Nikon P4, when taking night photos, is it less grainy when using Museum Mode, rather then Night Scene?

Question

Taking night time photos of city lights and buildings, the Nikon P4. Don't want alot of grainy pictures. Is the Museum Mode setting better for less grain? And using the VR on, without a tripod.

Answer 1

pay attention to how much lighting is available. If there isn't a lot, you won't get very good pictures. Not even the best mode in the world will make a great picture. You'll need long shutter speeds and a tripod. If your camera has shutter and aperture priorities, use the settings Edwin suggested.

Answer 2

Taking photos of city lights and buildings at night requires a long exposure and a long exposure requires a tripod. Unless, of course, you're using an extremely high ISO and that produces "digital noise" or, as you called it "grain". (Grain is really associated with film.)

For years I've used the FotoSharp (fotosharp.com) Day & Night Exposure Guide and here is what it recommends for a "City skyline in the distance" :

ISO 100

f2.8 @ 4 sec.
f4 @ 8 sec.
f5.6 @ 15 sec.
f8 @ 30 sec.
f11 @ 60 sec.

ISO 200

f2.8 @ 2 sec.
f4 @ 4 sec.
f5.6 @ 8 sec.
f8 @ 15 sec.
f11 @ 30 sec.

For "Floodlit buildings, fountains" * :

ISO 100

f2.8 @ 1/2 sec.
f4 @ 1 sec
f5.6 @ 2 sec.
f8 @ 4 sec.
f11 @ 8 sec.

ISO 200

f2.8 @ 1/4 sec.
f4 @ 1/2 sec.
f5.6 @ 1 sec.
f8 @ 2 sec.
f11 @ 4 sec.

There are rules of exposure that simply cannot be changed and the examples above show this. Low-light photography simply requires long exposures unless you're willing to accept a lot of "noise" and subsequent loss of detail.

Even with an ISO of 6400 our "City skyline in the distance" exposure at f2.8 is 1/15 sec. Our "Floodlit buildings, fountains" exposure at f2.8 is 1/125 sec.

If your camera can produce long exposures as shown in the examples then you are in luck. If not, you may need to upgrade your camera or forget about taking night photos. I don't mean to sound harsh but facts are facts.

* These times are also good for outdoor Christmas lights and candlelight closeups.

Answer 3

severe iso provide rather crappy pictures, a great number of grain. The "i'm petrified of books and gaining know-how of issues" answer it to get a element and shoot with "nightshot" ability. Nightshot purely holds the shutter open for an prolonged volume of time. you will prefer a tripod or a place to take a seat back the digital camera. confident, this could take many seconds, confident if somebody walks in front of the digital camera you will get blurs. A digital camera with a severe iso will shorten the time, however the image could have extra grain (or noise with the aid of fact the persons say) Shoot at sunset. that's going to appear like what you prefer it to appear like. To get a good effect, you prefer an slr and the certainty to apply it.