Dark Pictures I have been trying to photograph nite shots of the exterior of my house with the landscape lighting on. I am trying to use slower shutter speeds with a tripod and timer but they still keep coming out dark. Any assistance on settings (shutter speed, aperature or other) would be greatly appreciated.

try using a camera tripod or leaning against something sturdy, like a building or tree, especially when really zoomed in! As the light dims, the camera will choose a slower shutter speed and/or wider aperture (in automatic) to produce a picture that is not too dark. As a result, the camera may take blurry pictures, especially if the camera or subject moves. There is a setting for landscape, which uses a very small aperture, and just about everything from close to far away can be in focus. Hope this helps!

What i find is that the larger the card the slower the write recovery in taking pictures. If you are an action photographer this is a pain as things happen fast . To have the camera take so long to recover from a write leaves you open to losing some excellent shots. So my rule of thumb is use smaller value cards. If you are just a happy shots photographer then this probably doesn't really matter.

Thanks for using Fixya

If you can adjust the ISO sensitivity to a lower number then the graininess will be reduced.

However, by reducing the ISO, you will need a slower shutter speed and a larger aperture. A tripod, table or other support may be necessary.

The "noise reduction" setting on the camera can also be adjusted a step up.

Taking pictures at full resolution and fine compression will also help.
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Overall, at least try lowering the ISO, and using the flash brighter.

Most probably you have incorrectly set your camera to a Camera Record mode other than Auto.

If there is not enough light and you are trying to photograph the scene without flash, (eg. by setting your camera mode to a mode that is programmed not to use flash) then the camera has to compensate for the missing light by keeping its shutter open for a longer period of time so as enough light comes into its sensor.

If your hand shakes during that time, you get blurry images.

Check your camera settings. The Twilight scene mode gives you slower shutter speeds to capture dark, night scenes, but you need to stabilize the camera on a tripod or something, depending on the level of light of the scene you want to photograph. The Twilight Portrait, on the other hand, is the same as Twilight with the addition of flash is used to illuminate a person or foreground subject as well as capturing a night background. This mode also keeps a long shutter time for capturing the night background.

For taking pictures of people, I would suggest you use Auto or Portrait mode where the camera will automatically use fast shutter speeds and flash (if dark).

Hope this helps.

try using the night shot it will go slower but it works well for dark pleases

I was just out yesterday taking pictures in very hazy conditions, and some of my shots were facing south at about noon. I was actually expecting the sky to be overexposed, so I took two pictures of everything, one on auto, and one on manual with the exposure set to -0.6. Well, it turned out that even the ones on Auto were dark, so the ones on the manual settings were even worse! As it turns out, I had the same problem you had, and should have boosted the exposure. Reading the manual, it does say that you should use positive compensation for very bright scenes or pictures of mostly sky. Try it next time and see how that works. I'm new to this too, but I'll get the hang of it sooner or later... ;)

The Shooting modes are as follows: Program Auto (Factory default setting) Used for regular photography. The camera automatically makes the settings for natural color balance. Other functions, such as the flash mode and metering, can be adjusted manually. Portrait Suitable for taking a portrait-style shot of a person. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Landscape Suitable for taking photos of landscapes and other outdoor scenes. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Night scene Suitable for shooting pictures in the evening or at night. The camera sets a slower shutter speed than is used in normal shooting. If you take a picture of a street at night in any other mode, the lack of brightness will result in a dark picture with only dots of light showing. In this mode, the true appearance of the street is captured. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. If you use the flash, you can take pictures of both the subject and the background. Self Portrait Enables you to take a picture of yourself while holding the camera. Point the lens towards yourself and the focus will be locked on you. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. The zoom is fixed in the Wide position and cannot be changed.

The Shooting modes are as follows: Program Auto (Factory default setting) Used for regular photography. The camera automatically makes the settings for natural color balance. Other functions, such as the flash mode and metering can be adjusted manually. Portrait Suitable for taking a portrait-style shot of a person. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Landscape Suitable for taking photos of landscapes and other outdoor scenes. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Night scene Suitable for shooting pictures in the evening or at night. The camera sets a slower shutter speed than is used in normal shooting. If you take a picture of a street at night in any other mode, the lack of brightness will result in a dark picture with only dots of light showing. In this mode, the true appearance of the street is captured. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. If you use the flash, you can take pictures of both the subject and the background. Self Portrait Enables you to take a picture of yourself while holding the camera. Point the lens towards yourself and the focus will be locked on you. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. The zoom is fixed in the Wide position and cannot be changed. Portrait + Landscape Portrait + Landscape mode is suitable for taking photos which include both your subject and the landscape. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions.

The Shooting modes are as follows: PROGRAM AUTO (Factory default setting) Used for regular photography. The camera automatically makes the settings for natural color balance. Other functions, such as the flash mode and metering, can be adjusted manually. Portrait Suitable for taking a portrait-style shot of a person. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Landscape Suitable for taking photos of landscapes and other outdoor scenes. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Night scene Suitable for shooting pictures in the evening or at night. The camera sets a slower shutter speed than is used in normal shooting. If you take a picture of a street at night in any other mode, the lack of brightness will result in a dark picture with only dots of light showing. In this mode, the true appearance of the street is captured. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. If you use the flash, you can take pictures of both the subject and the background. Self Portrait Enables you to take a picture of yourself while holding the camera. Point the lens towards yourself and the focus will be locked on you. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. The zoom is fixed in the Wide position and cannot be changed

When you are photographing scenes with mostly light objects (for example, snow, water, and sand), the picture is usually underexposed (darker than it really is). The camera meter registers the brightness of the scene and tries to set the camera lens and aperture for an exposure based on average brightness levels (18% reflectance) causing it to underexpose, as in the following picture. When you are photographing scenes with mostly dark objects (for example, shade, shadow, and overcast skies), and very few light objects, the camera may overexpose the image, causing it to be too light. If you have a flash on your camera, you can compensate by adding "fill flash" for some extra light. If your camera has an exposure compensation adjustment, you can increase or decrease the exposure to correct for these exposure problems. Increase the number to make the image lighter, and decrease the number to make the image darker. You may want to try a series of shots with different exposure compensation adjustments to get a feel for how much difference these adjustments make.