Digital Camera Help (not which to buy) = need advice/ppl with experience!

[ShinRa]

Noone could really help in the hardware section, so I figured this is another area I could ask since more people come here.

I've been looking for a good digitial camera. Well I went with the Sony DSC W-1 and it was the best choice. Now I want to move out of the auto mode because the pictures 80% of the time come out too dark, too bright, or blurry. When moving into manual I am playing with settings and really finding no difference in quality. So my questions are:

1. What level of exposure should I use in darker lighting? Lighter lighting?

2. What shutter speed should I use in darker lighting? Lighter lighting?

3. What aperature should I use in darker lighting? Lighter lighting?

4. What level of ISO should I use in darker lighting? Lighter lighting?

5. I think my cameras biggest problem is night shots. I know the dsc w1 is capable of taking amazing shots, I've seen other peoples work and it look professional. For some reason though with me, the shots are either blurry, hard to see, or dont come out at all in my night shots even on the Nighttime pre-set. What should I do in manual mode for this?



Thanks to anyone who can answer these for me or point me to a helpful link!

 

[ALEXDJ]

exposure: darker - longer exp. lighter - shorter exp.
shutter-same as exposure (same thing, different names)
aperature: darker - larger aper. lighter - smaller aper.
ISO: darker - higher ISO (more sensetive to light)
lighter - lower ISO (less sensetive to light)


night shots

for night shooting you need long exposures (3-15sec, some times even more) because the exposure times are so long you need a tripot, that's why your pic come out blury, 'cause have to hold the shutter open for 10 sec, and it's hard to keep your cam perfectly still without any support(tripot).

Hope this helps, but i recomment that you take a digital photography class at your local community college, that's what i did and it help A LOT.

 

[ShinRa]

Thanks alex. And can you recommend any picture editing software thats free? The DSC-W1's software kinda sucks.

 

[ALEXDJ]

Thanks alex. And can you recommend any picture editing software thats free? The DSC-W1's software kinda sucks.

the best one is photoshop ofcourse

i personally don't know any free ones, but i'm sure if you go to download.com they'll hook you up with one

 

[jondy]

Noone could really help in the hardware section, so I figured this is another area I could ask since more people come here.

I've been looking for a good digitial camera. Well I went with the Sony DSC W-1 and it was the best choice. Now I want to move out of the auto mode because the pictures 80% of the time come out too dark, too bright, or blurry. When moving into manual I am playing with settings and really finding no difference in quality. So my questions are:

1. What level of exposure should I use in darker lighting? Lighter lighting?

2. What shutter speed should I use in darker lighting? Lighter lighting?

3. What aperature should I use in darker lighting? Lighter lighting?

4. What level of ISO should I use in darker lighting? Lighter lighting?

5. I think my cameras biggest problem is night shots. I know the dsc w1 is capable of taking amazing shots, I've seen other peoples work and it look professional. For some reason though with me, the shots are either blurry, hard to see, or dont come out at all in my night shots even on the Nighttime pre-set. What should I do in manual mode for this?

Thanks to anyone who can answer these for me or point me to a helpful link!

You sound like you want to get into photography more. Go for it, buddy, it's a life skill

You really need to go to the library and pick up a book on basic photography - you need to understand the principles behind shutter speed/aperture/ISO settings to get a foothold on the problems you're having.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/ is the place to go for digicam information - it has roundups of various categories and is sure to sort you out for buying info.

Quick answer for the night shots, though - get a tripod. It's one of two accessories that will really help you achieve professional results. The other one is a polarizing filter, but you won't need that yet

Cheers,

jondy