Anyone have lighting problems with digital camera (s200 for me)?

[jinduy]

for example, when i take a picture in the evening, say i'm posing in front of the eiffel tower at las vegas... the camera will flash and take a nice clear picture of me, while the tower behind me is real darkened and barely visible.


but when i take it with a regular film camera, the camera takes a clear shot of me with teh eiffel tower clearly visible behind me...


anyone have this kind of problem with their digi cam, or is it just my model that has trouble? i've tried tweaking settings a couple times, but i'm just guessing now that the s200 camera focuses too much on the main object (me) and disregards whatever is in the background...


i'll put up example pics as soon as i can find my damn cable

 

[Ornery]

The film camera leaves the shutter open for 1/60th second. Yours must close too quickly. Try putting a thin tissue over your flash, in hopes that the shutter will stay open longer, since that camera doesn't have a shutter speed override. Also, Try standing back about 10' from your subject. That's the limit of the flash range on that camera.

 

[0roo0roo]

its the settings. if you really light up the objects close to camera, and camera shutter is on auto and really quick, its not going to get anything behind in the darkness. there should be a night shoot mode, or manual shutter mode. read the manual.

 

[jinduy]

ok i found how to set my shutter modes...varies from 1s to 15 seconds... basically i use long shutter mode in night or dark settings correct?

 

[Mark R]

Yup, that's right. The film or sensor needs a specific amount of light to work. If it is dark, it needs to be exposed for longer than if it was a bright day.

The flash provides a useful range of about 3-4 feet - anything further than that will not be usefully illuminated.

There are 2 potential solutions

1) switch off the flash - the camera should automatically take an exposure long enough
2) use the flash but manually set a longer exposure - the exposure you need is likely to be similar to the exposure needed in 1, and will vary with conditions. You will need to experiment to find the best result.

 

[dman]

Note that when you increase the shutter time, you are more likely to have blurry pictures due to motion of the subject people or camera. You have to hold the camera very steady. For extended shutter times (>1/2s for me) a tripod is almost required. For the .5-2s shutters, I can sometimes find something to prop the camera against to hold it steady (a makeshift tripod).

Anyway, it's digital so you can experiment now that you know what to do.

 

[thereds]

Can anyone direct me to good digicam help sites with topics on best settings for different environments etc etc

 

[kyutip]

FAQ

Get a small pocketable tripod, it's better than nothing. Use the manual setting like what other said and use the timer.

 

[Ornery]

All those wonderful suggestions won't do a damn bit of good on a camera with no manual overrides.

 

[Mark R]

All those wonderful suggestions won't do a damn bit of good on a camera with no manual overrides.

You can still turn off the flash, which will solve the problem - although you will need a steady hand.

 

[Ornery]

• Ah yes, I can see it now...

 

[jinduy]

Originally posted by: Ornery

• Ah yes, I can see it now...

wtf..