[dchp0]

Hi all,

I'm finally arriving in HK this Sat nite ...

I have a crap-tacular digital camera ... well, actually it does everything I want it to do, expect that it's night shot photos aren't that crash hot...

Does ne1 know of reputable stores which can change/upgrade the intensity of a digital camera?

Thnx
-D

[Anthony Green]

In two words : Imp osible ! You can no more get a quart into a pint pot than you can draw a greater amount of light out of a typical Digicamera's flash unit.

Hi-end digicams might has the facility of attaching additional external flash units (I suppose). I have no knowledge of this though. I've not researched it since I don't need to photograph black cats in coal cellars. <Grin>.

[kaizoku]

Another solution to night shots is to increase the exposure time, if your camera allows for it that is.

[KnowItAll]

External flashes .. don't bother messing with the built in one.

[JAherbert]

For a night time shot you need a longggg exposure time, SLR camera's have the "B" setting (meaning bulb) , which allows you to keep the shutter open until you release it (eg 8-10 seconds) an external flashgun is not going to help night time cross harbour type pictures.

[dchp0]

Thanks for the advice all,

I'm a newbie when it comes to cameras - but when I called the tech help desk for Sanyo (my camera is a Sanyo Xacti J4) - the tech mentioned about the timing delay between the clock crystal and the shutter ... and also I need a steady hand (as pics were blurry + snowy).

So I got a tripod last time I was in HK, and now .... to increase the shutter time ... does that mean ISO setting changes?

I have ISO50/100/200/400 ... and auto, in night mode the shutter time is 2sec ....

Any advice on the ISO speed? When I set it to ISO50 - everything is really dark =(

Cheers & beers,
-DB-

[KnowItAll]

In real laymans terms the ISO number is directly related to the sensitivity of the film.

Low ISO numbers mean that the film is less sensitive (used in high lighting situations... which means the exposure time will be high) high ISO number means that the film is more sensitive (which means the exposure time will be low).

For night time, again.. depending on the effect you want ... ISO400-1000 is recommended.

The last time I dealt with a manual camera and looked at any of these settings would have been about 15 years ago... so .. I could well be wrong.

I'd look for more advice on dpforums.com

[kaizoku]

The ISO speed indicates the film speed, the faster it is i.e. the higher the number the less time the film requires to expose.

50 is quite slow film so your photos will be dark due to the shutter not being open long enough to expose the film properly.

Hope this helps

Edit: beat me to it. I should type faster.

[fly]

To increase the shutter time you just hve to set your camera to "night mode" (assuming it has one). Now tht you have got the tripod, the trick will be to get everyone to just stay still for a few seconds while the picture is being taken.

[fly]

Hey btw, how is this camera, from your pov? I was thinking of getting this one last year, it seemed to do video very well. Nigt time shots are quite bad with my minolta and sony as well, so it would seem the perfect all in one POS dc hasn't been developed yet.