anyone got any ideas PLEASE

[chryslerchick]

hi guys
can anyone offer up some help please ?
im going to be taking the kids on the london eye over christmas we will be there at night [im telling everyone its so they can get the best sights but its realy for me to try & get some nice night time shots over london. ]

my question is does anyone know what sort of settings i should be using ive got a fuji s5500 & s5000 2 totaly different iso settings
s5500 64/100/200-- s5000 200/400/800

i dont know if the inside of the capsules are lit so i need your help please
thanks all

[bigbob]

[Stephen]

Re: anyone got any ideas PLEASE

Like BB I've been on a couple or three times but never at night. I've seen pictures of the pods lit at night though I suspect it will be at a low level so as to avoid refelection on the glass and spoil the views.

As BB says it may be best if you want views to get the camera right up to the glass. However I suspect that you are going to be up against it regarding light levels and your possibilities for decent shots will be severely restricted. Your camera will struggle and if you increase the ISO to the max it will give a very 'noisy' result, there will be a colour caste from the street lighting and general ambient light and with the low shutter speed you are likely to get there will be steong danger of blur. Don't forget the wheel is rotating and anything lower than maybe a 1/30s will create small streaks of light.

If it were me I would concentrate less on photographing the view and more on attempting to capture the experience. Take lots of pics of your girls, get someone else to take a picture of you all together. Try getting some shots of the girls with the wheel in the background. I got a great fun shot fromWestminster Bridge with the wheel acting as a halo round the head of my subject. Remember though that slow shutter speeds will no doubt be the order of the day, so keeping the camera steady will be important. Slow shutter speeds can be used creatively though to create blur with moving objects.

One other thing, if you need to use the flash see if your camera will allow you to turn it down a little so as to avoid over exposed foregrounds, esp faces

Have fun

[chryslerchick]

Re: anyone got any ideas PLEASE

thanks bob & stephen

thought of the ques bob im going to pre-book the tickets on line for boxing day hopefully it should be a little quieter then & for around 5pm so should be quite dark which is what im aiming for so i can get london lit up, i'll have a look at your gallery later to get some ideas i can pinch of you

so stephen should i keep iso on the middle then ie; 100 if 64 is to low & 200 to high. id like to try & get a few clear london shots with all the colours of the lights over london. after we're going to go for a wander to capture the xmas lights, but oh def yes i will get some pics of the kids as they dont actualy know we're going im taking all my lot ,my mum & 2 sisters as a christmas treat & only mum/sisters know we're going so should get some good shots of them when they realise what we're actualy there for

[Stephen]

Re: anyone got any ideas PLEASE

so stephen should i keep iso on the middle then ie; 100 if 64 is to low & 200 to high.

I really don't know how your camera behaves at ISO200. this is what I would use, but then I get noise free images at that setting. ISO will give you the benefit of an extra stop of shutter speed which could be important. Is there any way you can test it at home before the trip

[bigbob]

Re: anyone got any ideas PLEASE

Sorry C.C never read it properly , missed the 5.00pm bit
Changes a lot of settings , you won't see much beyond the opposite bank which will be lit up as will the houses of parliment and the bridges , so a larger aperture can be used F5.6-7 .
Most Fuji's are good at high ISO's if your handholding 400-800 should be pretty noise free , if you can use a mini tripod and remember there are walls all along both sides of the embankment then i'd go down to 100-200 .
At night the inside of the pod will be lighter than outside so you'll get a lot of reflections , so you need to get the lense as close as possible to cut out glare and reflections .
I'd use the embankment walls for support and get some great night shots of the Thames and bridges , use the scenic modes on the camera eg night settings if you're unsure about which aperture/shutter to use .

B..

[chryslerchick]

Re: anyone got any ideas PLEASE

thanks bob & stephen for the advice will give it a go..& if all else fails i can stick it on auto but dont realy want to or im not going to learn. & it makes it harder when your display screen shows a realy good pic & when you upload to comp its completely out of focus :-(