be very sharp throughout the field of view so I'd close down on the aperture, or I might want a shallow depth of field & I'll open the aperture up as much as possible, or somewhere in between (which would be much easier to do if I had the aperture preview button like the Dx00 bodies have).

Bottom line, use the exposure meter & adjust your camera to give you the most flexibility.

 

[480sparky41 40]

I would up the iso some so that you can increase your SS a bit, otherwise you are most likely going to be OOF. I would not really be too concerned with noise since it will be more about the memory.

Upping the ISO can be a double-edged sword, though. You may get the SS to where you want, but if the camera doesn't perform that well at a high ISO, noise may render the images useless.

 

[thetrue]

What sparky said. Not everyone has a 5D MK3!

 

[KmH]

A noisy photo is usually better than a blurry photo.

No doubt, at some point blur and/or noise become unacceptable and supplemental lighting has to be added