Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil McAvity
Okay fair enough, maybe you're not as hubristic as I said but I can't imagine how posting a bunch of my unclear photos could possibly clarify the issue because it's not like my camera settings would be on display in the pictures. I've taken two series of pictures-one series inside with my phone and one series outside at night in easy mode with my camera and all the pictures were equally unclear
People here really don't pay attention. I've known for a long time that digital zoom is about as useful as tits on bull and have already said that's not the problem
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It might have been too dark inside your house. Certainly, it would have been too dark outside at night.
Darker conditions means less light, when there is less light the camera requires larger aperture (smaller F-stop) and higher ISO. When camera reaches the aperture and ISO limit, then it needs to reduce the shutter speed, and when the shutter speed is too slow then the camera will start to capture movement, including the movement of the camera caused by the shaking of your hands, and that is what causes blur.
Even my $3000 camera I have to put on a tripod at night for good image quality, especially when I zoom in. When you zoom it, the effect of camera shake is magnified and even higher shutter speeds are required.
As SIGSEGV said, posting the photos would give us EXIF info including the shutter speed which would confirm that is the problem. But based on what you describe, I think it is safe to say the shutter speed is too low.
Your Sony camera has a Night scene mode which might help shooting handheld in extremely low light conditions. But for better results, use the Manual (M) mode, set the F-number to the lowest F-number possible (e.g. F3.0), and try not to zoom in too much. For best results and full use of zoom, you will need to set the camera on a tripod, or rest it on a railing or table or some other surface, to keep the camera as still as possible while shooting.
Just to give some examples, here are some photos of Montreal I took handheld at night and of course they turned out blurry:
ISO 200, F5.6, 1/6 seconds
ISO 200, F5.6, 1.3 seconds
ISO 200, F5.6, 1/4 seconds
Compare to more recent photos taken near my house. They are sharp because I put the camera on a tripod. Sharp photos would have been impossible otherwise:
ISO 100, F5.6, 3.2 seconds
ISO 100, F5.6, 6 seconds
ISO 100, F5.6, 5 seconds
In dark conditions, you need to increase the shutter speed with higher ISO and lower F-number. If you cannot increase shutter speed enough, then you need to find ways to keep the camera still. And increasing shutter speed means 1/20th of a second, then 1/30, then 1/60 and so on. Reducing shutter speed would mean 1/10th of a second, then 1/5, then 1/2 then 1 second, and so on.
A photo at F5.6 and ISO 100 requiring shutter speed of 6 seconds. With F2.8 and ISO 400, the shutter speed would increase to 1/3 second, more handholdable than 6 seconds, but maybe still not enough.