[Thenewguy007]

How are you guys getting such clear pictures in the dark? What are your settings?
With my camera on my phone, anything shot in near darkness looks like bad. Either pitch black or some detail, but everything looks super grainy & low resolution.

If I turn on the flash, that kinda defeats the purpose of shooting in the dark.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

How are you guys getting such clear pictures in the dark? What are your settings?
With my camera on my phone, anything shot in near darkness looks like bad. Either pitch black or some detail, but everything looks super grainy & low resolution.

If I turn on the flash, that kinda defeats the purpose of shooting in the dark.

 
I wouldn't know how to do it on a phone...  I use a Canon 7d with a 60mm macro lense, manually focused, on a tripod with a remote shutter.  In these photos it was likely something like ISO100 and a 45sec-1min exposure (I can't recall).  
 
 

 

 

 
 
 

 

[hiilari]

I know no other way of doing these photos than SLR camera and a tripod. Based on the feel you're looking for you either want very deep or very shallow field of sharp focus. Deep field calls for a very small aperture which requires super long exposure time, several minutes even. If you want  a very shallow field of sharp focus then aperture can be wider. Still, the amount of light a tube puts out is so small that exposure time is still several seconds. Putting the ISO sensitivity very high woul reduce the exposure time but it also tends to introduce noise and color artifacts (black does not look properly black), so I sray under ISO 200 and thus a tripod is to me the only way to go. Taking photos in a darkened room using a 2 minute exposure time is also fun: it feels like proper photography 

 

[bbophead]

To avoid not participating at all because of skill level or money, some folks, like me, are less ambitious.  Canon PowerShot.
 

 

 

 

[ostewart]

Messing about long 4s exposure then focus stacking (something i've never used before). Only using a Nikon D600 with 24-70 lens (don't have a macro lens) so not the sharpest at these settings.
 

 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135742064@N05/33349561892/in/datetaken/lightbox/

 

[ostewart]

Some messing about with macro extension tubes + 50mm lens:

 

[raybone0566]

ZDS

 

[ostewart]

Here's another, 80-200m lens with macro extension tubes, lens at 105mm, f4 and focus stacked image (rushed as I'm lazy, so only used 8 photos to make this one so most of the tube is in focus)

 

[bigfatpaulie]

It is going to be one of those nights...

 

[stuck limo]

 

[Oscar-HiFi]

Still love the look of some nice tube glow...

 

[whirlwind]

 

[Sniperpr5]

 

[Sniperpr5]

Afternoon glow...

 

[raybone0566]