Low Light

I find night and low-light photography particularly interesting. Perhaps it is because it is so difficult, perhaps because the images are so very different to daylight, perhaps because less people take these and perhaps because of the high contrast of colourful subject to black night.

I bought the A610 largely because of its low-light performance. Sure, it was no SLR in this realm, having a nominal maximum sensitivity of ISO 400, but independent tests showed that was closer to a true ISO 640. Certainly, compared to SLR levels this was modest, and compared to the sensitivities of 2008's compacts it seems modest, but the high MP compacts of 2008 produce second rate IQ when pushed beyond ISO 100, and unusable rubbish beyond 200, the A610 in contrast, was still producing useable images at ISO 640. Sure they were a bit grainy but so were the ISO 1600 images from 2008's APS SLRs. Again this little unit proved itself a gem.

Once I had an SLR the drive to get better low-light shots, (especially people under night time indoor lighting), led me to fast lenses such as the 50mm prime and the 17-50 f/2.8 zoom. Although I have managed some decent shots under the better indoor lighting, sadly I am still a couple of stops slow for the poorer class of indoor lighting that I often have to deal with. The final shot here of me drinking beer is an example of the poor light I am talking about. Sure this is a sharp shot but it was at 1/10 sec! It only worked because I held still for it. Realistically, to avoid motion blur from human subjects you need around 1/50 sec. I had my system cranked up to maximum speed: f/2.8, ISO 1600 and still 2 stops slow. Sure, you can push the exposure but that leads to excessive noise.

What I need is a more efficient or larger sensor for an extra stop or two of sensitivity and perhaps an f/1.4 prime. More expense! Sadly there is no cheap way to get really good available-light night shots of people. In the meantime I am using flash a lot!

THUMBNAIL (click to view 1200px image)	PARAMETERS	COMMENTS
	Canon A610 f/2.8 1/10 sec ISO 400 Custom Mode 1 sec delay	"Emprica" (Portland, 2006) There wasn't a great deal of light coming from the back of the truck where promising young heavy metal band "Emprica" were performing. The band were moving around as one would expect and so it was always going to be an impossible shot for this camera, but I cranked up the ISO, held myself steady and got this shot.
	Canon A610 7mm (35mm) f/2.8 0.4 sec ISO 400 Custom Mode 1 sec delay	"Night Train" (Portland, 2006) Crossing the rail bridge one night I saw a wheat train passing below me, so I quickly pulled out the cam and took this shot. I knew it would be a long exposure, so I rested the cam on the bridge railing. It is an interesting contrast: one train moving, the other stationary.
	Canon A610 7mm (35mm) f/2.8 1/10 sec ISO 200 Custom Mode 1 sec delay	"Brass Eagle" (Portland, 2006) Old stone churches are not well lit by their windows and this one was no exception. I rested the camera on a pew top and took this shot. You can see some noise above the organ pipes, but I think it is very tolerable. Elsewhere the noise is almost non-existent.
	Canon A610 10mm (46mm) f/3.2 1/15 sec ISO 400 Custom Mode 1 sec delay	"Computer Desk" (Portland, 2006) I wanted to demonstrate how this camera performs handheld under a single 100W incandescent one night and took the picture of the thing right in front of me: the computer. Sure the ISO 400 setting is noisy, but it is still useable and it isn't blurred!
	Canon A610 10mm (46mm) f/3.5 1/2 sec ISO 100 S Mode 2 sec delay	"The Gordon After Dark" (Portland, 2006) Buildings lit up at night often make a good subject. I rested the camera on a low wall at midnight on a quiet night for this shot. I tried various exposures and let the camera set the aperture. This was the best of them.
	Canon A610 29mm (140mm) f/4.1 2 sec ISO 100 S Mode 1 sec delay	"The Port After Dark" (Portland, 2006) I wanted to get the reflection of light off the dark water of the harbour at night. Fortunately the Port never sleeps and I was able to rest the camera on a BBQ table, zoom in and get this.
	Canon A610 13mm (60mm) f/3.5 8 sec ISO 200 M Mode 2 sec delay	"Night Tree" (Portland, 2006) I was looking for unusual lighting shots at night and I conceived this one. I mounted the camera on a tripod, focused on a tree and waited until a car approached, then used a long exposure to capture the effect of the headlights on the tree. Because the car was moving it doesn't appear in the shot, only it's red taillights.
	Canon A610 7mm (35mm) f/2.8 8 sec ISO 400 M Mode 2 sec delay	"Night House" (Portland, 2006) I had the idea of capturing the look of a house with all windows lit one dark night. I knew it would be a long exposure so I used a tripod. I was surprised at just how long! Full aperture, full sensitivity and still it took 8s. Just enough lighten shadows to give outline to the roof.
	Canon A610 7mm (35mm) f/2.8 0.4 sec ISO Auto P Mode	"Rail Yards at Dawn" (Portland, 2006) Since I had dark-night shots I wanted to capture the look of dawn light, so I went for a walk down to the rail yards. I rested the camera on the bridge railing and took this shot. Like sunset shots, dawn shots are usually disappointing and this was no exception. Lightening the image took away the magic and darkening it made it too dull. Still it's not too bad an attempt.
	Canon A610 10mm (46mm) f/3.5 0.8 sec ISO 100 S Mode 2 sec delay	"Mac's After Dark" (Portland, 2006) After the success of "The Gordon After Dark" I thought I would try another historic, but rather different hotel under the same conditions. I found a stone retaining wall across the street and set the camera on that. Exposure was rather similar to that of the Gordon. I used a 2 sec delay to avoid shutter press blur. I walked up and down the street first to find the best shot, it was not directly in front of the subject.
	Canon A610 15mm (72mm) f/3.5 1/30 sec ISO 400 P Mode	"Old Rockers Never Die" (Portland, 2006) Jon English was happy to allow photography during the show, so I took a lot of shots. A rock band is always a difficult low-light subject unless they are very strongly lit because they are always moving. I was pushing the boundaries of this little cam and just had to max out the speed, hold still and hope for the best. Even then, the great majority of my shots were blurred and had to be thrown out. I got just 2 good shots at ISO 200 and the rest of the good ones were all ISO 400. Sure it's a bit grainy but the image itself is very good (IMO). Try getting this quality with 2008's compacts! "A shot is a shot, no shot is not!"
	Canon 400D Canon 50 f1.8 50mm (80mm) f/2.8 1/60 sec ISO 1600 A Mode	"Hands Up!" (Portland, 2008) OK So I did eventually shoot a night-time concert with an SLR and the difference is obvious. With "nifty fifty" open to f/2.8 and at ISO 1600 I had the necessary speed (just). Hooray! The children are part of the Cockatoo Valley Song Group, on stage for Mal Webb's fund raiser at the Portland PAC.
	Canon 400D Canon 50 f1.8 50mm (80mm) f/2.8 1/10 sec -2eV ISO 1600 A Mode	"Filming The Gig" (Portland, 2008) Under stage lighting I had enough speed, but how would I go filming the audience, who are in comparative darkness? Well, out of the question you would think, I needed another 4 stops! I got these by "pushing" the exposure by 2 stops and by holding the shutter open for 2 stops longer on an non-IS lens. I was just pushing the boundaries to see how far they would go. The image isn't too bad if you don't blow it right up. Incidentally this is Adam Hardcastle, conductor of the CVSG, who was in the audience, filming Mal Webb's concert.
	Canon 400D Canon 50 f1.8 50mm (80mm) f/2.8 1/90 sec ISO 1600 A Mode	"Mal Webb in Concert" (Portland, 2008) And here is Mal Webb, performing under lights. There is enough speed here one might think, but there is still some motion blur. Mal is an energetic performer and is continually in motion, 1/90 sec is just not fast enough. Nearly... but not quite. I could have, (possibly should have), used the nifty-fifty's f/2.0 stop but testing had demonstrated that this aperture was not really sharp. Still, the ISO 1600 degrades the image and I used that. Ah well, it's still a good shot.
	Canon 400D Canon 18-55 IS 30mm (48mm) f/4 1/20 sec ISO 1600 A Mode	"Teaching the Notes" (Portland, 2008) The next day Mal Webb was teaching the Cockatoo Valley Song Group some new material at the Portland North Primary School and I went along to film. It was daytime but it was an overcast day, the windows were small and half of the light came from fluorescent tubes. Effectively there was slightly less light in the room than there was on the stage the night before. I used the 18-55 IS kit lens, rather than the 50mm prime, so that I could get the necessary width but of course I lost aperture. At 30mm the kit lens opened to f/4 which was very handy, and thanks to the effective IS I got a number of decent shots. Of course motion blur was a problem but in this shot it's only Mal's arm. I did some extra sharpening in PP here, which is against my normal ideology as it leads to an unnatural look at full zoom.
	Nikon D60 Tamron 17-50 f2.8 19mm (29mm) f/2.8 1/10 sec ISO 1600 A Mode	"Warren with Beer" (Melbourne, 2008) This is the current limit of my low-light gear. As I discussed in my introduction to this gallery, there is no cheap way to increase the speed without losing image quality. An f/1.4 prime is something I must try, but I suspect the DoF will be too narrow for my liking. In the meantime, if people will just hold steady when asked... Yeah right!
	Nikon D60 Tamron 17-50 f2.8 31mm (47mm) f/5 1/60 sec ISO 800 Inbuilt Flash A Mode	"Goat in the Dark" (Portland, 2008) OK this is a flash shot and thus doesn't belong here. But. The shot was taken in complete darkness! I used the AF assist LED to let the camera focus and SNAP! In complete darkness you have to use something. Sending flash pulses to set focus is very BAD in any social setting. A LED is much less confronting.