Star Photography

[AndWhyNot]

sharpfocus said:

This was my effort (the Plough over Broadway Tower) but the foreground all feels very, very soft focus to me. It's just the kit lens (Nikkor 18-104 IIRC) @18mm f8. I was hoping it would pick up more detail in the foreground too, not sure how I'd go about lighting the tower!

The stars aren't exactly pinpoint sharp either, but at least I know that's probably my fault for a 77 second exposure.

You've had some movement during the exposure. Could be the camera/ tripod "settling" once the exposure started; wind affecting the steadiness throughout (this'd be my guess based on the pattern of movement); or it got knocked as you approached to switch off.

You're right about the star movement and your exposure length. A couple of posts above there's reference to an online calculator for the rule of 600, this lets you know, for any given focal length/ sensor size combo, how long you can run an exposure before the pinpricks of starlight become noticeable startrails.

Equation is:

600/ (DX-adjusted) focal length = max exposure in seconds

For instance, 35mm on full frame would equal: 600/ 35 = 17sec
whereas 35mm on a 1.5 crop sensor would be: 600/ (35x1.5) = 11sec

The longer your lens, the quicker trails will appear. Of course, there's an upside to this which is that if you can't be arsed with all the waiting or are in a hurry to shoot more than one composition, whack on a lens in the 50mm-85mm bracket and you get usably-long trails in just a few minutes

[sharpfocus]

Thanks! Appreciate it. It was pretty windy so you're probably spot on there.

[Yellabelly]

HoHoHo said:

Yellabelly said:

Just had a first go at the startrails based on what Andy has written in the blog this is the first attempt 141 images stacked using StarStax software:
ISO 1600
f2.8
30 sec exposures
Used a Hahnel Giga T Pro wireless remote control to trigger the camera.



Orionids Startrail by ray_blake, on Flickr

I like the composition, seems to be quite a lot of noise looking at it on my iphone. I tend to use iso 100 or 200 myself, not such a narrow dof.

Thanks Martin, yeah it is noisy, the D200 gets noisy over ISO 400 so at ISO1600 it is noticeable, it seems to be the setting that others have used and was my first try so I gave it a go. I did some test images at lower ISO but they were much darker. I used the Exposure calculator in the PHOforPHO android app which gave 7 mins 59secs for ISO100 @ f2.8.

I'll play around with some different settings next opportunity.

Again many thanks to AWN for the inspiration from his startrails and domes.

YB

[The Moose]

Just played around with StarStax for the first time tonight, and this was the result. C&C always welcome!

ISO 200
f/4.0
24mm
30 second exposure
117 images (battery ran out after that )


starry night by Matt Garnham, on Flickr

[Pierscoe1]

is there a cost-effective "drive-system" for doing star trails....

I've got results I'm reasonably happy with:


...but I can't help but think that standing in one spot for over an hour (for the above) clicking away at the remote every 30sec isn't the best way to do this...

Am only using a 60D & Sigma 18-50 f2.8, so don't want to spend hundreds... but there must be some kind of timer I could get, surely!?!??

any ideas people?

[The Moose]

Pierscoe1 said:

Am only using a 60D & Sigma 18-50 f2.8, so don't want to spend hundreds... but there must be some kind of timer I could get, surely!?!??

any ideas people?

I picked up a remote trigger (runs on a wire) from Jessops for about £20. What you do is set the camera up looking in the right direction, with the long exposure etc and then press the button on the trigger. The button on the trigger can lock 'down', so as far as the camera is concerned, you're pressing the trigger each time it closes the shutter. This makes it open the shutter at the same settings as the previous image was taken. It then repeats.

That's how I got the above image. I'll be fked if I'm going to stand there pressing the button over and over - I went inside for some food

I've seen loads of different sites that I want to do star trails on, but I'm obviously not happy just leaving the camera and going off and doing other things. Plus, what do you do for all that time whilst it's taking photos. My current thought is to go and sit and read a book in the car for an hour or so whilst it does its stuff.

ETA: If you're ever around Beaconsfield, you're more than welcome to borrow mine

Edited by The Moose on Friday 7th October 23:07

[Pierscoe1]

that sounds ideal... got a linky?

I'll go have a look on their site anyway....


presume it's this:
http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/74810...
"lock-in continuous shutter release"

and there's a canon version:
http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/7892/...

Edited by Pierscoe1 on Saturday 8th October 00:07

[The Moose]

Pierscoe1 said:

that sounds ideal... got a linky?

I'll go have a look on their site anyway....


presume it's this:
http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/74810...
"lock-in continuous shutter release"

and there's a canon version:
http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/7892/...

Edited by Pierscoe1 on Saturday 8th October 00:07

The first is what I've got. Good remote

[Crafty_]

I've got a Hama release that allows the trigger to lock, was about £18 from LCE, same as this:
http://www.morrisphoto.co.uk/ProductDetails~produc...

[Yellabelly]

Pierscoe, I use the Hahnel Giga T Pro, excellent little unit, not too expensive, well made, easy to set up, set it running then go indoors for an hour or so until you think you have enough images or, like me, your camera batteries go flat after 141 images )

YB

[The Moose]

Yellabelly said:

or, like me, your camera batteries go flat

That might have happened to me too

So, and C&C on the above?

[dibbly dobbler]

The Moose said:

That might have happened to me too

So, and C&C on the above?

Very impressive first effort

[Speed addicted]

The Moose said:

Pierscoe1 said:

Am only using a 60D & Sigma 18-50 f2.8, so don't want to spend hundreds... but there must be some kind of timer I could get, surely!?!??

any ideas people?

I picked up a remote trigger (runs on a wire) from Jessops for about £20. What you do is set the camera up looking in the right direction, with the long exposure etc and then press the button on the trigger. The button on the trigger can lock 'down', so as far as the camera is concerned, you're pressing the trigger each time it closes the shutter. This makes it open the shutter at the same settings as the previous image was taken. It then repeats.

That's how I got the above image. I'll be fked if I'm going to stand there pressing the button over and over - I went inside for some food

I've seen loads of different sites that I want to do star trails on, but I'm obviously not happy just leaving the camera and going off and doing other things. Plus, what do you do for all that time whilst it's taking photos. My current thought is to go and sit and read a book in the car for an hour or so whilst it does its stuff.

ETA: If you're ever around Beaconsfield, you're more than welcome to borrow mine

Edited by The Moose on Friday 7th October 23:07

I got a pixo one from Amazon for about £3 that works just fine, it's the same connection as you'll need (I think).
I just set the camera and leave it for about an hour, or nearly two when I forget about it.

[The Moose]

Just thinking about it, can you get a high capacity battery for the Canons? Obviously I could run a mains cable out there, but that's not always an ideal solution to be honest.

[HoHoHo]

The Moose said:

Just thinking about it, can you get a high capacity battery for the Canons? Obviously I could run a mains cable out there, but that's not always an ideal solution to be honest.

Buy a grip and you'll have two batteries which is more than sufficient

[MixxyMatosis]

I Been wanting to have a go at this for some time now. So I was reading this thread last night and decided to go out and give it a go. Called my mate and we headed out at Half 12. We didn't get back till half four.

C&C More than welcome.

[nellyleelephant]

Great capture of Orion!

[XKjimmy]

HI all,

It was clear, briefly tonight.. I thought I would grab a few night shots. is this the milky way I have managed to get here?
The shots are quite noisy, the ISO was turned up to 1600.


Space 3 by 635djimmy, on Flickr


Space 2 by 635djimmy, on Flickr

In this shot, anyone know what the line near the right of the image is?


Spaceshot 1 by 635djimmy, on Flickr

[bigfoot7]

That trail could be an iridium flare. The Milky Way looks great!

[XKjimmy]

Thanks Quite pleased how it came out.
Looks like it could sell be an iridium flare looking at captures on google.