What to do to improve these pics?

[Maxx RS4]

My dad gave me his casio ex-z40 and I took some night time pics with it. Iso was at 50, infinity focus (which i think works like crap), and auto exposure settings (i cant do it manually as far as i know :er. Most of them look a little over exposed to me and some of them have some heavy artifacts.

What would be my best bet for getting better focus and less noise in the pics? I just want the pictures to be a little damn clearer and more crisp!

Well, my dad upgraded his camera and gave me his old one. It's a Casio EX-Z40. It's nice but not all I want in a camera. But hell, free is better than not free!


This is my campus by the way..

 

[Big Mike]

Most of them look a little over exposed to me

That's probably because the camera's meter was metering a mostly dark scene. To get the exposure to look more like what it looked like you you...you would have to adjust the exposure, negative in this case. However, doing that would have caused the lights to be even more blown out than they are now.

 

[Maxx RS4]

That's probably because the camera's meter was metering a mostly dark scene. To get the exposure to look more like what it looked like you you...you would have to adjust the exposure, negative in this case. However, doing that would have caused the lights to be even more blown out than they are now.

Meaning I shouldn't have the shutter open as long? The problem with that is I don't have a manual setting on the shutter. Would the slight over exposure be causing the pictures to not be as crisp?

 

[Big Mike]

With some of those 'digi-cams'...where you can't set the shutter speed or aperture, they sometimes give you the option of setting exposure compensation. That is where you would need to make the adjustment...and then the camera would probably use a shorter shutter speed.

As far as crispness...that's hard to tell. It could be the limitations of your camera/lens. It could be that you need to sharpen the images with software. It could be the long exposures. It could be the fog in the air. Or it could be a combination of all those things.

Were you were using a tripod or support and then triggering the camera with a remote or the self timer. If not, then that would certainly be a way to improve sharpness.

 

[Peacemaker636]

Yeah, having the camera held completely steady will make everything a lot sharper. Also, it looks like there is a mist in the air, which would also detract from sharpness.

Double check to see that you can't change the aperture & shutter speed.

Those pics do look pretty noisy for having the ISO at 80, try taking some day pictures and see how they turn out.

 

[D-50]

Could just be a limitation of the camera. Point and shoots can only do so well in the dark. When I compared the night shots I took with my old P&S to my DSLR it was a night and day difference and my old P&S was decent.

 

[Maxx RS4]

I went out and took a crap load more pics and really messed around a lot. I think it's the limitations of this camera. The new pictures were slightly better but not by much. Noise is still a factor!

Here's a before and after pic that I took tonight. I like my edited one (removed background noise) quite a bit!

BEFORE

AFTER