Shooting in the Dark - Canon 400D

[bhs75]

Hi, thanks to this website, I had to go buy a camera (due to budget and being new at this I picked up Canon 400D with 55m kit)

I have started doing some practise and will be posting my results soon. my current interest is time lapse photography and I have practised couple of times, problem is that for some reason I cannot shoot in the dark when a plane is flying over (since I live near airport)most of the planes passing over my building are lining up for the runway so the lights are quite bright. I have tried couple of times but the lense cannot focus, Mode is AV and ISO is at 1600.

I know I am missing something, can someone please help me on this.

thanks,

B-

[Gonzo13]

I suggest manually focusing. In dark situations. If you are taking pictures of the planes then when on comes into the field of view focus on it either using manual or auto focus (if you use auto then make sure that you turn it to manual focus after you get the plane in focus). If you are trying to take pictures of the planes then let us know what you are trying to take pictures of.

[bhs75]

thank you Scott, will give it a go.

[bhs75]

this pops another question in my mind,

manual focusing is better than auto focusing? or depends on the situation?

[Gonzo13]

I would say it depends on the situation. I couldn't imagining trying to manually focus on running children.

[BCampbell]

Autofocus is your friend. These cameras, without a few tweaks, are not made to assist manual focus. Go grab an old film SLR (Pentax K1000 or Canon AE-1 come to mind) and see how they have some help built in. Don't try to manual focus with today's DSLR, unless you really want to practice and delete a lot of photos.

That said, sometimes you do have to manually focus, I've taken quite a few photos with a 300D) manually focused but it's not fun.

Night shooting long exposure is tough. General rule is to set a narrow aperture, f/11 or smaller if you can, to maximize depth of field. Focus on infinity, take a practice shot or two, and adjust if necessary. For example, to shoot fireworks last year, I stuck around f/9-f/11 and had to just back off slightly from focus on infinity.

You will also want a tripod, of course, and a cable release.

[bhs75]

thank you . I will give it a go.