1st attempt at Star Trails needs some improvement
First the photo
Next, my thoughts...
It's out of focus. Most of the day I had been using my Tamron 19-35mm wide angle, but of course when I wanted it, I got err 99. I've figured out how to solve that but the main reason I wanted to use it was that it's the only lens I have with manual focus markings on it. The shots for this one were taken with my 50mm f1.8 which I autofocused on a distant star. I figured this would give me focus near infinity, guess that didn't work so well...
Also, I've only got a remote switch, not the fancy intermeter (or whatever the programmable switch is called). So these were taken at f1.8 ISO 200 at 30 seconds each as jpg. I figured that as soon as the shutter closed, it would reopen to take the next shot. Judging by the dashes, that's not quite what happened...
I've got another camping trip in about a week and a half and would like to try some more star trails. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! :thumb
[Edit] I didn't really explain my process so well... Each shot was 30 seconds at ISO 200 with a wide open appeture, because I wanted to get back to my friends around the camp fire. Since 30 sec is the longest my XTi can be set to before moving to BULB, I changed the ISO and appeture to make sure I could get a decent exposure at 30 sec. That way I could just put on the slide lock, and head back to the camp fire. I went back to get the camera about an hour and a half or two hours later.
Next, my thoughts...
It's out of focus. Most of the day I had been using my Tamron 19-35mm wide angle, but of course when I wanted it, I got err 99. I've figured out how to solve that but the main reason I wanted to use it was that it's the only lens I have with manual focus markings on it. The shots for this one were taken with my 50mm f1.8 which I autofocused on a distant star. I figured this would give me focus near infinity, guess that didn't work so well...
Also, I've only got a remote switch, not the fancy intermeter (or whatever the programmable switch is called). So these were taken at f1.8 ISO 200 at 30 seconds each as jpg. I figured that as soon as the shutter closed, it would reopen to take the next shot. Judging by the dashes, that's not quite what happened...
I've got another camping trip in about a week and a half and would like to try some more star trails. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! :thumb
[Edit] I didn't really explain my process so well... Each shot was 30 seconds at ISO 200 with a wide open appeture, because I wanted to get back to my friends around the camp fire. Since 30 sec is the longest my XTi can be set to before moving to BULB, I changed the ISO and appeture to make sure I could get a decent exposure at 30 sec. That way I could just put on the slide lock, and head back to the camp fire. I went back to get the camera about an hour and a half or two hours later.
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Comments
Was you tripod on a solid surface?
Any traffic nearby?
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Recently bookmarked tutorial;
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/725769
Have fun!
No real traffic to speak of, we were fairly far out in the desert and I don't remember any cars coming or going after I set it up. Could be the wind was rocking the tripod...
A new tripod just isn't in the cards anytime soon unfortunately. I believe the tripod was at about half full height for these shots... I'll try using it at it's lowest usable height next time... and find a spot that's not so exposed to the wind.
Any thoughts on how to control the dashes? Could it be that I shot it these a jpgs in that once the shutter closed, the camera processed the data to jpg & saved then reopened the shutter? If I shot raw and cut out the slight processing time would I get a cleaner trail?
SmugMug QA
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Excellent read! I'll print it and reread it while I wait for the harsh mid-day sun to turn to golden hour!!
Thanks, Fred!
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