Travel Photography - Advice on lightweight SLR w/ excellent night capability

Hi everyone, I enjoy taking pictures while I travel. I used to have an old Canon A-1 many years ago which used to take amazing pictures. The last few years I've been using fairly good digital cameras: Nikon Coolpix, Canon, etc, but none of these are good for night time shots. I was hoping someone who takes a lot of night time shots could recommend a good, lightweight/small SLR or near SLR that works well at night. For instance I like taking pics of city lights from the aircraft cabin window at night. I thank you all in advance for your assistance.

Well, virtually any DSLR can take pictures "at night." Although most around here are in either the Canikon or Nikanon camps, for small and lightweight you might want to look at the Pentax Kr. Very compact with good high ISO performance, it is a little more expensive than the only slightly less capable older version, the Kx. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Pentax/pentax_kr.asp .

Most dSLRs with APS-C sized sensor has fairly low noise. But night time photo is more than just the body. More importantly, what lens are you planning to use? And I presume without a tripod. Many modern lenses have image stabilization, and some dSLR manufacturers have IS built in to the bodies, so you can use much slower shutter speed and keeps the ISO down.

With my Canon 17-55/2.8IS, I can shoot many night time scenes handheld at around 1/8, f2.8 and ISO400. At that ISO, difference in noise among dSLRs is negligible.

I was hoping someone who takes a lot of night time shots could recommend a good, lightweight/small SLR or near SLR that works well at night. For instance I like taking pics of city lights from the aircraft cabin window at night.

I don't take a lot of night pictures, but do take them at times. I use both P&S and DSLR. If it is a still object, I found both P&S and DSLR yield acceptable results if my settings are right: tripod (a must), try different exposures, keep IOS around 100 (hance tripod), keep aperture f11-f22 (try them out and check results). Shooting in RAW will yield better results.

As mentioned up-post, "noise" or grain control can be a real issue. Re: "noise", I use "noise reduction" in LR or ACR. Tweek the luminance noise and color noise accordingly. Good results.

Shooting landscape at night from a moving plane can be a challenge no matter what camera you use. I exclusively use P&S while flying, for practical purpose. In this instance, my P&S setting will vary depends on the resulting image as seen on the camera monitor.

For semi-serious photogs and with the current crop of cameras, a lot depends on the "how-to-shoot (settings)", and no so much on which camera. That said, a camera shooting in RAW will produce better image, especially if editing is required.

I don't take a lot of night pictures, but do take them at times. I use both P&S and DSLR. If it is a still object, I found both P&S and DSLR yield acceptable results if my settings are right: tripod (a must), try different exposures, keep IOS around 100 (hance tripod), keep aperture f11-f22 (try them out and check results). Shooting in RAW will yield better results.



Shooting city lights from an airplane cabin at f11-f22 would be practically impossible, not to mention the fact that it would allow less amount of light into the sensor.

He would need a fast lens (f1.4, f1.8 primes or an f2.8) and keep his aperture open.

For example, I was using my nikon 18-70 f3.5-4.5 on a flight getting ready to land in TPA and I had a tough time getting it fast enough so it wouldn't blur and still allow enough light.

Most lenses are sharpest around F5.6 to F8. At F11 and smaller, diffraction starts to come into play. No reason to use such small aperture unless you'll looking to do very long exposure shots and you've already dialed the ISO to minimum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_NEX-5

Not entirely in line with what you want, but the Canon S95 performs very well in the dark. Some examples were posted here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-photography/1124811-question-canon-sx210is-s95.html

Hi everyone, I enjoy taking pictures while I travel. I used to have an old Canon A-1 many years ago which used to take amazing pictures. The last few years I've been using fairly good digital cameras: Nikon Coolpix, Canon, etc, but none of these are good for night time shots. I was hoping someone who takes a lot of night time shots could recommend a good, lightweight/small SLR or near SLR that works well at night. For instance I like taking pics of city lights from the aircraft cabin window at night. I thank you all in advance for your assistance.

Hi FyI

my 2 cents: My recommendation for you is either the Leica D-Lux5 or the Panasonic DMC LX5, which is essentially the same camera for half the price.

You want a compact camera with a fast lens and acceptable high iso performance. The Leica/Panasonic has an acceptable iso up to 3200 and can be pushed to 12800. They also come with a fairly fast leica f/2.0 lens.

You can actually get decent low light performance from most cameras, long as you have a solid tripod, but in your case is different.

If you go with the DSLR, I would invest in a super fast f/1.8 or faster lens.

hope this helps ^

dan

Shooting city lights from an airplane cabin at f11-f22 would be practically impossible, not to mention the fact that it would allow less amount of light into the sensor. ...

You may need glasses.

What I said was this "Shooting landscape at night from a moving plane can be a challenge no matter what camera you use. I exclusively use P&S while flying, for practical purpose. In this instance, my P&S setting will vary depends on the resulting image as seen on the camera monitor."

Mentioning of the f11-f22 setting was for fixed objects shooting.

Hi everyone, I enjoy taking pictures while I travel. I used to have an old Canon A-1 many years ago which used to take amazing pictures. The last few years I've been using fairly good digital cameras: Nikon Coolpix, Canon, etc, but none of these are good for night time shots. I was hoping someone who takes a lot of night time shots could recommend a good, lightweight/small SLR or near SLR that works well at night. For instance I like taking pics of city lights from the aircraft cabin window at night. I thank you all in advance for your assistance.

Strictly speaking, it is not a DSLR, but the new Panasonic DMC-GH2 might fit your bill. At least Digital Photography Review (http://bit.ly/dVaj5B) seems to like it quite a lot.

Cheers,
T.

You may need glasses.

What I said was this "Shooting landscape at night from a moving plane can be a challenge no matter what camera you use. I exclusively use P&S while flying, for practical purpose. In this instance, my P&S setting will vary depends on the resulting image as seen on the camera monitor."

Mentioning of the f11-f22 setting was for fixed objects shooting.

My eyesight is fine thank you...I did, however, needed to reread your post.

No need to be an ... about it.

To shoot cityscapes at night from an aircraft window, you'll need a fairly fast lens, around f/1.4 to f/2.0. There's another thread about shooting from an aircraft window (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-photography/1151553-minimum-shutter-speed-photos-aircraft.html) on this forum that may be helpful. In it, I recall mentioning a nighttime Times Square photo I shot which was f/1.4 with a 50mm lens at 1/125 sec at ISO 1600. There was motion blur if you zoomed in. Altitude will also play into this and should be considered (though that's the one thing you can't change ;))

You can go the route of an SLR and pick up an additional lens to complement the kit lens that's a bit faster (has a wider maximum aperture). For example, if you go for Nikon, you can pick up the 35mm f/1.8 DX lens for around $200. There are also some advanced point and shoot cameras that have come out in the last year with f/1.8 lenses, which is fantastic and could be a cheaper option.

Also there's been mention of shooting f/11-f/22 for fixed objects. The critical sharpness for most lenses is usually around f/8 (though it clearly depends on the lens). Stopping down further than that brings in diffraction, which causes a loss of sharpness and a softening effect. Shooting at smaller apertures like that is sometimes necessary if you're needing to maintain a large depth of field on close up objects, in which case you may want to live with that loss of sharpness. You may also want to shoot at those small apertures at night if you're intentionally looking for a very long exposure (and you've already dropped the ISO as low as it will go), such as to show car or other manmade light trails. Just wanted you to be aware, and of course, do your own tests to get a feel for your particular equipment.

There aren't too many DSLR-like set-ups that can be lighter than a micro-four-thirds camera with the 20mm f/1.7. That or Samsung with their 30mm pancake is pretty comparable in size to a G11 and much smaller than a classic Olympus OM2, which I believe is smaller than the Canon A1 (lenses and everything). I would chime in and recommend a Nokton f/0.95, but that's overkill. :D

Thank you all for such excellent suggestions. Your responses are greatly appreciated.