Olympus E-420 Instruction Manual page 36

Changing shooting mode
Night scenes have different levels of brightness, and the balance of the brightness in the
composition is not uniform. Start by using A (aperture priority shooting) mode to take the
picture. Set the aperture to the medium setting (about F8 or F11) and allow the camera to
automatically select the shutter speed. When shooting a night scene, because the camera sets
the exposure to match the dark areas which occupy a majority of the composition and the
image often turns out whitish (overexposed), adjust the exposure compensation to –1 or –1.5.
Use [REC VIEW] to check the image and adjust the aperture and exposure compensation as
necessary.
Image noise can easily occur when shooting at slow shutter speeds. In this case, set [NOISE
REDUCT.] to [ON] to reduce noise.
2
Using manual focus
In cases where you cannot use AF (auto focus) to focus on the
subject because the subject is too dark or you cannot focus in time
to take pictures, such as during a fireworks display, set the AF mode
to [MF] (manual focus) and focus manually. To take pictures of night
scenes, turn the focus ring of the lens and check whether you can
see the lights of the night scene clearly. To take pictures of a
fireworks display, adjust the focus of the lens to infinite unless you
are using a long focus lens. If you know the approximate distance to
the subject, it is recommended that you focus on something that is
at the same distance in advance.
g"Program shooting" (P. 45), "Aperture priority shooting" (P. 46),
"Remote control shooting" (P. 60), "AF mode selection" (P. 54),
"Noise reduction" (P. 69), "REC VIEW" (P. 95)
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