Canon Rebel XT- Night Photography

Hi. Just wondering if anyone has any tips for shooting night photos using my

(new) canon rebel xt with the stock lens (18-55 mm). My problems so far have

been blurry images due to having to manually focus b/c the auto focus wasn't

working at all when I had my camera set on M, using a slow shutter speed (at

least 30 secs) with aperture wide open in a very low light situation (full

moon, not a whole lot of other ambient light, and shooting at a building).

It's very discouraging considering I just bought this fancy camera. I miss my

point and shoot where I could compose on the LCD screen and see the exposure

when I adjusted the shutter speed. Now if I'm in a dark situation, I have to

compose through the view finder and trick the camera into taking the shot. Any

advice helps as I am determined to master this new camera if it kills me!

 

Also, important points - I was using a tripod and cable release when blurry

pictures were rendered. I suspect the problem was with this user and the

manual focus on the subject, I was trying to focus on the moon and not the

building and it was hard for me to see whether or not anything was in focus in

the dark.

You must first understand basic camera principles such as shutter speed, ISO and aperture settings. How experienced are you?

hello i also have a similar situation with my D80 in low light conditions. I dont use canon so it may not work the same. but try finding the one bright spot in the image for your camera to focus on. the adjust your exposure for the rest of the image. if that doesnt work you might have to just practice manual focusing.

Also, if you're trying to capture a building scene is it lit up or are there any backgrounds that contrast around it...you need to explain what it is you're trying to accomplish. Maybe try the program mode on the tripod.

For the moon set f/8 shutter speed at 1/250

You have to fool the light meter!

If focusing on the building in the dark is the problem, get a laser pointer, aim the spot on the building and focus on the spot.

 

-jbh-

I got news for ya, i dont think a PS would focus either, and if it did, the image would be a lot more noisy than the 350D. It takes practice to do. If focusing on something close at night, light it up with a flashlight and either focus manually or let the camera try and focus. The AF on the rebel is not great, it does not like low contrast or nighttime at all. Just practice, and sometimes take a few exposures moving the focus ring only slightly. I think that a 30sec exposure of the moon would probably be soft simply because the moon is moving.

Read in the manual about these critical things:

 

(1) Tripod

 

(2) Manual Mode

 

(3) Manual Focus

 

(4) Bulb setting

 

(5) Mirror Lock

 

The XT is capable, but night is a challenging time.

I would try to set the focus in the daylight and then position myself in the same spot at

night. I would also definitely lock up the mirror. I am sure that whatever problem you are

having can be figured out and I am also certain that the camera itself is not the problem.

Good luck and let us know how you figure it out

If there are lights in the vicinity (like in a window) of your main subject, the camera should auto focus on the light. Then turn off the auto focus, recompose and don't touch it. Set the aperture to f11 or f16 for depth of field. F16 produces a nice "star" effect. Use manual exposure. Set the ISO to 100, and try, oh, 10 seconds. Then check the histogram. The histogram of a night exposure won't look like a daylight histogram. Most pixels will be way to the left. Bracket like crazy. Bits are cheap. Once you learn to "nail" the exposure, you'll find night photographing quite enjoyable.

 

Oh, BTW, shoot in RAW mode.

Simple solution here. Pop up the onboard flash. Compose your shot, press the shutter button half way. The flash will emit a few bursts to help with focussing and exposure calculations, then with your finger still half way pressing the shutter button put the flash back down and take your shot. Imediately after getting a well focussed shot put the lens in MF mode and dont touch it. Take a few more shots and try out the AEB in the second menu, turn on the multi burst mode (or whatever they call it) and your camera will take 3 shots in a row and stop. One overexposed, one right on, one under according to what the camera thinks.

 

It works for me.

Dan

Oh wait, you said you use (M)anual mode. The AEB wont do any good then.

It can be done:

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/5017173

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/5664698

 

As you can see in the first one, the moon has blurred in the 30sec exposure, but the photo is in focus, evidently, by looking at the trees.

 

Both pictures were taken with an XT and 18-50mm EF lens.

I've just done some hand-held night photography. I didn't have my tripod when I was in Celebration last week so I used high ISO. The results are really quite good though the noise levels are high.

 

I used 1600 ISO where the noise makes golfball-sized grain but printed to 10x8 the effect is less than if I'd used a 400ASA colour print film.