hello! I've been looking around for a little while at some digicams and have noticed that all the ones I've seen have an ISO rating equivalent to 100. Are there any around that have 200-400 ratings? Also, which digicam has exposure control that would allow you to take night pictures of stars or lighting? I sometimes get up to Alaska and would like to photograph the Northern Lights. Thanks for your input!

-- mark (m_roller@hotmail.com), September 02, 1999

Answers

I have the Olympus C-2000 which will do all that you mention. Variable ISO (100/200/400), full exposure contol, and long shutter speeds. Many people use C-2000s for astronomy photography. As an example, here's a shot of the full moon someone took with a C-2000 ---> http://www.equipmentwholesale.com/images/moon.jpg

Frank

-- Frank Dittmann (dittmann@pathcom.com), September 03, 1999.

A lot of cameras have ISO 100 and are either user selectable to 400 or auto switch to 200/400 as needed. The problem is CCD noise goes up when you crank the ISO on these. Still, better than a dark pic. What you can do is find a camera with a both a tripod mount and selectable loooong exposure times.

-- benoit (foo@bar.com), September 03, 1999.

I just returned from Alaska and saw the Northern Lights twice. I captured their beauty with 8 and 4 second exposures using my Nikon CP950. I'll send them to you, but everyone else has to wait until my Alaska Web Site is up and running to see the pictures.

I used basic ISO 100 setting to avoid any digital artifacts.

BTW, I bought this camera for my trip and took more than 1,300 pictures in three and a half months!

-PJS

-- Paul S (zeugma@sonic.net), September 23, 1999.