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What settings/shutter speed do you use for night shots?

Aperture priority mode (Av, I set f/stop, camera chooses shutter), ISO 200 to reduce noise, F/3.5, manually focused, shutter was usually between 3-5 seconds. Edited later in PS for minor exposure adjustments, sharpening, and saturation.

I'll have to experiment with those settings. In the year that I've had my Rebel XS, I've only managed to pull off two decent night shots.

If you don't have one, get yourself a cheap aluminum tripod you can toss in your trunk and use for night stuff. You'll likely need it for consistent results below 1/15", I can usually do 1/10, but longer than that is hit-or-miss.

Seriously though, the shots I posted are a brilliant example of the things you can do out of the box with an entry level SLR like the XS with just the kit lens on it.

Next upgrade once the car is squared away is a faster lens, thinking fairly equivalent focal range as the the kit, but f/1.4 capable. Would demolish my focal length (in a good way) and cut my exposure times in half.

This post has been edited by cmspaz on Mar 25 2012, 08:17 PM

I've considered a tripod for awhile now, but have never gotten around to buying one. I did, however, have a cheap Targus for my old Nikon, but it broke after about two weeks of light use (the stand thing broke off from the legs when I was trying to put the camera on there).

The two night shots I managed to make look decent were taken on 1/6 and 1/8 respectively (however, the one taken on 1/6 was a Bentley sitting right under a street light, so that may have helped the shot). The only problem on both of them is ISO being too high.

I did take a look at those settings on my camera tonight, but can't get down past F/5.0. I think maybe tomorrow night, I'll take some practice pictures.

Zoomed all the way out you should still get f/3.5 on the kit lens.

Some nice pics in here

This post has been edited by seano on Apr 1 2012, 02:17 AM

oh man im jelly at the red NSX..

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1...=3&l=60f8f125d0 few pics from that meet phil posted up these are straight of camera need to learn how to edit

Indeed you do! And by that, I don't mean that you're not good, because there are some nice shots in there, just that these days I feel less like a photographer and more like an editor. Sure, there's something to be said for composition, but at the end of the day if you shoot wide you can crop down, and as long as you shoot in RAW it doesn't matter how many stops off you are because it's easily fixable. I spend more time on each shot after it comes off the camera than I ever could have when I was taking it.

That said, it's Thursday morning, so I've got new shots from last night.

These are not proper controlled shots but more out of the blue. These two cars literally came out of nowhere. No time to plan, put in in burst mode and gun it. These are the two that came out good.
Unusual choice of colour for a Viper.

I think this is the first Lamborghini Aventador in Vienna.

Composition is very good on both of those for on-the-fly shots. Color me impressed.

Looks like a sub-f/2 lens?

This post has been edited by cmspaz on Apr 5 2012, 07:58 PM

Highlight pics from last night:

Nice and low mx5 by seano_ae82, on Flickr

This post has been edited by seano on Apr 19 2012, 05:01 AM

Dang. That white first gen is noice

making slight progress on my shitbox

That white FB belongs to a buddy of mine, I'm jelly to say the least.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd PICS!

cressi by seano_ae82, on Flickr

Moar:

Lol no smoking on that FB.

This is a surprise for me to a whole new level. It's my first time seeing an R32 GT-R in the wild. A rare and once in a lifetime sight in Vienna.

Sorry, blurry shot. I didn't have my DSLR so I had to use my cellphone which is not very good at taking pictures.

Two-wheelin' like a boss.

Took this photo a few months ago, still trying to use my Powershot SX1 efficiently :