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General discussion

Low Light Digital Photography

May 24, 2005 2:39AM PDT

My current camera (Kodak DX3900) takes great pictures outdoors, However, its indoor pictures stink if thay are taken more than 10 feet away. I am looking to buy a new camera. I take a lot of pictures in a high school gym (wrestling matches), or at church sitting, in a pew taking pictures of the kids singing or acting. What is a good camera for those type pictures? What specs should I look for?

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Read (at least) the first 10 articles from...
May 24, 2005 2:50AM PDT
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One spec you want to look for is a high ISO ability. A high
May 24, 2005 7:06AM PDT

ISO setting will allow pictures in low light with faster shutter speeds. The Canon 20D, for example, has a maximum ISO setting of 3200 which is user selectable.

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Low Light
May 24, 2005 7:24AM PDT

The Kodak 3900 came out in 2001 and is a typical point-and-shoot camera.
The flash output of this camera is 10.4 feet.

When you talk of low light, that takes in flash and non flash photography.

Flash photography requires a stong flash, which is not typical in most digital cameras.
The long lens cameras (10X) have the strongest flash.
The more expensive cameras have a hot shoe that lets you attach an outboard flash unit. These flash units can easily cover 30 to 50 feet.

Non-flash in low light can be done with just about any digital camera that has manual controls. The important manual controls to look for are:
Shutter priority
Aperture priority
Program mode
Manual mode

Non-flash action shooting in low light requires a fast lens and a camera with lots of noise free ISO settings. This takes you into the DSLR (digital single lens reflex) cameras, that start about $1,000.

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For a low priced general purpose camera with an average flash coverage (13 feet), I would suggest the Kodak DX7440.

For a long lens camera I would suggest the Konica Minolta Z5. It has 26 foot flash coverage, and a 12X lens with image stabilization.
A more expensive camera would be the Panasonic FZ20.

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