How to make good night images with Canon SX540 HS?

[krystalm]

Hello All, I am still around…still no expert but learning slowly as I go. One mystery I have never been able to solve has been How to photograph in the dark…without flash…my camera has a night mode which suggests I could do this. I live in a rural area where moonlit nights can be magical. I have tried a few times to take pix of the moon, hills, a nearby pond, etc. with very poor results, no better than one would achieve with a cheapie pocket camera. The manual doesn’t really explain how to do this, and I haven’t seen specific instructions online anywhere either. I assumed all I needed was to set the camera on the night mode, put ISO at 1600 and Voila’…but alas, not so! Can anyone advise? Thank you

[jrhoffman75]

Your camera has two night related scene modes:

Neither of those modes will do what you are hoping for.

You need to be on a tripod. Set the camera to Manual mode. Set the aperture to f/4. ISO at 1600 or 3200. Set shutter speed to 15 seconds. 

If you are trying to capture a moonlit scene 15 sec may or may not work (too dark or too bright, depending on moon) If too bright start reducing shutter speed. If too dark increase ISO.

[kvbarkley]

Note too, that a camera records night images very differently than your eyes.