I have come to the conclusion that high ISO is not something to fear this photo was taken at ISO 3200 (f4.5, 1/25th of a second, 40mm) during a trip to England this past February, the second photo is a 100% crop of the first.  I have become a real fan of high ISO even in flash photography as the background doesn't disapear and you can dial back the flash by stop or so to avoid that deer caught in headlight look and you maintain some of the feel of the ambient light.  Non of the photos have have any noise reduction applied.
Gerhard


                         
  

Thanks James. This info was very helpful as it verified some of the techniques that I have been using. I know one thing for sure I am not going to use any ISO higher than 400. This was always arule for me, but on a recent vacation I for some reaso went to an ISO of 800 and as you said there was noise in the images. Don't ask me why I did this. I also use a tripod if need be .I have also had good results with Iso at 400 and the aperture at 5.6 and the images were very good. After seeing my images shot at 800 ISO it shook my confidence a little. I will also will try and turn off the AWB andsee the results. Thank James.

Hi Jim -- Night shooting is one area where any metereing rules or systems like matrix or spot can be thrown out the window.  The only good form of light metering for night photography is your eye and of course your photo experience, since we are not dealing with daylight a meter reading can only be used as a starting point.  Light meters work on the premise that the subject area being read by your meter contains equal amounts of light and dark areas, that is not always the way when doing night photography.  If you have a vast dark area with one bright light source your meter will be fooled.  So therefore you must rely on your eye and start with a planned setting and work out from there.

For most of the night situations you encounter, try starting with a shutter speed of about 2 seconds with a mid range aperture of F5.6, if depth of field is not the priority.  If your exposure has to be lengthened, use the shutter speed, then adjust your aperature accordingly.  Make sure to remember to use either your self timer or a cable release for long exposures.  Bracket your exposures try four or five different shots of the same night setting, sometime a difference of 2 stops can dramatically change your image.

Two last points, your white balance and ISO setting ... turn off the AWB (auto white balance) and select the manual setting that bests suits your lighting condition, if you have a predominate amount of flood or tungsten lights select the tungsten light setting, if you prefer the warmer or orange to yellow look select the sun white balance setting.  Check your ISO setting, select 100 or 200 ISO and opt for a longer exposure, if you select an higher ISO setting like 800 to 1000 ISO for example, you risk having digital noise creep into your images. (looks like sparks or streaks in your image.)

If anyone has other points to add or experiences with low light, please share it with us.  James

hey jim, like you said there are many different methods, you can use a tripod and use a longer exposure. you can also use a faster shutter speed and up your ISO. i think the best combination would be using the most open aperture posible with a shutter of something over 1/60 of a second, and depending on your aperture capability and how dark it is  i would use a ISO of 400 or higher. if you have to use a realy high ISO to get the proper exposure then i would put the camera on a tripod and use a longer exposure. a flash unit would be a solution if you are shooting say portraits, because when you use a flash you can use a faster shutter speed, wich as we found out on the fall trip, brings out the colours of the sky, that is, if the sky is your chosen backdrop.

 I am looking for some tride and true methods of photographing at  night using a digital camera. I have tried my methods with fairly good sucess. I just  would like to know what others say about this. Jim Bristow