P&S + Low Light?
- This topic has 8 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated Nov 22, 2009 at 7:07 pm by
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This has been an ongoing issue for me and hopefully you guys can offer up some help or explanation as to what is happening…
I use a Pentax Optio W20 as my carry along camera when out fishing and have been pretty happy with the results it gives me except in low light conditions. In those situations, this thing has been nothing but frustrating.
It seems that no matter how I brace the camera, low light shots come out very blurry (example below). Using the flash all the time is probably the easiest answer, but doing so usually results in photos that look blown out.
Does anyone else has the same problems with this camera or other point and shoots?
Is there anything that will help resolve this?
Mike low light situations are tough and without fast glass there just isn’t alot you can do.
Shooting in low light presents 3 problems.
1) Low contrast. This can make it tough for the camera to acquire focus
2) Shake: This leads to “blurred” images. The rule of thumb for avoiding shake for the average person is keeping your shutter speed at or higher than 1/focal length. So shooting at wide angles vs mid or long is easier all else being equal.
Meaning. If the lights low and you need to shoot at 1/40th of a second you can avoid shake by “zooming” out to a focal length thats less than 40mm. At 1/40th you need to be very practised hand holding anything above say 80mm.
3) Motion Blur; in low light, that same slow shutter speed usually isnt high enough to “freeze” anything that moves…like fish, so even if you over come the “shake” issue, motion in your subject can still lead to blurred and/or soft images.
First thing to try is using some support, for something like one of the WPs look at a Gorilla pod. Cheap, light, and compact, makes bringing them with you easier. You could upgrade your body to a PnS that has faster glass or “Image Stabalisation” but then you lose the WP aspect. Im guessing you dont want that.
All that said.
What Shutter Speed was the above image taken at? Appearances can be deceiving but it doesn’t look like the light is that bad, so as to have you shooting at very low Shutter speeds. It *looks* like the problem may be shake, but there could be something else going on, my pure guess is you might be inside the camera’s minimum focus distance as a result of “zooming’ in. It looks like the camera hasnt focused on anything as much or more than itlooks like shake. Theres virtually no motion blur (problem #3), although theres a wee bit visible in the water, however if you look closely at the air bubbles below the gills.
a) they exhibit no motion blur despite being in the current, suggesting a SS high enough to freeze them and b) they are reasonably sharp (in focus) as opposed the fish.For illustrative purposes only
Heres a low light shot at f9 and ISO 500, well above the average PnS max aperture of f4. I shot this at 1/160th which should be more than enough to avoid both shake and motion blur. The point is to illustrate it takes pretty low light to be forced under 1/40th.
And even less light to be forced under 1/25th which if your at the wide end of your focal range (24-28mm) should be what you need to avoid shake
Brett and John make some great points here. Great stuff as always.
I would like to add to the discussion by offering tips and tricks for your specific camera. It is my opinion that the waterproof P&S cameras are invaluable tools for fly fishers. They are very powerful cameras once you learn to compensate for their deficiencies. Unfortunately, they often get a bad rap on the internet. It is wise to read the critiques carefully and understand the author’s bias. The FAS workshops now focus almost exclusively on the waterproof P&S cameras because frankly most of the questions are specifically about these camera models. In my experience, the waterproof cameras are the most common cameras in the general fly fishing community, but there is a lack of understanding on how to properly use the gear. The analogy here would be learning to fly fish with a moderately priced 5wt fly rod – make sure the instructor is able to teach on that particular rod and not giving you a fast action 4wt because he prefers that setup. Learn the basics and you can achieve great outcomes.
Mike, the Pentax Optio W20 is a great camera. Your frustration with low-light is shared by many fishers. The following post will have tips and tricks for your model but others should know that the principles are the same regardless of the camera brand. These adjustments can be performed on any waterproof camera.
5 Tips on getting better pictures with your waterproof point-and-shoot camera.
1. Select the appropriate camera mode
2. Adjust the EV to compensate for the available light
3. Adjust the ISO to compensate for the available light
4. Use flash wisely
5. Use photography software for post processingAs always, make sure to download your user manual (the Pentax Optio W20 manual is here http://www.pentaximaging.com/support/manuals-and-literature/).
P Mode (The basic picture-taking mode. You can let the camera set the functions “OR” choose various functions yourself). P63. In P mode, the Optio W20 can be manually adjusted. The other scene modes have fixed settings and are limited, especially for low-light fishing shots.
Avoid using the “Night Scene” on the river (unless you have a tripod). This mode will result in long exposure times and inevitably camera shake.
Another great mode to employ on the river is the “Pet” mode. This is ideal for taking pictures of moving subjects. The camera keeps the subject in focus until the shutter button is released. P70
Setting the Functions (Program Mode) P82-103
Setting the Exposure (EV Compensation). P82. This is the single best trick for getting better pictures from your waterproof P&S. The W20 allows for compensation of 2 stops in either direction. Adjust it to the right (positive) to gain exposure compensation = brighter image. Adjust it to the left (negative) to darken the image. HINT: since you will use this function a lot make sure and assign it to the Green button for quick access on the river – see P58. See P104 for tips on saving the EV compensation.
Use your histogram on the river to judge the correct EV compensation periodically throughout the day. Seriously, whenever I change locations (or the light changes, etc) I will often pull out the camera and adjust the compensation using my fly rod or reel as a subject. This will help you dial prior to catching a fish.
Setting the focus – P85. I typically stick with AF standard or Macro (the flower).
Selecting the flash – P87. Don’t be afraid to use flash when the available light is too dark. A trick here is to shoot one or two shots with flash and then one or two more without flash. This will increase your odds of getting a keeper shot. The biggest hint for using P&S flash on the river for fish shots is to use “Soft Flash” P87. This mode reduces the intensity of the flash at close range (i.e. fish in hand) and the flash will discharge regardless of the light conditions. This is my go-to “fill flash” mode.
Don’t forget to adjust your white balance! P92. The Pentax Optio cameras can shoot in Manual white balance, which is great if you know how to set it correctly. Otherwise, choose the auto setting.
How to set the AE metering, P94. This is a personal choice, but a few tips are in order. For shots of the river or landscape consider the “multi-segment metering”, which will meter the brightness over 16 areas to determine the exposure. Just be aware that if you have bright skies or backlit subjects, this mode will often result in darker images (however, you often bring back the shadow detail at your computer). For grip-and-grin shots consider using the “spot AE metering”, which will meter exposure brightness only at the center of the image.
ISO – how to set the sensitivity, P96. In addition to EV compensation, this is probably one of the biggest tricks to getting better fishing pictures in low light. The Pentax Optio allows for manual ISO adjustment which is a major benefit. I always choose ISO manually and avoid the auto setting, but that is again a personal preference based on experience. The older waterproof P&S cameras like the Optio W20 and Olympus Stylus 770SW can typically handle ISO of 800-1600 for low light situations. You will of course see noise (grain) in your image. However, you can compensate for this at your computer, depending on your software.
A few additional tips and tricks.See P101 for setting the image sharpness. Typically hard/sharp outlines are better for fish grip-and-grin shots. Normal sharpness is good for landscape or mist/dew.
See P103 for setting the image contrast. In my experience, low- to normal-contrast is best for grip-and-grins. You can recover contrast at your computer.
Computer Software.Picasa3 by Google (Free).
iPhoto (Free if you have a Mac).
Adobe Lightroom and Apple Aperture ($).
Adobe Photoshop CS4 ($$$).Post processing is a skill unto itself. The basic applications like Picasa/iPhoto are actually very powerful and will allow you to effectively edit your P&S pictures in most cases. However, the expensive applications offer more advanced controls as well as noise reduction and white balance.
This screen capture from Picasa3 shows the many adjustments available for post processing your images. And it’s free.
Here is an example of a grip-and-grin shot taken by Bret Nelson with his Olympus 850SW in low light. He learned how to compensate his camera and his photographs have improved vastly. There is still a bit of blur (camera shake) on the brook trout but it was minimized with computer software.
The following are examples of available low-light photography with the Olympus 770SW. Compensation was employed on all the images. You can see more images here http://www.nealosborn.com/Photography/waterproof-camera/10400368_g7TsC#720454551_62Qdc or here http://homepage.mac.com/nealpod/Sites/olympus770sw/index.html
Great stuff Neal. I agree, just having a camera handy makes all the difference and P&S’s fit the bill nicely because they’re hopefully “right here in yer’ vest pocket”.
Mike, the best trick I’ve learned for these situations (and works w/ any camera) is to set the camera (tripod or not) on “continuous”, “burst”, or “auto bracket” mode. Hold the shutter button down for three-six frames in a row, then pick the sharpest image in post. By doing this you can minimize the “shutter punch” that plagues single shot, low-light, slow shutter speed images. If the shots are identical and focus is hard to judge, then go by file size. Your largest file is usually the sharpest (sharpness=information=data).
Hope this helps.
db
Agree with everything written above, nice write up again Neal.
Other “vital” thing’s that we have to take into account are: The sensor reads best on 18% grey then darks to light’s, in the meter mode, the camera then adjusts to an algorithm of similar profiles. If the composition has 3 or less stops between light’s to dark, the image is going to be flat and the smaller sensor is going to have a very difficult time deciding the area of your “intended” focal point, especially in a matrix mode.
Keep in mind that your cameras TTL system is performing 2 functions, meter and focus. If it has a difficult time metering, it will have an equal difficulty in focusing. If these 2 properties are present, the matrix meter read is going to tell the computer that zone “X” has a better range of lights to dark “contrast” and the auto focus will adjust to that matrix zone. Look close at your image and you will see that the bubbles, under the gill and on the water, are perfectly in focus. Also notice that this is the least flat “more than 3 stops difference of specular to shadow” area.
A suggestion for you: Change to center weighted or spot meter, keep in mind that these also control the defined focus disciplines for the camera. Your trouts eye has nice specular and dark so, meter and auto focus there. As mentioned above, use a tripod and shoot wide enough that you can crop for your intended framing.
Main point is: Spot meter and focus on area of best bright/contrast. Zone map your shot first to make it easier on your camera, for better control the final (tell the camera what to do). Hope this helps some…
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