Low light photography

[Guest Photounit]

I found this artilce on the low light performance of Compact Cameras. Being that quite a few people here probably use these, I thought it may be of interest..... I have always wanted to get a P&S that I can throw in my bunker coat for that "quick shot" but I knew I would be disappointed with the results so I have stuck with my big,bulky SLR's which have exceptional LL performance... Only problem is I can't keep my SLRs in my pocket....I keep hoping that the technology will improve and I'm sure someday it will but from what I get out of the article, there haven't been any big strides made yet.....If you're looking for a P&S for fire photography they say that theFujifilm FinePix F30 and F31fd did the best in low light and if your using anything else to photograph in low light, you need to keep the ISO low and use a tripod......... If you're a "solar powered" FF , then I guess none of this matters..........

Link - http://www.dpreview.com/articles/compactcamerahighiso/

Edited May 23, 2007 by Photounit

[Guest]

I use to use compact digital cameras and the fuji's low light capabilities always surpassed the others. I now use a f/1.4 nikkor (lens) on a nikon D70s DSLR which takes absolutley outstanding photographs, even with the smallest bit of ambient light. As far as the test goes, it seems that the fuji was almost a tie with the larger more advance canon in this test, which is truley impressing for an "all around" point-and-shoot camera. ISO is always an option to increase the brightness and clearness of a low light image but although the fuji has extremly low noise even at high ISO's there will always be noise in ANY camera when you increase the ISO. My opinion is that the only way to get th clearest, brightest images in low light is to keep the camera at an average ISO (my favorite is 400) and open up the apereture, but considering the other options for low light point and shooters and the fact that you wont find a decent compact with a built in 1.4 lens, this fuji would be at the top of my list.