[6D] Handheld Night Shot Mode vs. Manual (or Auto)

[gligi]

Hi.

I am little bit confused about this "feature". There are no technical explanations how the merging of the four pictures is done. Some quick tests achieved more sharper images using A+ as with the SCN mode. 

As no one (or most of the people) can hold their hands completely steady, single images are always shifted so merging them should produce some sort of ghosting effect or unsharp images.

One quick test:

SCN: 1/40 F5.6 ISO 12800

A+;  1/60 F4 ISO 12800

I am not sure if i limited the shutter speed to 1/40 min.

This is only one test in low light but A+ image was much sharper.

Can someone tell me in which particular situation it makes more sense to use the SCN mode? How far does it goes with slower shutter speed?

Thanks I would really appreciate if someone can me clear out on this one.

Cheers

Igor

[Skirball]

I couldn't find any details on it, so I can only guess what it's doing.  My basic philosophy is: camera auto functions can't do anything that I can't do myself, either through camera settings or in post.  But I have much more control over doing it myself.    I dunno, if the preset function works for you, then use it.  But I wouldn't be surprised if you find it doesn't work as well as doing something yourself.  Seems the nature of these things.

I don't think that Canon has invented some revolutionary new process that allows crisp handheld night shots.  I'd guess that it tries to take four shots above a certain shutter speed (and I would guess around 1/40 to be a limit), and then it stacks them into a single image for exposure calculation. It's a technique used in astrophotography a fair bit, you can do it manually in photoshop or just get a program that does it for you.

[gligi]

Thanks. Its exactly my opinion too.

If it goes below 1/40 than at some point one could benefit from this mode.

Nevetheless I muss do some more tests prior to baning this feature out of my life 🙂

[Skirball]

I'd be surprised if a handheld mode let it go much below 1/40.  I've certainly pulled off slower handheld, but my success rate is very low.

Let us know if you figure anything out.  As I said, I don't use the auto functions much, but I still like to know what my camera is capable of.