Which Camera Should I Use For Light Painting?

Creating a light painting outdoors on the shortest night of the year was not my thing. I retreated to the studio. From time to time the comments say that an expensive camera is necessary for light painting. This is not true. Many cameras are limited to an exposure time of 30 seconds. This makes it possible to take a light painting, but limits the possibilities. Almost everyone owns a smartphone these days. With the right app, light painting shots are possible. I would like to demonstrate this today.

As I had still set up last week's set in the studio, I used the ORBOMAT with the same program. I only changed the light source. At some point I had built and programmed an LED circuit with an Arduino and a Sub-D connector. So that it fitted perfectly to the ORBOMAT. That should be enough for this comparison.

The SLOW SHUTTER app makes it possible to create a live composite image, similar to an Olympus camera. The app settings are shown in the following image. There is certainly more to be gained. For a first attempt, I found the result in the picture above ok.

Because I found the result usable, I did a second light painting without the vertical bars with the same settings as described above. All you need is a smartphone, the "Slow Shutter" app and a tripod for the smartphone.

It is important that all automatic settings are switched off, otherwise the images will be overexposed, as the following example shows. Here I had the ISO set to automatic. This switches to automatic every time the app is started and must be reset to the lowest possible value before each shot. I noticed this too late here.

Since I was already there, I tested the light painting function on my GoPro at the same time. The GoPro 12 is equipped with a thread to which I can screw a mount for a hot shoe. This allows flexible use without having to buy all the expensive accessories from GoPro. I wouldn't have bought the thing without this thread. The GoPro is capable of filming light painting. The time-lapse film and a final image are saved. That's a useful thing. I will report on the movie function in another post. Today I'm only showing the final image (below).

The shots from the CANON are of course the better ones here. I just wanted to test the possibilities of other devices. I am also convinced that with a little more practice and experience, I would achieve better results with the smartphone or the GoPro. I found the results useful for a quick first attempt.

As always, I'll show you the set and the tools at the end.

I hope you enjoyed my post today and that you'll join me again next Sunday when I write about light painting. So stay tuned!