More recent picture of Montréal by night. 13 second exposure @ f/6.3 with a tripod-mounted Pentax K5 and DA* 50-135 mm f/2.8 lens. As you can see, I upgrade my equipment regularly and better tools give better pictures. My old Pentax K5 has always given me the loveliest pictures despite having only 16 Mpx of resolution, though.

[Mark H.]

Wonderful photograph; well done, Richard!

How did you decide the shutter speed? Did you have to experiment to arrive at 13 seconds, or is the K5 "smart" enough to get the exposure right automatically? Either way, you captured the essence of the city quite stunningly. Thanks for sharing this, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

With kind regards,

Mark H,

[RICHARD L.]

Digital photography is wonderful for this : you try and retry until you get the picture you want (trial and error). I try to meter first with the lens wide open in Aperture Priority Mode and the K5 gives a good idea of what exposure time is needed. I expose in Manual Mode using a solid tripod and I always carry a black sheet of cardboard : I trip the shutter and keep it open with a locking cable while holding the cardboard in front of the lens, I wait for a few seconds to be sure all vibrations have subsided, I remove the cardboard and start counting effective exposure time, after that I put the cardboard back in front of the lens and I end exposure. My experience over time tells me that a 4 second exposure at f/4 and ISO 200 should give a pretty good image at dusk with the city lights on.