Wednesday 3 June 2015

Day 154: iHandheld Night Shot experiment

Talking to Ivor in Red Dot Cameras last Friday, he mentioned the Leica V-Lux had a great setting designed for shooting handheld night shots. I mentioned I was pretty sure that our D-Lux 109 had that option too, but I'd never previously explored it. After consulting the Alexander S White book on my camera, it still took me a little while to fathom how to kick this particular option into play. First I had to stop shooting in RAW, so I switched down to fine JPEG. Then I had to deploy snapshot mode and then the hitherto greyed out option for iHandheld Night Shot becomes available in the menu. If the camera detects that this feature would improve your photographs, it takes six photos and instantly knits them together to sharpen your night shot when no tripod is to hand.

Stood at the end of Hay's Galleria after our tasty French dinner looking at the view of the Walkie Talkie building across as the Thames, I think I could probably get a better shot if I get some Leica assistance. I try first in aperture mode, which is an acceptable shot, and then switch on this undiscovered function. The ISO is cranked up, the aperture is wide open and the shutter speed is increased. The six shots are rapid fire, merged in camera and yes, there is a discerning improvement especially on the widest shot.

I tried some different angles and the iHandheld Night Shot didn't think it could optimise the image so it remained dormant. Definitely one to bear in mind when a tripod isn't available.

 

 

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