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Question: Is it possible to take a good night photograph with my camera and if so, how!?
I have a decent amount of photography experience, but I have always shot my photos at a time of day with at least a small amount of natural light in the sky!. I would like to take some cool night photos, but I am not sure if/how it is possible with my camera, which is a Canon PowerShot SD600 Digital Elph!. Its got a 3X zoom lens and has 6!.0 megapixels!. also, 5!.8-17!.4 mm!. Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I'm going to cop out and give you one of my stock answers, but read it and learn!. It IS possible to take night photos with your SD600!. If you have a tripod, use it!. Use the self-timer mode to delay your shot by at least 5 seconds so the camera will not be shaking!.

Here you go:

Long Shutter Setting on Canon SD cameras

It can only go as long as 15 seconds - not minutes - but here's how to set it!.

Select the manual mode on your camera!.
You can not use long shutter in automatic!.
Press the "MENU" button!.
Stay in the shooting menu (camera icon)!.
Scroll down to "Long Shutter" and select "On!."
Press the "MENU" button to turn off the menu!.
Press the "FUNC" button!.
Scroll down to the +/- exposure compensation setting!.
You will see the usual (-2)-to-(+2) scale, but you will also see the word "MENU" above the scale as well as a little icon of the moon and stars!. This is a reminder that you have the long shutter option selected and that you press the "MENU" button to engage the shutter time selection!.
Press the "MENU" button and the (-2)-to-(+2) scale disappears and you will see (1") displated in the center!. This indicates that you are set to one second!.
Use the scroll button (right-left arrow button - the usual button to make manu changes) to change this setting!. You will find several presets and these are what you are limited to!. They include (among others):
1" = 1 second
1"3 = 1!.3 seconds
1"6 = 1!.6 seconds
2" = 2 seconds
and so on up to:
15" - 15 seconds!.

This will give you a lighter image and it might be too overexposed, but you can check your monitor and adjust accordingly and make additional adjustments to the time and try again!.

Here are some samples of my own long exposures made with a Canon Powershot camera and most of them were done exactly this way!. Read the details to see what exposures I used and try some of your own!.
http://www!.flickr!.com/search/!?w=7189769@!.!.!.
http://www!.flickr!.com/search/!?w=7189769@!.!.!.

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ADD'L
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Nathan, the SD series does have what they CALL "manual" settings, but they do not really allow you to specifically set the shutter speed or aperture!. You can set LONG shutter speeds (as described), but you can not control anything under one second by the so-called manual settings!. Even though you can set long shutter speeds, you can not control the aperture at all!. That's why I recommend chimping for proper exposure!.

Fotoz, I hope you are not calling my answer crap information!. The problem is, the SD600 does not HAVE an aperture priority or manual setting!. That's why I have offered this work-around solution!. I have a couple of years experience with the SD series cameras and I konw it works!. I posted examples in support of my directions!.

The question did not say anything at all about taking pictures of the moon, but that seems to be what you have answered!.

I did NOT give you a thumbs down, either!. That's someone else's opinion!. I don't generally bother with thumbs down, but I've given you dozens of thumbs up on your other answers!. You usually know what you are talking about, but you just are not familiar with the limitations of the SD600!.

Qoph, the only one I made a print of is the one called "Moon Over Sunset Lake!." http://www!.flickr!.com/photos/samfeinstei!.!.!. I did an 8x10 and it came out pretty nicely!. It is not a greatly detailed picture and it was more a matter of the colors than anything else, but it worked out okay!. It's not as dark, but I also did an 8x10 print of the same scene: http://www!.flickr!.com/photos/samfeinstei!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Wow are you getting a lot of crap information!. All you have to do is put your camera in Aperture priority, open it all the way, zoom in as far as your little 3x optical zoom can give you and put the thing on a tripod!. Meter on the moon then read what displays!. Whatever the shutter speed is that it recommends double it (if it says 1/60 then shoot at 1/15 - two stops more)!.

The only way you will do that is to take it back out of Aperture priority and put it into manual with the new settings!.

It's not rocket science!.!.!. it's photography!.

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With 6MP (as opposed to more), you might get reasonable low-light shots, but no point-and-shoot can really do night shots!. You're going to need a good digital SLR or pretty much any film SLR that can handle long exposures (with a B setting)!. I've never personally seen an SLR without a bulb shutter 'speed'!. The film also needs to be able to handle long exposures without colour-shifting!. Anyway, I can't help with digital, but like I said, any old film SLR, TLR, or range-finder can help you on your way to night photography (along with a tripod and remote shutter release)!.

P!.S!. Sam, those night shots come out a lot better than I would have expected, at least at small resolutions!. What about at printing size (on 4x6, 5x7, A4)!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

The auto mode will only work with the flash!. So, you'll have to use the Manual mode- which i'm sure your Elph has!. Use like and f/5!.6 Aperture, and a 4" exposure- but that's all circumstantial!. also, you have to use a tripod, there's no way you can hand-hold an exposure that long!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Use your flash on the camera if there is one!? Or if you can adjust the settings, make it like night vision or something so that you can take pictures with darker lighting!.Www@QuestionHome@Com