Gutted about poor quality pictures and video.

[dombanks]

I wouldn't be too unhappy about that video i could see what was going on to be impressed. Looks a but like either the setting or the ccd couldn't cope with the extremes of light and dark.

I think I had a similar experience with my little point and go camera with my holiday in Burma last year. It's a nice little camera and great for taking pics of a statues but never going to get some other shots.

[kevip6]

For successful nightie shots at any distance you will need a powerful flashgun

 

I don't really agree with this.  I agree a decent flash gun it an essential tool for certain situations in night photography, i.e. portraits with a night background, and moving targets at night but to get a decent shot at night with a flash you still need to know how to use the flash in conjunction with slow shutter speeds and higher ISO to get the atmosphere

 

If you strap a powerful flash gun onto a G12 and leave the camera in Auto mode you'll end up with a set of dull and flash lit photos without any of the lights and ambiance you're trying to capture.  

 

I was a professional photographer and have a good amount of Pro DSLR gear but when I go on holiday I take my G11 and a speedlight (I also take a cable and pocket wizards so I can use the speedlight off camera but thats not essential) to keep kit levels light!  I can get any shot I want to within reason but you need to know how to set the camera up in manual for night time (the G11 is very good for manual control) 

 

You can learn the basics on how to do this in an hour one evening playing around, just put the camera in Manual, set the aperture to the lowest setting and adjust the shutter speed to see the effect.

 

You will need to use a tripod or as I do, find somewhere you can prop the camera and then set the shutter release to the 2 second time delay so you don't shake the camera pressing the shutter. 

 

Try not to use direct flash on auto mode in the night though as it ruins the photos

 

Hope that helps

[pistonbroke]

Bit of a dilemma there , for low light you need either a wide aperture lens which = poor depth of field = poor focus 

 

or a very slow shutter speed = not good for moving images = blurred images 

 

Using flash would give artificial daylight , but the bike lights are be best seen in darkness 

 

Best result will always be a compromise  

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Thanks Team for all the great advice.

 

I am taking my camera and tripod to work with me so I will have a play on an evening and see how I can improve.

 

Can I also just say a big thankyou for the long replies I have received.

 

I think its great that you have all spent the time to help.

[kevip6]

That's the best way to learn! Get out and test the settings and see the results. 

 

Obviously once you're on a wide (Lower f number) aperture you need to be more careful that you're locked on with the focus but on compact cameras at wide angles this is much less of an issue as you're depth of field (the area in front of the lens that will be in focus) is larger on small sensors and wide angle. 

 

Feel free to drop me a PM if you have any specific questions. I used to teach photography so I'm always happy to help 

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

what Kev said - he knows what he is doing

 

I have done a fair bit of night time stuff - it's fun learning when to use flash and when not too - you can also on many dslr's set the flash to go off at the end of the exposure which adds another dimension particularly on long exposure shots (allows you to soak up all the light in the background and then freeze the subject) - anyway that's going off in another direction

 

As said using a flash will often ruin the lighting of the shot - to get good shots without flash in low light, you ideally need a prime lens especially if hand held (not critical but it helps), you will need to set the ISO at a high level if you are doing hand held to get an acceptable shutter speed with the aperature set to wide open (i.e. f1.8 or whatever your lens will go to), or if the object is still use a lower ISO setting and a tripod - there are lots of variables so dont quote me exactly on above

 

If I am going to use a flash in lower light on camera I usually go manual and stick the iso up until I get a reasonable shutter speed so that the background is well exposed - then stick the flash on ttl and bounce the flash if possible (this is assuming I am taking a picture of something in the foreground) - this stops the dreaded white over exposed face with dark background shots you often see

 

Must admit I thought the video didn't look too bad, although I am viewing in a small window

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Hello Kevip and Clark.

 

Thankyou for the advice and great offer of advice Kevip. I may be taking you up on the offer as I am keen to develop a bit further.

 

Clark.

 

Thankyou for the comment on the quality.

 

A couple of other people have stated that the video is what they expected from a Gopro and perhaps I was to eager in what I expected.

 

I wanted the lights to be clear and not so "fuzzy" but I think it does show what was going on.

 

Thanks again men.

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

I think that is because the bikes are coming across the shot fairly close up maybe?

[Lyonspride]

_{Well here is the video I made from last night.}

 

_{I have uploaded it just so people can  perhaps learn from it and the comments above.}

 

_{https://youtu.be/6Dva3jwD12o}

 

To be perfectly honest I would have expected much worse in those conditions (dark with high contrast from the lights). I doubt there is any way you could have done better. At least not without a tonne of expensive equipment.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Ditto. My oldest Go Pro won't do anything like as well as that in twilight, let alone full on night.

 

Equally my once upon a time hugely expensive digital SLR won't do anything like as nice a still, as its sensor might still be superb in normal light, but is just too noisy for that sort of low light use.

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Thanks men for the comments.

 

I guess it was my expectations that were a bit high.

 

Thanks once again.