Digital cameras and night photos.

[DisneyCouple07]

Hi everyone. My DW and I are going back to WDW at the end of Sept and I was looking into getting a new digital camera before I go (probably before the end of July). I have my heart set on the Sony DSC-T100 (have read a bunch of good reviews and a few not so good—I like it because it has an excellent spec sheet and it so compact). I have spoken to some photographers and they have said it is a great camera according to specs. I was wondering if anyone has gotten it already and can offer some info on it. My greatest concern is taking night photos—especially of the nightly parade at MK and Fantasmic. I tried with my Sony DSC-P150 and it didn't do too well (I tried every setting possible and the shot either came out very dark or very blurry—then again it could just be my own stupidity). Anyway, any info on the T100 or any help on taking night shots with my current P150 are greatly appreciated. :mickey:

PS: Taking snapshots of Cinderella's castle during the fireworks at night came out perfect (only a few blurry shots out of 50 or so).

[Pop Centurion]

The problem with mostly all P&S cameras is they don't have a very high ISO setting or wide aperture. As a result, night shots are taken at a slower shutter speed to allow the correct amount of light to enter the sensor for proper exposure. The obvious problem with this is while the shutter is open longer, any camera shake or movement will result in blur (unless you have a tripod)
Last year I used my Nikon Coolpix 4600 which took great pictures during the day but night time was a different story. I tried the night setting during spectro magic and still got slight blur. The only way to avoid it was to use flash but that resulted in bright light on the dark sections of the floats that shouldn't be illuminated. This year I'm ready though because I purchased a Nikon D50 DSLR and have the convenience of manually setting the ISO and aperture. My Nikkor 50mm f1.8 will be a perfect combo to get great night shots.
But unless a DSLR is in your budget my best suggestion would be to try using the night setting on your camera for parades and distant architecture, which will automatically set to the highest ISO and widest aperture the camera is capable of and invest in a monopod. They're pretty cheap and collapses so it's not bulky to carry like a tripod.

[mrsgaribaldi]

We took a small tripod with us and got some excellent pics at night in May. We used the Kodak easyshare v705.
I'm going to buy another tripod that attaches to things, like a light post, you just wrap it around something and take pics. It's small and easy to carry, I'm hoping;)

[DisneyCouple07]

Hi Shorty, thanks for the info :thumbsup:. The DSLR is great, but beside the budget the issue I just find they are really bulky to carry around the parks all day. The P&S that I have fits right in my pocket—but it does **** at night. The new sony I mentioned is suposed to have image stabilization up to ISO 3,200 (the review said that the images stayed noise free up to 400, but started to slide at 800 and 1600). I will take your advice about the monopod (although also a little bit to carry, it only has to come along at night)—and will take a look at a dslr.

BTW, while searching for the monopod I also found what Mrsgaribaldi might be interested in. Its a flexible tripod that attacked to things and it seems fairly easy to transport. Its by Sunpak and seems to be availble at the big chain electronic store (the one with the red dot in the logo).

Thanks again. :mickey: