PentaxForums.com - View Single Post - which lens for shooting fireworks? 14mm, 28-75 or 70-200?

**Marc Sabatella** · 01-21-2009, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by shutterpuppy

Marc, nice shot for being hand-held Did you use any of the scene modes on your K200D, "night portrait" came to mind when I first saw it. You got me waiting for the 4th of July already.

Thanks! No, I use "M" mode pretty much exclusively. There is no magic in Scene modes that can't be easily duplicated in any other mode. I knew I wanted a fast enough shutter speed to handhold, and I know that requires both high ISO and a wdie aperture at night. So I selected a high ISO using the Fn menu and a wide aperture using the aperture ring (it's a fully manual lens). I probably hit the Green button to have the camera select a shutter speed for me - most likely pointing the camera at the sidewalk or the wall to my right. But actually, it probably would have picked an even slower shutter speed that would have rendered things as bright as day and yielded clipping like crazy in the fireworks. So I may have just set it to 1/20" myself after taking some test shots and checking the LCD & histogram.

01-21-2009, 04:13 PM	#24
Marc Sabatella Moderator Location: Denver, CO Gallery Photos: 15 Posts: 4,698	Originally Posted by shutterpuppy Marc, nice shot for being hand-held Did you use any of the scene modes on your K200D, "night portrait" came to mind when I first saw it. You got me waiting for the 4th of July already. Thanks! No, I use "M" mode pretty much exclusively. There is no magic in Scene modes that can't be easily duplicated in any other mode. I knew I wanted a fast enough shutter speed to handhold, and I know that requires both high ISO and a wdie aperture at night. So I selected a high ISO using the Fn menu and a wide aperture using the aperture ring (it's a fully manual lens). I probably hit the Green button to have the camera select a shutter speed for me - most likely pointing the camera at the sidewalk or the wall to my right. But actually, it probably would have picked an even slower shutter speed that would have rendered things as bright as day and yielded clipping like crazy in the fireworks. So I may have just set it to 1/20" myself after taking some test shots and checking the LCD & histogram.