Anyone Wanna Teach Me...

[james_ls]

How to get my GODDAMN Nikon D50 to stop being sooo friggin grainy??

NIGHT shots especially.

I have it well lit...but I can't get the grain to go away...teach me SLR masters!!

~James

[james_ls]

Bump...I got it down kinda now...I just need a brief explanation of aperature and numbers that go with it.

[Raven18940]

longer exposure time = less grainy.

[james_ls]

What about aperature and stuff aswell?

[Raven18940]

The rule of thumb is that for every click you lengthen the exposure time, you have to close the aperture one click.

[james_ls]

Ok cool...thanks man.

Do you know if anywhere theres a chart for the number equivilancies of that.

(I'm talking about when you click the control wheel to either the left or the right...what the number it changes to represents).

[Raven18940]

That's always been a bit of a grey area for me. I know with f stops the bigger numbers are actually a smaller aperture. Every click to a smaller aperture halfs the amount of light and a bigger one doubles the amount of light. Same thing with shutter speed, a faster shutter setting is half the speed of the one before it same as a slower one is double the one before it.

I say click cause I have an old fashioned camera and it actually clicks when I change these things. :P

[howielong]

Since i'm still learning my D50 still, kind of i would like to know too. But I try to shoot in aperature mode, usally shoot at a small aperature with a long shutter. I think a higher ISO like 800 at night would help out the grainess but i'm not sure since I'm always at work at night and can't test these things out. Really just use a tripod and a decent shutter speed and should get a decent photo.

[james_ls]

Yeah I had it on 1600 and P last night...looked like ****.

Well looked hot on the little screen...on computer...BALLS!!

[the mike]

I am having the same problem, the dark sections are really grainy. I thought since mine was reconditioned it was a camera defect, but I guess I am just a noob.
I did pick up a D50 guide the other day at Barnes and Noble. I guess I should read it.

[howielong]

They have a guide to the D50. Hmm sounds like I should pick it up and give it a look though.

[james_ls]

I found out how to fix it....

When your darks were grainy...what setting did you have it on??

AIM me and we'll talk...

[jspek]

iso should be like 200.

[TROLL]

Originally Posted by james_ls

I found out how to fix it....

When your darks were grainy...what setting did you have it on??

AIM me and we'll talk...

why not share what you found with the group?


some basics are:

-higher iso (film speed) will give more grain, which is actually referred to as noise when you're talking about digital. shoot at the lowest iso you are able to. if you're using a tripod and a long exposure isnt an issue than use the lowest iso and just make your exposure longer. for example 100 or 200 are very low iso and 800 or 1600 are very high iso.

-long exposures inherently cause noise on digital camera. this doesnt happen on film... its just the nature of a digital sensor.

-underexposed areas (sometimes shadow areas) show more noise than well lit areas, especially after being lightened through photoshop.

however sometimes grain/noise is just completely unavoidable. there are a couple free noise reduction programs out there which you can use within photoshop to smooth things out a bit, but the best one is called noise ninja and its not cheap, so probably not worth it for most. regardless, its ideal to have the original photo look the best you can from the start, and do as little editing as possible.

the most important thing i'll say here is: read your manual front to back, then when you're done read it again. its completely stupid to spend money on a tool like this without knowing how to take advantage of it. if you're just going to point and shoot mindlessly then your photos probably are going to come out worse than if you had just gotten a pocket sized little automatic camera... know how to use your tools to the fullest, and that is when your photography will improve...

[the mike]

Originally Posted by TROLL

know how to use your tools to the fullest, and that is when your photography will improve...

Camera snob!

[jspek]

listen to bryan...he is like a camera god. taught me all my stuff.

[james_ls]

Thats what it was Bryan. I had my IS0 @ 1600 because I forgot my tripod.

Got the pictures...but you could see where light was being distributed...looked like dust.

Got another tripod to keep in car....problem solved.

[Mookinator]

suggestion: since you seem like you're taking pics in areas where you don't have a lot of light. here's what i do to allow me to use long exposures without a tripod or high ISOs. when you're sitting around not doing anything (watching tv, etc) get a brick and hold it up like you were holding a camera. just concentrate on holding the brick still for long periods of time. then when you're just walking around with the camera, it'll be VERY easy for you to hold the camera still without a tripod.

also try shooting with the AE adjustment down a stop if you're handheld. it's very easy to pull that stop back out in photoshop. plus the faster shutter you'll get will help keep things in focus.

here's a shot i took with a ~1/2 sec shutter, handheld with no flash.


~Mookie

[james_ls]

That brick thing is a good idea. Like weight training for your hand...weird...