Flashy Lights are distorted; shooting with my A5100

[poweewee]

Hi All,

 

I am shooting with my Sony A5100, and I am encountering the following issue when shooting at lights during night time, or sometimes even during the day.

 

Below pictures were all taken using Intelligent Auto.

 

https://flic.kr/s/aHskKM4gTa

 

I was wondering if you guys knew a simple solution to my problem (e.g. tweaking the settings; my camera literacy is not too high), or if this is an issue wherein the lens needs cleaning.

 

Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

[Mabi]

Where you on a tripod when taking these pictures?

Especially no.4 have a lot of camera shake!

The blobs in the upper part looks like dirt on the sensor or lens

They always shows clearly with slower shutter speeds

What metering mode do you use?

Maybe you should be in spot mode and focus on something bright to get the brightness down on the lights.

Anyway, if you want to do some magic with your camera, I think you need to get beyond intelligent auto!

In that mode you cannot control what to focus on, not step down exposure compensation or use AEL.

I think the only thing you can control is ISO.

My advice is:

Clean your sensor and/or lens.

Put your camera in A mode, use a tripod and experiment a bit with different aperture settings!

If you know how to use AEL (Automatic Exposure Lock) use it to get a not to bright image, or step down your compensation.

[poweewee]

Thanks for the advice. Yes, in time, I will learn a lot more about photography and move away from intelligent auto, but right now, my concern is the distortion of the lights in intelligent auto.

 

Whereas before, they wouldn't be as distorted as you would see in those photos, but now they just look too distorted.

 

I was thinking that maybe it's just cleaning that would do the trick, but I really wasn't sure.

[Dollanganger]

Frankly this has been a major problem with all cameras of all brands from time immemorial.

 

Those bright little lights vs all that dark will always be a problem.

 

Changing camera settings can help lesson the affect, but it will almost always exist under these extreme conditions.

 

The big question is, what are you taking pictures of? The light fixtures themselves? People in a ballroom? The room itself?

 

Sony's HDR is second to none. If you're trying to photography the room itself, use the HDR setting and set it to level 6 the highest level. HDR (or at least good HDR) will require a tripod for two long exposures.

 

What does HDR "High Dynamic Range" mean? It's used for still images for evening out the light so you will not have extremes like the shadows or too much brightness. 

 

Keep in mind that even the best HDR can only do so much. Chandelier or Christmas lights in darkness will always be a problem.