Manual Settings for Low Light Conditions

[benjamin19]

New G6 owner, and in haven't been able to take many photos yet, but read a lot of people saying tweaking manual mode is the best way to get get those low light shots.

I'm a camera novice, so could anyone give tips on what i need to adjust and play with?

 

[dov1978]

I'm certainly no expert here but I've been messing around with mine trying to get decent shots of the kids indoors without blur. The 2 settings you need to mess around with is S• (exposure) and ISO. The exposure is measured in seconds and fractions of seconds so the higher the number the longer the lens is left open. For indoor still shots you can leave this open longer to let in as much as light as possible then adjust the ISO to make the lighting look right. If you're picturing something moving then you want a shorter time so the lens opens and closes as quickly as possible not giving it time to blur. Then you need to crank up the ISO as the short time will not have lot much light in. I know I'm explaining this very poorly but it's trial and error and if you experiment with those 2 settings you'll soon learn what works best for you in certain conditions. You'll also discover some cool effects by accident. I really like long exposure shots like creating light trails of traffic at night by setting the exposure to 15 seconds or more. If you're doing any long exposure shots eg 2 seconds or longer you'll want to use a mini tripod or set the camera somewhere where it wont move or you'll get very blurry pics.

Good luck and hope you have some success.

 

[benjamin19]

Thanks! We have ay 1 year old so I'm looking for the optimal way to get the most shots of a moving target. I appreciate the simple explanation.