Night Photography

[dinger]

Just wanted to start out by saying hey to everyone because this is my first post.

My question:
I am very interested in buying a Sony DSC H9 and I am also very interested in night photography (long exposures, cars streaking). The H9 does not offer a bulb setting, so I cannot hold the shutter open for these long exposures. I was just wondering if you guys had any insight if I could still use this camera for this purpose. It seems like a great, affordable camera. If not, does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks for all your help!

[Jamesc359]

According to the specs, in manual/shutter priority mode you can set the length of the exposure up to 30 seconds. It's not quite bulb mode for sure, but when your dealing with shots that are 30 or less I don't think a bulb mode would really matter all that much. You just need to have good timing! lol

[Nicole]

You know, 30 seconds is a pretty good amount of time for night photography. In all honesty when I'm doing night shots I tend not to use bulb mode at all unless I'm trying to do something which actually requires it, like star trails or lighting. Normal night photography for me usually just involves setting the shutter speed to around 30 seconds, sometimes less. So that would probably be of less concern than how much noise the camera has at different ISOs and how they perform in long exposures

[Jamesc359]

Nicole does have a good point about noise.

You know for not to much more you could easily get a Canon Digital Rebel XT or Nikon D40. I don't know if purchasing online is an option, but if it is, Amazon currently has the Canon Digital Rebel XT for $458.08 and the Nikon D40 for $452.19 (scroll down to the Best Value section). For what you'd be getting in return that isn't really all that much more than the $400 they want for the H9.

[dinger]

Thanks for your help guys!