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More important for hand-held night shots?


Sensor size/pixel area or lens speed/f-number? I already have a compact camera that is fine for landscape and macro photography while traveling. It is no good for indoor or nighttime shots. Smallest interchangeable lens cameras are Panasonic GF2 with a 20mm (40mm equivalent) F1.7 pancake lens available and the Sony NEX-5 with a 16mm (24mm equivalent) F2.8 pancake. Both have faster lenses available for low light shots but are too big to fit in a large pocket. Panasonic has a four-thirds size sensor, the Sony has a much larger APS-C size sensor. Which would be the more effective setup for getting my friends on film at night?


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April 07, 2011

 
- Gregory LaGrange

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  What's important for good night shots is ISO, lens speed, and picture quality. What you'll probably have to decide on a trade-off is a camera with larger sensors giving you less noise for picture quality, but having a lower max iso than other cameras. Or a camera with smaller sensors that will have more noise, but a higher max iso.
Put in price range as a consideration, because for tech and marketing reasons, you'll find higher priced cameras will have a good combination of high iso range and good picture quality in low light.


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April 07, 2011

 
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