Olympus E-3 - Manual (Page 39)

39
EN
Sh
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Taking night scene pictures
There are different types of night scenes, from the afterglow of a sunset and city lights at night
to special light displays and firework displays.
Using a tripod
Because a slow shutter speed is needed to capture night
scenes, a tripod is required to prevent camera shake. If a tripod
is not available, you should place the camera on a stable
surface to prevent camera shake. Even if the camera is
secured, camera shake may occur when pressing the shutter
button. Therefore, it is recommended to use the remote control
or self timer.
Changing shooting mode
Night scenes have different levels of brightness, and the balance of the brightness in the
composition is not uniform. Start by using A (aperture priority shooting) mode to take the
picture. Set the aperture to the medium setting (about F8 or F11) and allow the camera to
automatically select the shutter speed. When shooting a night scene, because the camera sets
the exposure to match the dark areas which occupy a majority of the composition and the
image often turns out whitish (overexposed), adjust the exposure compensation to –1 or –1.5.
Use [REC VIEW] to check the image and adjust the aperture and exposure compensation as
necessary.
Image noise can easily occur when shooting at slow shutter speeds. In this case, set [NOISE
REDUCT.] to [ON] to reduce noise.
Using manual focus
In cases where you cannot use AF (auto focus) to focus on the subject
because the subject is too dark or you cannot focus in time to take
pictures, such as during a fireworks display, set the AF mode to [MF]
(manual focus) and focus manually. To take pictures of night scenes,
turn the focus ring of the lens and check whether you can see the lights
of the night scene clearly. To take pictures of a fireworks display, adjust
the focus of the lens to infinite unless you are using a long focus lens. If
you know the approximate distance to the subject, it is recommended
that you focus on something that is at the same distance in advance.
g“Program shooting” (P. 40), “Aperture priority shooting” (P. 41),
“Remote control shooting” (P. 61), “AF mode selection” (P. 52),
“Noise reduction” (P. 74), “REC VIEW” (P. 108)