I have a PDR-M5 and I'm trying to take pictures of Christmas lighting and/or Fireworks (using manual settings and a tri-pod). So far, I am finding that my M5 is frowning upon this subject matter.

Using a regular film camera, you could use 400 Fuji film (Fuji film produces better blues and greens than Kodak), an "F" stop around 20, and a "bulb" exposure lasting 1,2 or 4 seconds.

With the M5, auto settings produced poor results (not surprising), so I'm using manual settings.

I've set the White Balance to "bulb". This produces better blues and greens by far, so I know that setting is right. Setting the A.V. to F7.6 also seems to work better than "auto" or "F3.5", so I'm pretty sure that's correct. The "record mode" is set to "Bulb" providing 1,2,4 or 8 second exposures, so that seems correct. Now I'm left with the E.V. settings and the ISO.

So far, higher ISO settings like +1 or +2 work better than "Norm". Lower (negative) E.V. settings also seem a bit better. I am having trouble getting both good color and correct exposure. I either get proper exposure with washed-out "burned" colors, or good color that looks under-exposed.

Considering I'm shooting bright colored lights on pitch black and/or very, very dark backgrounds, what E.V. and ISO settings might be a good starting point to try? What M5 settings best mimic the settings you would use on a regular film camera when shooting fireworks or Christmas lights? What about the "sharpening" setting on the M5: Normal or Hard?

Gary Reid P.S. Nice forum!

-- Gary Reid (rasmark@avicom.net), January 17, 2000