A stupid question

[revenent]

This is my 1st time using a digi cam and was at the night safari with my canon s1 and was wondering if its normal that i cannot take much shots in those super low light conditions? The only lights there are really dim or they simulate moonlight. My cam cannot get a focus at all. the view finder is really dark

 

[icer]

This is my 1st time using a digi cam and was at the night safari with my canon s1 and was wondering if its normal that i cannot take much shots in those super low light conditions? The only lights there are really dim or they simulate moonlight. My cam cannot get a focus at all. the view finder is really dark

Hi, me newbie too.

Yes, it's true that most digicam can't get good focus or good photos in dim light conditions like night safari. Most of the time you will need flash if your flash is powerful enough for that distance, if not u can forget it too. And if the light condition is barely enough, you might also need to have a tripod so that u can reduce the shutter speed to allow more light to enter, if not your photo will be blurred too.

I am also using digicam.

 

[justarius]

The only stupid question is the one you didn't ask

And yup, it's normal for autofocus to hunt in low light or low contrast situations. Only work around is either get a torch or those laser pointer pens which project a image, shine it at your subject, and try to AF off that, or manual focus. Don't attempt the torch/laser thingy if the subject is easily disturbed, eg shining a laser pointer into the eyes of a person or animal is a bad idea.

Also, taking pictures in low light situations isn't easy. It's best to use a tripod. If a tripod is out of the question, make sure you brace yourself well and use higher ISO.

 

[clive]

use prefocus + manual focus

 

[jonlou]

high ISO + slow shutter speed + manuel focus? :think:

 

[jonlou]

This is my 1st time using a digi cam and was at the night safari with my canon s1 and was wondering if its normal that i cannot take much shots in those super low light conditions? The only lights there are really dim or they simulate moonlight. My cam cannot get a focus at all. the view finder is really dark

and btw, its not a stupid question. we're all here to learn from one another.... :bsmilie:

 

[LiOnElLiN]

were you trying to shoot the "slow norris"?
:bsmilie:

 

[zedwerkz]

No such thing as a stupid question. Ok now to answer ur question. I'm also using the canon S1, and the major bummer with it is that there is no AF-assist lamp, so in dim conditions, we can all go suck thumb as it basically can't see enough to focus on.

There's 2 work-around to this problem so far that I know of.

1) Zoom out to the widest angle 1st, this seems to let in more light, therefore helps the S1 to focus better. Once its focussed, slowly zoom in to frame the picture that you want. And when I say slowly I really mean it, jerking the zoom to telephoto will make the image out of focus again.

2) As was mentioned above, switch to manual focus, thot its kinda hard to be absolutely sure it's sharp on a 1.5 inch lcd, but it helps that the S1 magnifies the center to make things abit easier.

And in dim conditions, forget about using the viewfinder, as it does not brighten up like some other models, so its very dark. (Dunno why canon makes chose to omits such important features) Stick to the LCD. For taking night shots, or in dim conditions, switch to higher ISO, like 200 or higher. Slower shutter speed is usually a must, so bring a tripod along too to prevent camera shake.