nightshots w/ coolpix

Hello to the group, I am going to attempt night photos for the 1st time with my coolpix L5. I have read the manual and am familiar with the scenes menu and its functions. My question is about the exposure function on this camera. Should/could I use this as well? I plan on shots of sunsets,fireworks,city/campground night pics.
Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Automatic should get you very close to what you want, but I would recommend turning on the Noise Reduction mode if your camera has it. I have an older Coolpix and it gets very noisy over about 1/4 second so NR helps a lot.

Once you have your shot, check the histogram to see if it's really what you want and adjust from there if needed. Surprisingly, even though there is a huge amount of contrast in those types of shots, most cameras get very close.

For night photos a Tripod is a MUST.