Low Light Conditions

Commonman · Jun 5, 2008

My friend just acquired a Canon SD850 (digital camera). You can set the ISO setting to 1600, which I presume, somehow increases the sensitivity of the sensor.

He is wondering why he can't get a good picture without a tripod or a flash inside this office at this ISO setting. I measured the EV with an incident light meter (Sekonic L-308) and at 1600 ISO, I get an EV reading of 11.4.

Just wondering if anyone has any comments on why he cannot seem to get a good photo in these (not so low) light conditions.

Overread · Jun 5, 2008

When you say a good shot how do you mean?
At ISO 1600 I would expect the camera to be getting well over enough light inside but I would expect the noise level to be very high. I would lower the ISO to 800 at most and 400 at ideal.
After that upp the lighting in the room and use the flash.
any chance you could show us the shot?

Commonman · Jun 5, 2008

Overead, by a good shot I mean a .jpg image on the computer screen that does not look grainy when enlarged to an 8 x10 size.

I will try to put the image on later.

Overread · Jun 5, 2008

Best thing is to use flash - ISO 400 and a tripod. I don't know if you can change the apature in that camera, but if he can then I would set it to as wide open as possible (that is the lowest f number you can).

*Mike* · Jun 5, 2008

It's going to be all but impossible to get a high ISO shot out of a P&S that doesn't have noise issues...

As was said, you can try increasing the available light or using a flash. But, that's not always possible. This is really just a limitation of cameras with smaller sensors.

HAve you tried Noiseware? Noiseware has a free community edition that can work wonders.

Commonman · Jun 5, 2008

I'd like to insert the image but I don't know how. I've got the JPEG file on my desk top.

I've never heard of "noise" in the context of photography before. I guess I need to research this concept. I'm primarily a film photographer but my buddy is asking me why he can't get a good shot in low light (WITHOUT A FLASH).

Overread · Jun 5, 2008

you need to upload the shot to the internet before you can link it - go to photobucket and register for a free account - then you can copy the IMG code across and use that

djacobox372 · Jun 11, 2008

Commonman said:
I'd like to insert the image but I don't know how. I've got the JPEG file on my desk top.

I've never heard of "noise" in the context of photography before. I guess I need to research this concept. I'm primarily a film photographer but my buddy is asking me why he can't get a good shot in low light (WITHOUT A FLASH).

Digital noise = Film Grain

Go shoot some 1600iso film and see how much more grainy it is then 100 iso film!

The thing about film grain, is it's a bit more pleasing to the eye since we typically associate the look with old movies and old photos, instead of bad tv reception, which is what digital noise looks like.