Auto Rikenon 1.4 + Pentax K200D,Sydney at night

[mo]

I apologize in advance for some rather ordinary night shots of Sydney some are taken while in a car being driven....hence the flare with tail lights and street lights...plus a very dirty windscreen.Any tips on how to take better night shots would be greatly appreciated.I would certainly like to know how to do it better next time.
There were a lot of big cameras out and about...mainly Nikon and Canon.I will be posting a few other images from my recent trip to Sydney...beaches and flowers,and other random shots.
#1

#2 Town hall, Christmas light show

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7 Darling Harbor..new Ferris wheel.

#8

#9 Looking through the hotel window 43 floors up above Sydney.

#10 George street (looking at this it may have been taken with the Biotar)

#11 Town hall

#12 Taylor Square Christmas tree.

#13 Centre point tower

#14 Martin Place Christmas tree

[56 DIN]

nice series
the pics showing traffic as main story i like most. no 10 is may favorite, no 6 has an interesting part with the bicycle group in the middle of the road.

[blende8]

I agree, nice series and #10 is cool!

[yinyangbt]

Hello, mo, what ISO did you used ? What time ?

Beautiful colours .Most of them look a little soft . The handheld night photography is tricky .The tripod is very useful.If not ,bracing the camera on a rock, column or something stable. The image stabilisation should be helpful (1-2 stops),but the 80mm equivalent means 1/100 time ,or faster. there is also the mirror slap if you used a slower time ,around 1/25. I was even tempted by a Pentax body as second camera for the situations like this because of the stabilisation.
Thus, I prefere for night shots f around 30mm on crop or better, fast wides .Because the shallow depth of field it's hard to focus , on the other side.