XChris1632X Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 Less than two months ago I invested in a Cannon SD 880IS digital. It is very nice and takes bad ass pictures. I was strongly encouraged to go with this over my buddys Olympus. I started looking at his camera the other day and we were taking some night shots. Within 10 feet my camera takes really nice photos even with very little light. I tried to take a picture of a town from high up on a building and you cant see shit. The town was basically a whole bunch of lights but it didnt help. My buddies camera has a night shot setting on it and it took a bunch of sweet night photos from far away distances. Mine doesnt even compare. I was told before I bought it that everything was automatic with my camera and I dont need to change settings therefore I have no option of night photos. Is there anything I can change or adjust myself to make a far away night shot. The only thing that I know of that I have to even adjust that has to do with light settings are the ISO numbers. Mine is on auto now. I know very little about cameras when it comes to this kind of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hot_wire Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 Personally, I'm not a big fan of Canons. Both cameras I've owned from them (one film, one D-SLR) proved unreliable for me. That aside, check your camera dial for a P or an M mode. In the M mode, you can set shutter speed (longer = better for night) and aperture (lower numbers = bigger = better for night). If you don't have an M mode, try the P mode where you can fool with iso settings (bigger = better but more grainy) and turn up the overall brightness. Not to be a dick, but you know to turn the flash off when taking distance photo's at night, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.cos Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 A Canon Elph isnt exactly an investment camera. Its called a throw away digital camera. What is his camera (model) You have ISO settings on that camera, that would be the first thing i would play with and learn about. There is also Macro (the flower) and Distance (the mountain) settings, they will help, not be spectacular. http://a.img-dpreview.com/news/0809/canon/compacts/Digital-IXUS-870-IS-GOLD-BCK.jpg The zoom on it is not made for you to take distance shots. If you want distance you need a real camera. (Im sorry but thems the facts). There is a nice upgrade that isnt quite the price of a full DSLr called the Canon S5-IS (ther is also a downgrade from that, called the S3-IS) This might be more in the direction you are looking for. This is a great camera to throw in bag and take on a trip for snapshots, but its not going to give you all these "fancy" shots you are looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 (edited) Less than two months ago I invested in a Cannon SD 880IS digital. It is very nice and takes bad ass pictures. I was strongly encouraged to go with this over my buddys Olympus....... My buddies camera has a night shot setting on it and it took a bunch of sweet night photos from far away distances........Mine doesnt even compare. I was told before I bought it that everything was automatic with my camera and I dont need to change settings therefore I have no option of night photos. The SD880 offers only a program mode, with no options for aperture- or shutter-priority shooting, let alone a fully manual mode. There are sixteen scene modes though. Nice little P&S camera and does great for parties or outside, but unfortunately it lacks any of the creative modes. PM if you have Q's on other cams should you look to make a move. I shoot mainly Canon DSLR's but in the P&S world I have 14 different cameras of all types I'm not being biased here having worked for them....but the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX37 is one of the best and most creative little pocket cameras you'll get for the money. Check it out. Edited January 4, 2009 by TTQ B4U Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractor Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 You've got a night snapshot mode and you can do shutter times up to 15sec so you should be able to get the shot your looking for. Only concern is focus is automatic only so you'll have to focus on a light or edge of a brightly lit object when shooting a night city scene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.cos Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 I'm not being biased here having worked for them....but the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX37 is one of the best and most creative little pocket cameras you'll get for the money. Check it out. MY dad picked up one of these on ebay pretty cheap, and so far its been great for him. He can hand it to my 79 yo grandma and she can use it pretty easily, and it takes a decent picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XChris1632X Posted January 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 You've got a night snapshot mode and you can do shutter times up to 15sec so you should be able to get the shot your looking for. Only concern is focus is automatic only so you'll have to focus on a light or edge of a brightly lit object when shooting a night city scene. I sure as hell cant find a night mode on this thing. I am going to try a couple different things and see if I cant make it better. Thanks for all the guidance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 I sure as hell cant find a night mode on this thing. I am going to try a couple different things and see if I cant make it better. Thanks for all the guidance. Look in the manual on one of the sixteen scene modes the camera has. You'll see there are a few good ones to use at night. It won't say night mode....night mode/night shot is more of a Sony camera term. Most little cameras will just have a series of icons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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