Stopping my pictures from looking soft

[curtisl]

2slo said:

RobDickinson said:

ISO 100 will record very few stars.ISO 800-1600-3200 and f4-f5.6 is better.

Why would higher ISOs record more stars? Surely lower ISO = less noise = more visible stars. Or am I missing something?

Edited by 2slo on Sunday 7th October 23:26

You need a higher iso so that your sensor picks out more light. You wont over expose at night and the noise is something you can reduce. As I understand it anyway.

[RobDickinson]

Vipers said:

2slo said:

RobDickinson said:

ISO 100 will record very few stars.ISO 800-1600-3200 and f4-f5.6 is better.

Why would higher ISOs record more stars?

Interesting, so how?

At ISO 100 you will record data from only the brightest stars.

At ISO 1600 you will record data from stars 4 times dimmer.

Yes there is a noise aspect but then a long ISO 100 shot wont be so clean and will have a lot less stars.

This is 1600 @ f4


Sit back, enjoy the view by robjdickinson, on Flickr

[2slo]

RobDickinson said:

Vipers said:

2slo said:

RobDickinson said:

ISO 100 will record very few stars.ISO 800-1600-3200 and f4-f5.6 is better.

Why would higher ISOs record more stars?

Interesting, so how?

At ISO 100 you will record data from only the brightest stars.

At ISO 1600 you will record data from stars 4 times dimmer.

Yes there is a noise aspect but then a long ISO 100 shot wont be so clean and will have a lot less stars.

This is 1600 @ f4


Sit back, enjoy the view by robjdickinson, on Flickr

I didn't know that, thanks

[JDRoest]

AndWhyNot said:

Disagree- AF is the way. It should either be spot on or way off. Focus manually and you can be a little bit off yet it'll look fine on the LCD... as you seem to have found out.

What does AF focus on exactly, in pitch black?

[markmullen]

JDRoest said:

AndWhyNot said:

Disagree- AF is the way. It should either be spot on or way off. Focus manually and you can be a little bit off yet it'll look fine on the LCD... as you seem to have found out.

What does AF focus on exactly, in pitch black?

Carry a torch, use it to illuminate something a long way away, focus on it, switch to manual focus, switch torch off. Bosh.

[AndWhyNot]

JDRoest said:

AndWhyNot said:

Disagree- AF is the way. It should either be spot on or way off. Focus manually and you can be a little bit off yet it'll look fine on the LCD... as you seem to have found out.

What does AF focus on exactly, in pitch black?

If you look up a bit you'll see AndWhyNot already said:

Did you focus on something, or just wind the focus ring round to infinity? Best bet is always the former.

Can be tough at times, but if it means the difference between bringing soft or sharp shots home, it's worth it. Read up about hyperfocal distances & depth of field and it'll give you an insight into how far into the frame you can focus for any given focal length/ aperture pairing. Armed with this info you can make a judgement on about focusing on location. The wider angle your lens, the closer to the camera you can focus and still get the whole scene sharp. That makes it easy in that you can just shine a torch at the given range and focus where the torchlight hits. Longer lenses need greater focal distance so you might need to pick out the moon or a distant streetlight.