Low Light Picture Taking Tips Please?

[Brian Rubin]

Hey y'all, how are ya? I'm writing because, at an event the other night that took place in a low-light restaurant, the EVO had trouble focusing and taking good pictures. It would also use way, way too much flash when put in automatic mode, and even seemed a bit much when turned down in the options.

Therefore, I was wondering if y'all had any tips on taking good picture in low-light situations.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[blksnake]

Try adjusting the ISO settings in the camera mode. Unfortunately, the camera is not the EVO's strong suite.

 

[Brian Rubin]

K, I'm not much of a camera guy, what would the ISO setting be for low-light?

And yeah, it's weird, it takes great shots most of the time, but in this instance it was horrible.

 

[Wadester]

The camera is great in well-lit environments but not so good in darker places. People, including myself, have complained about the flash being too bright and washing people's faces out. This seems to be a hardware limitation and not much can be done.

 

[Brian Rubin]

Blerg, that sucks. Ah well, I'll deal. Thanks!

 

[HittingSmoke]

The camera is great in well-lit environments but not so good in darker places. People, including myself, have complained about the flash being too bright and washing people's faces out. This seems to be a hardware limitation and not much can be done.

The built in flashlight app has no problem adjusting the light output from the flash. Why can't the camera do the same?

 

[skunkd]

download vignette (paid version) much better camera then our stock app.

 

[ethos]

Camera360 has a low-light setting among other cool after-effects (like HDR, etc); and it has a free version.

 

[skunkd]

dude, vignette is alot better in every sense and has way more effects (including hdr etc...)

 

[ethos]

But it's not free and all OP wants is better low-light pictures.

As an alternative, email yourself the picture and bump the brightness up with Irfanview (or whatever).

If you want 600+ hipster camera effects, buy Vignette. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[ethos]

Why would you not want to give credit to the developers who made your super amazing hipster camera app? They work really hard to make an app, you should pay for it. Buddy. It's only $4 usd anyways.

Don't complain when developers are slow to bring innovations to the market. People like you are stealing them anyways; stunting the growth of the community.

 

[Brian Rubin]

-Deleted-

Thanks, but I'd rather support Android developers so they can keep bringing great apps to my beloved phone.

 

[Brian Rubin]

K, I'm getting vignette at the moment. It had much better ratings than Camera 360, which a lot of people really didn't like, sadly.

 

[ethos]

I didn't much care for it either. Too many hipster effects (I'm not a fan of effects).

 

[Brian Rubin]

Care for what, Camera 360 or Vignette?

 

[ethos]

Both of them. I like the stock camera app.

 

[Brian Rubin]

Yeah, I tried 'em both and honestly didn't like 'em -- especially since the pics they take aren't full screen, which bothers me for some reason -- so I uninstalled 'em both.

 

[flyjbaker]

K, I'm not much of a camera guy, what would the ISO setting be for low-light?

And yeah, it's weird, it takes great shots most of the time, but in this instance it was horrible.

ISO is the gain or "Volume" of the sensor. You are basically making the sensor more sensitive to light. Sounds great...right???...not so fast. When you make it more sensitive, you make it more prone to "noise"...in this case...graininess. But do try experimenting with different ISO settings...it does help. You can also turn up the "brightness" which is the exposure I would think. Even "real" cameras struggle in low light and have poor ISO performance. The newest full framed sensor cameras(Nikon especially) can almost see in the dark. But anything below that($2000 camera...body only) and you are almost always compromised in low light.

 

[Mr. Ed]

and even seemed a bit much when turned down in the options.

Is there a way to turn down the flash?

 

[Brian Rubin]

Is there a way to turn down the flash?

I was actually mistaken, and was turning down the brightness.

 

[niteflyer32]

Yeah, I tried 'em both and honestly didn't like 'em -- especially since the pics they take aren't full screen, which bothers me for some reason -- so I uninstalled 'em both.

Is that why when I turn up the rez to 1280x968 on CAm360 my pics are still small compared to the onboard camera software?

I'm taking there is no work around for this?

 

[Nel3000]

I was actually mistaken, and was turning down the brightness.

For regular slr type cameras usually the rule of thumb is to keep the iso to the lowest number possible to reduce the grainy effects. So the less light, the higher you would want to raise the iso. In dim church like settings usually you would go as high as 800 iso. Anything dimmer than that, taking a picture while holding a camera will be very tough evo or not.