Are there cameras that can take photos at night or in near complete darkness?

Question

Just wondering if there are any cameras that are specifically used for taking photos at night or in near complete darkness?

Asked by Jack

Answer

Modern full-frame sensor cameras are pretty amazing at this. The Nikon D4 for example can shoot at up to ISO 204000, yes 204 thousands! One reviewer said he was shooting subjects which he could not see with his own eyes, yet the camera focused and exposed properly. The key is that those cameras, like the Canon 1D X and Nikon D3S have big pixels which are extremely sensitive to light.

All cameras require some amount of light, after all the word photography comes from Greek and means drawing with light. A handful of cameras cheat by adding their own infrared light to the scene and measuring that. The result is a grainy monochrome image. All such cameras that I know are made by Sony and that feature is called NightShot but I have not seen one of these for a few years. It is much more common in camcorders than still cameras.

Answered by Itai

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