For those who are interested in Star Trails

[Julian]

Found this website which I thought it was pretty good.

http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTRO...0601/I0601.HTM

[khairi]

good link...u dig astro photos?

[mich_2103]

Hi,
Actually I've always been fascinated by star trails. I wonder if anyone in CS has done it before successfully?

Any ideas where to get the best star trails results? I think it will be a good time to try soon since summer is approaching.

Regards,
-Michelle-

[Wai]

cannot, singapore is near equator, u won't see the north star, so u will not get a round circle like that photo. instead, u will only see all the stars move in front of u from left to right

also, singapore too cloudly already lar...the sky is the best at around 12am, after 3am will starts to have lots of clouds already

[sumball]

i treid once but everexposed. The sky in singaopre is too bright for the star trail. if i were to keep it exposed too short, there wont be any trail...

[yeocolin]

Originally Posted by mich_2103 Hi, Actually I've always been fascinated by star trails. I wonder if anyone in CS has done it before successfully? Any ideas where to get the best star trails results? I think it will be a good time to try soon since summer is approaching. Regards, -Michelle-

I'm travelling to Scotland this week for a month and I hope to be able to find time to do star trail, amidst my work commitments. Will see how it goes.

[Jia Wang]

Originally Posted by mich_2103 Hi, Actually I've always been fascinated by star trails. I wonder if anyone in CS has done it before successfully? Any ideas where to get the best star trails results? I think it will be a good time to try soon since summer is approaching. Regards, -Michelle-

Posted this some time back... took this in Nepal in Dec 2000... was at an altitude of about 2000m... exposure was 13 mins, focal length set at infinity... Never had a chance to do it since...

[yeocolin]

Wow! Thanks for posting this up and telling us the exposure settings. Particularly important since I'm using film.

[Amfibius]

This is a 100% crop from a star trails attempt last night. I live in Perth, so the skies are pretty clear. Camera settings were: ISO 100, F/22, 30 min exposure on a Canon 10D.

I was very unhappy with the amount of hot pixels even at this low ISO so I made a complaint in Fred Miranda. They suggested that if you stack images using a program like Image Stacker.

Anyone have more suggestions on how to do long exposure photography on a DSLR and avoid the noise?

[Stefen]

i didn't know that you can put out such a long exposure for the 10D.. 30mins...

wouldn't that burn the CCD ?

[Amfibius]

Originally Posted by Stefen i didn't know that you can put out such a long exposure for the 10D.. 30mins... wouldn't that burn the CCD ?

You can do a long exposure like that if you have a remote release like the RS-80N3 or the TC-80N3. And i've never heard of the CMOS burning from a long exposure? Ambient temperature was quite cool - about 10deg at 1AM.

[Julian]

Originally Posted by Stefen i didn't know that you can put out such a long exposure for the 10D.. 30mins... wouldn't that burn the CCD ?

That's what warranty are for!

[Julian]

Originally Posted by Amfibius You can do a long exposure like that if you have a remote release like the RS-80N3 or the TC-80N3. And i've never heard of the CMOS burning from a long exposure? Ambient temperature was quite cool - about 10deg at 1AM.

For 10D, you got to use TC-80N3 and not the RS version.

[Amfibius]

Originally Posted by BluesJr For 10D, you got to use TC-80N3 and not the RS version.

Not true. I have an RS-80N3. I set the button to take a picture and then walked away and kept an eye on my watch.

I agree that if you want to do a stacked exposure (see above) then a TC-80N3 is more convenient. You just set it to shoot and then go away. With an RS-80N3 you would have to sit in front of your camera with a stopwatch!

Anyone else have suggestions on how to take star trails on a DSLR?

[Julian]

hmm the more impt question should be " where in Singapore can we take Star Trails "

[Wai]

Originally Posted by Amfibius This is a 100% crop from a star trails attempt last night. I live in Perth, so the skies are pretty clear. Camera settings were: ISO 100, F/22, 30 min exposure on a Canon 10D. Anyone have more suggestions on how to do long exposure photography on a DSLR and avoid the noise?

What lens u use? may be u should use a wide angle so that u can see more stars trails

I have yet to try 30min exposure with my 10D because of the clouds, aeroplanes and occasion lightings. I think 30min exposure is too long unless u want to modify your 10D and cool the sensor with ice In places with dark skies, most pple use up to 5min exposure with 10D, and then they will take as much photo as possible for stacking. This way the noise will be reduced and you can also pick the sharper better for stacking. However in places like Singapore, the sky condition is quite bad, the wind can be so strong that the whole setup will vibrate, so i can manage up to 8 seconds exposure only

U dun really need to use lowest ISO for less noise, may be u can try ISO800 or even 1600, the noise will be cancelled when u do stacking. I use astrostack for this photo
50 frames of 8 seconds, which is equivalent to 6min 40s exposure

[Wai]

Originally Posted by Amfibius You can do a long exposure like that if you have a remote release like the RS-80N3 or the TC-80N3. And i've never heard of the CMOS burning from a long exposure? Ambient temperature was quite cool - about 10deg at 1AM.

a better way will be using laptop connect to the 10D, there are many software on the net for u to adjust shutter speed, iso and aperture without even touching the camera! u dun need a remote release, u can control everything from your laptop and even do interval shooting (without paying a bomb for the TC-80N3) The image will be downloaded to the camera instantly so that u can view at 100% to check if your focusing is good

u may want to use mirror lock up to keep vibration to minimum too

[Amfibius]

Wai, thanks for your help. I was using a 17-40 lens at 17mm. I have never done star trails before, it was just a spur of the moment thing. I live in Perth, and it's autumn now. It is pretty cool and the skies are very clear. It will be even better next week when I go down to Margaret River. The last time I went there I could see the milky way every night.

How did you take that picture of the Orion nebula? I would have expected some streaking with a 6 minute exposure?

And thanks for the laptop suggestion. I don't think I would take that up because it involves buying a laptop ...

[sehsuan]

wai, once rain already, notebook also gets a free shower...

[Wai]

Originally Posted by Amfibius How did you take that picture of the Orion nebula? I would have expected some streaking with a 6 minute exposure?

the 10D was attached to a telescope but the tracking isn't perfect because that was the first attempt as u can see the stars are not round but a bit oval in shape.

since what u want is the trail, u do not need any telescope for tracking, just mount the 10D on a tripod and use shorter shutter speed, may be 30s? so that u can fix the shutter speed to 30s and leave the shutter release of your RS-80N3 locked (remember set to continuous drive mode). if you want more than 30s, u will need to use bulb mode + stop watch already. Although the temperature is quite cool at your place, it will be better to let the camera cool down after a while because heat may add more noise to the image. But dun rest for too long or else the star trails may be "broken"