Night Settings

I am pretty new at this whole digital camera stuff. I take gorgous photos during the day but at night I dont know if its the camera or me. I was wondering if someone out there might be able to help me with some settings for taking night shots.

I am using the Minolta Dimage Z1 and I cant seem to take non-blurry pictures at night. On a recent trip to seattle I went to the space needle and tried to take some picturse of the city at night.i was unable to get even 1 picture that was clear. Even holding the camera as steady as I could and bracing in on the rail. It seems to be taking a long time to process the picture. what I mean by this is that when it is set yo auto and it half-click to focus it works fine, but when I fully press the button to take the picture I believe the shutter is staying open too long. Even with my camera on a tripod the other night watching the Eclispe I could not get a good picture. Is there anyone that could help me maybe with some settings or just some general know how?

NIght shots without flash are by definition going to be long exposure shots. So you absolutely must use something to perfectly stabilize the camera...most people use a tripod, but I've used a bridge, a bench, a post ... anything that I can set the camera on so that it doesn't move.

Once I've got the camera sitting on something extremely stable (your body is not good enough, unless you're made of solid granite, you will shake and breathe and sway, etc.) ... then look through the viewfinder and frame your shot. Then, the very best thing is to set the self-timer, push the shutter button, and step away until the camera has finished taking its picture (you have to listen for the second "click" in a long exposure).

If you don't have a self-timer, then I suppose you can push the shutter release button with your finger, but BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO MOVE THE CAMERA EVEN A SMIDGEN.

This is what you must do to take non-flash night shots.

I can't live without a Shutter Release :D

I have a remote shutter release too. The timer works tho and you don't have to dig it out of your bag. :p