advise needed on flash for night shots

[tango12]

hi guys,

i am using gx1 with lumix 20mm 1.7 for low light usage.
i encounter some blurry images when taking night scenery shots.
isit a need to get an external flash?
i tried using both mf and ai modes.
or could it be some settings problem?
and advice is appreciated

TIA

 

[Kimura_papaya]

this probably got to do with the way you shoot and the basic setting in your aperture F stop + shutter speed. When you shutter speed hit below 1/60 in low light condition, you will get shaky effect if you don have a steady hand.

first is the identify your issue before can give solution to you.

 

[phoeniix]

Hmmmm when you're on ai/night scene, press the shutter button half way down and look at some of the numbers present. Check you aperture and shutter speed. If its, as Kimura mentioned, less than 1/60 you would most likely have shaky hands which caused the blurry pictures.

You could try taking the photo with aperture priority and set your iso to round 800-1600 depending on the environment and take a picture then.

 

[tango12]

thanks for the reply guys.
so actually an external is really no needed atm for this?

 

[phoeniix]

Prob blury shots due to shaky hands. Try first and we'll see how it goes. Never really used a flash for night shots. Tend to just go onto a higher iso and lower aperture. But of course it might render your photos unusable if the iso is too high and your camera can't process it well.

Also it depends on the distance of your subject in your night shots. I'm still learning about this too but I read that if your subject is too far, the flash probably won't be able to light up the subject anyway and you'll simply end up with a very much darkened subject.

If you really wanna get a flash, nissin has one for the m4/3. White goes for about $170 and the black at $160. Cheapest I found was $140. You could try mounting a nikon/canon flash (very heavy and unbalanced) but it will be purely manual control. Not fun. At least for me.

 

[khiunngiap]

for me , i always bring the bounce flash out , it is so much easier to freeze the people .. yet it still require practice to anticipate the outcome of your setting but you will find a whole new world after you attach the flash.

 

[jed091270]

I think you need a tripod rather than a flash for scenery especially during night time. Play with your aperture and shutter speed