The subject came up in another thread about photographing fireworks, and I thought I might post a little info that may help the next time some fireworks are in your area.
What I have found to work best for me, is glass in the range of 50-200mm or 70-300mm and setting up bout a mile or so from the firework's launch site. Most public displays produce some big reports and you want to be able to catch all the action. Being in a place that is elevated sure helps, too. Scout the area before hand and have a few alternative locations in mind, and be aware of the wind direction before heading out. You don't want to get set up and then discover the wind will be blowing the smoke towards you...this will ruin the quality of your shots. Also, will there be bright lights in your background or anything else that may detract from the shots.
Now, as for the settings, most DSLRs have similar function selections, for my captures, I set my Pentax to TAV which is shutter and aperture priority. I set the aperture to f/8 and the shutter speed to 1 second, but I may adjust that during the display, dropping the delay during the finale when the light gets intense. The ISO is set at 200 (or 400 on occasion), I rarely run the ISO up higher, as it will develop unwanted "noise" in the night sky (although a higher ISO is great for starry night sky captures...but we'll leave that for another post). You want your fireworks to be sharp with no distractions.
So, now that your camera is set up on a tripod, in a good location with the settings at TAV, what's the best focal length for the lens? Well, that's something that you'll have to decide for yourself as it's a matter of personal preference. I adjust mine during the first few fireworks, but typically in the range between 55mm and 75mm depending on the type of fireworks (and location, etc). This makes sure that I have plenty of area available for the differing size of reports. Also, I always have the focus set to infinite
∞ as I would when shooting sunsets/sunrises and related landscapes. *Note* some newer lenses do not have infinite, and if this is the case with yours, set it at the maximum range as you would for a landscape shot.
My Pentax K100D produces an image that is 3008x2000 in size and my Pentax K-5 produces images that are 4928x3264 in size. Once I'm home, I will review the photos and
crop them to show the details.
One final note: when using a tripod, be sure to have your image stabilization switched off and of course, be sure to have autofocus disengaged. Make a few test shots beforehand to make sure everything is set the way you want it, because once the fireworks start, it sucks to make emergency adjustments!!
Ok, now let's see some examples!
f/8 - 1 second - 63mm
f/8 - 1 second - 58mm
f/8 - 1 second - 58mm
f/8 - 1 second - 58mm
f/8 - 1 second - 58mm
f/8 - 1 second - 58mm
f/8 - 1 second - 58mm
f/8 - 1 second - 58mm
f/8 - 1 second - 58mm
f/8 - 1.3 seconds - 63mm
f/8 - 1.3 seconds - 63mm
f/8 - 1.3 seconds - 63mm
f/8 - 1.3 seconds - 63mm
All the above images were reduced to 720x477 for posting online (I never post full-res images) and when you reduce your images, always remember to use the "sharpen" or "sharpen edges" filter in your program after resizing and before saving.
I hope this has been helpful and remember, you can use my settings as a guide but always go with what suites you best!!