Fireworks

[NannyFerret]

Does anyone here have experience shooting fireworks while hand-holding the camera.

We may walk up the road to the display in the local football club and thinking of taking my 35mm lens. I don't really want to carry a tripod or Monopod.

Any tips, speed etc. would be appreciated.

I've been surfing around the net but most of the answers conflict with each other,. so thought I would ask someone here who will give me down to earth advice or show me some picks and what settings they used.
 

[colinb]

no but if I was going to I think I would try with the camera set to manual, lowest f number you can get and fastest shutter speed, focus to infinity and if you can... set the iso to auto but specify the high iso limit so you don't end up with more noise than sparkles, - then all you need to something solid to lean against.

 

not sure what you will get as you probably know these pictures look best with a longer shutter speed but I think hand held you need to approach it differently. You can always blend several shots later in some pp software?

[NannyFerret]

That's a good idea. I had forgotten about the limit setting on auto ISO, but will check it out tonight.

 I normally use manual these days, but have to Autofocus due to the cataracts affecting my Manual focussing.

 Thanks a lot.

[colinb]

Tina -  when using manual focus can you see the green dot left side of the view finder or does your cataracts prevent that? I sometimes find it can help with focus

 

Once you set the camera to infinity could you use focus lock? Just remind me which model you have D3100?

 

and regarding cataracts do you use live view?  you might find useful for landscapes, and if it has a focus tracking function that can be surprisingly useful.

Edited November 1, 2013 by colinb

[NannyFerret]

I find it easier to use the viewfinder but do use live view at times. I can see the green dot when it lights up. It's blurry, but it's there. I have the focus bleeper on which makes life easier

It has wide focus which is made up of quite a few focus points which picks out certain points of the subject.
I have tried fireworks before but not very successful, so I thought I might go a bit more prepared as to what settings are the best for me to use.
I have the Nikon D3200