Best Camera mode when shooting beam shot? night mode?

[Ian2381]

Need some help, What's the best camera mode when shooting beamshot?
I'm planning to run some test on my flashlights coming september when we go mountain hiking.
My Camera is just a 5 megapix ordinary digicam.

thanks

 

[Patriot]

Any manual exposure setting will get you started. Use either auto white balance or set the WB to daylight and see which your prefer.

Regarding manual settings, try about 4-8 seconds at F5.6 and iso 100.


A still light and a still camera are mandatory, with any exposure over 1/15th so be sure to use a tripod.

Good luck!

 

[HKJ]

Need some help, What's the best camera mode when shooting beamshot?
I'm planning to run some test on my flashlights coming september when we go mountain hiking.
My Camera is just a 5 megapix ordinary digicam.

thanks

You need to place camera on a tripod or some other stable foundation and then use a manual mode, with the same settings for all lights.

 

[csshih]

Regarding manual settings, try about 4-8 seconds at F5.6 and iso 100.

I think ISO 1600 is fine, because when uploaded to the web, I resize my pictures rather small... the graininess doesn't show as easily, and I don't have to take too long of a time for multiple pictures.

 

[LEDobsession]

I think ISO 1600 is fine, because when uploaded to the web, I resize my pictures rather small... the graininess doesn't show as easily, and I don't have to take too long of a time for multiple pictures.

1600 ISO will be a lot of grain, especially if you dont have a noise reduction system either on the camera itself or on your computer.

Some Point and Shoot cameras dont even have ISO settings. You might not even be able to set it on that little 5 MP camera. The rest of the info above should do plenty good for you. Just make sure you have a tripod to mount it on or something that it wont move on. :thumbsup:

 

[Patriot]

I think my camera only goes to ISO800 or maybe 1000. In any case, the camera has to still be tripod mounted so my thinking is to lengthen the exposure and avoid the terrible noise artifacts that inexpensive sensors generate. Even if I was shooting a pro-rig, I'd still opt for a little longer shutter time.

 

[LightWalker]

Point & shoot cameras will have more graininess/noise than a DSLR because the senser is smaller. Shooting beamshots in auto mode is pretty pointless.

 

[greenlight]

I recommend using the two second timer to avoid any shaking of the camera by pressing the exposure button.

 

[nekomane]

My Camera is just a 5 megapix ordinary digicam

Can your camera be set to a manual exposure mode? If you cannot tell, it probably does not.
Can you list the manufacturer and model?

Manual exposure is necessary if you want to do a comparison between different brightness modes and/or lights.

When set to 'auto' mode, the camera will measure how much light is coming in through the lens, and automatically decide the combination of shutter speed and aperture (the 2 basic elements which decide the exposure) to get the "best" exposure.

Whether you shoot a light in the dimmest mode or brightest, the camera will try to make them appear the same.

OTOH, if the camera's exposure is set to a fixed setting in manual mode, no matter how bright or dim the light is, you will be capturing the image under the same condition.
The tricky part (if you can call it that), is to find the right exposure which will let you capture both or all brightness you want to compare.

Thanks to digital, you can get a rough idea just by looking at the LCD, and fine tune by checking the pictures.

There are more tips in the The Dark Room. It is not as active as the other forums, and was made quite recently, so you should be able to find related threads easily.
Good luck!

 

[Ian2381]

Thanks for the Reply,

It's a Polaroid i533 which has been with me for 4 years now.

I don't really know if it has a manual mode but there are several modes .

 

[dano]

Just LED shots?

I'd think that it would be different for Incan and LED beams?

 

[Ian2381]

For Led shots only, most probably outdoor shots.

My most powerful light up to date is just an estimated 80 lumens Philips metaflash and was thinking of ordering more lights powered by AA or AAA in the coming days.

 

[Skyeye]

I think you will find that if you have a modern camera with an "auto" setting, just use that! It works fine on my Canon XT as well as the two other Olympus cameras I use. The photo showing here was taken in my garage with no inside lights on only the light from the window and of course the flashlight. The photo shows exactly what the beam actually looked like real time. And isn't that what you want to portray in the beam shot photo, HOW THE BEAM ACTUALLY LOOKS TO THE NAKED EYE. I see so many photo attempts here on CP that are horribly under/over exposed due to trying to set the ideal exposure. Believe me, when it comes to that, the modern camera excels.

 

[Jay T]

I think you will find that if you have a modern camera with an "auto" setting, just use that! It works fine on my Canon XT as well as the two other Olympus cameras I use. The photo showing here was taken in my garage with no inside lights on only the light from the window and of course the flashlight. The photo shows exactly what the beam actually looked like real time. And isn't that what you want to portray in the beam shot photo, HOW THE BEAM ACTUALLY LOOKS TO THE NAKED EYE. I see so many photo attempts here on CP that are horribly under/over exposed due to trying to set the ideal exposure. Believe me, when it comes to that, the modern camera excels.

Ok for one shot, but, if you are comparing lights this will be useless and misleading. The camera will give each shot a different exposure based on the brightness of the light (the camera will make bright lights dimmer and dim lights brighter) and the shape of the beam. I have seen posts in the past where someone was comparing light A and light B. In the pics B will look brighter than A but in the text the person will say "A was brighter than B I don't know what happened" Auto exposure happened.

 

[neoseikan]

A tripod, M-mode, and autofocus to the wall, then use MF.
That's what I used for years.
If the camera can not support the M-mode, there is another way.

Set a desk-lamp, point the camera to the lamp.
Half-press.
Then, move the camera to the beam you want to take.
Press it down.

 

[nekomane]

Ian2381,
I thought your question was worth starting a new thread in the Dark Room.
Capturing Beamshots: Manual and Auto Exposure
Hope this helps.

Skyeye, like Jay T pointed out, using Auto mode for a single beam shot is OK
(even better if it resembles what you actually see), but gets confusing when
comparing different lights or brightness levels.
Oh, and nice camera you got there

 

[GTO_04]

Point & shoot cameras will have more graininess/noise than a DSLR because the senser is smaller. Shooting beamshots in auto mode is pretty pointless.

Exactly. ISO 1600 works a lot better on a D700 than the average P&S. Really a lot of the newer DSLRS will do very well at 1600.

You almost need a tripod for the camera and another for the light unless you have a way of mounting both to one tripod.

GTO_04