Any advice on taking night shots?

skywalker_208

Have an Olympus Mju 400, 4MP . When taking nightshots it has a night mode which some photos come out well with. However alot of them are very blurred..

any tips?

Flipflip

Get a tripod boi.

Or hold it steadier.

Progen

Flipflip wrote:

Get a tripod boi.

Or hold it steadier.

Took the words right out of my mouth!

Karoma

Flipflip wrote:

Get a tripod boi.

Or hold it steadier.

And use the timer to further prevent movement of the camera.
A beanbag is also a reasonable alternative to a tripod..

440Hz

Karoma wrote:

A beanbag is also a reasonable alternative to a tripod..

:v: Or anything else that comes in handy to rest on...

Steffano2002

Karoma wrote:

A beanbag is also a reasonable alternative to a tripod..

Sorry for hacking this thread somewhat but where can I get one of these big beanbags? Practical Photography magazine also advise investing in one of them but I can't think of a place where to get one...

rob1891

When using a bean bag or cheap tripod use the time delay shutter release. Pressing the shutter button will result in some movement of the camera, but using the time delay, your hands are away from the camera by the time it fires.

You can even try this when hand holding, as you can get a steadier grip without having to move your fingers around to fire the shutter.

Rob

Karoma

Steffano2002 wrote:

Sorry for hacking this thread somewhat but where can I get one of these big beanbags? Practical Photography magazine also advise investing in one of them but I can't think of a place where to get one...

I [strike]robbed[/strike] acquired one from a primary school ..
You can probably pick 'em up in an arts&crafts shop or smyths or somewhere..

.. one could probably make one?:)

Alun

Steffano2002 wrote:

Sorry for hacking this thread somewhat but where can I get one of these big beanbags? Practical Photography magazine also advise investing in one of them but I can't think of a place where to get one...

Get wife / girlfriend / mother / aunt to sew you a bag. Fill with dried beans. Sew shut.

Seriously It's what I did.

Karoma

Alun wrote:

Get wife / girlfriend / mother / aunt to sew you a bag. Fill with dried beans. Sew shut.

Seriously It's what I did.

\o/
great minds..

Although, if you're going to the effort: well sealed bag of sand? (~80% fill)

ShayHT

DIY as above has said or, one with "tripod screw" scroll to bottom:
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/default.php?cat=1&type=1020&man=0&filterwords=&go=SEARCH&comp=

Steffano2002 wrote:

Sorry for hacking this thread somewhat but where can I get one of these big beanbags? Practical Photography magazine also advise investing in one of them but I can't think of a place where to get one...

Alun

Karoma wrote:

\o/
great minds..

Although, if you're going to the effort: well sealed bag of sand? (~80% fill)

I actually used a couple of bags of split peas if I recall correctly and that's plenty heavy enough to carry around. Sand would be heavier I think. If you used sand I guess you'd probably have to put into some kind of plastic bag first before putting it into a cloth bag unless you used a very tight weave material.

Karoma

Alun wrote:

I actually used a couple of bags of split peas if I recall correctly and that's plenty heavy enough to carry around. Sand would be heavier I think. If you used sand I guess you'd probably have to put into some kind of plastic bag first before putting it into a cloth bag unless you used a very tight weave material.

Well,yeah.. I meant a well sealed bag (Heavy plastic) inside the cloth.

*shrug* I'm used to carrying heavy objects in my pocket..
Personally, I find it actually easier to carry and use a very small tripod (Looks impressive too. ahem.)

jlang

I don't know about your camera in particular, but sometimes the night mode is exactly what you don't want for handheld shots at night.

On my Pentax, the night scene mode takes an extra long exposure (typically 1/4 second) and activates some noise reduction scheme - a tripod is almost essential in this mode. It gets great shots of buildings for example but is very inappropriate for handheld shots of people in a dark room - pictures look as if they've been exposed twice.

Steffano2002

Thank you for all the replies on the beanbag!