Long Exposure Not Saving

TTM · May 20, 2012

Just tonight I tried some long exposure shots of the sky, ranging from 10 to 15 minutes. I have a T1i and was controlling it via USB cable with EOS Utility, and upon completion of the shot, the number of shots remaining on the camera screen just blinks for a very long time and doesn't save them upon completion. I tried formatting the card (8GB SanDisk Extreme 30MB/s) from within the camera, but this didn't help. If I toggle the power switch, it shows a screen reading (recording remaining images: 1). Any one know what may be causing this or how to resolve it?

Thanks!

bratkinson · May 20, 2012

I'll take a wild guess and say your memory card is failing. Try a different memory card. Also, try taking a normal-exposure picture, just to verify your camera is working properly.

table1349 · May 21, 2012

Turn off the in camera noise reduction. In camera noise reduction will take as long as the exposure did to apply noise reduction.

TTM · May 21, 2012

Normal exposures do save, in fact, my third exposure of the night saved, a 15 minute shot. I went to bed with it still flashing the number of shots remaining, and it's not as focused as I'd like, but at least it saved. I'll try a few shots later today to see if it works again. Thanks!

Buckster · May 21, 2012

Long exposures take a long time to save. Possibly it's taking so long that you're getting impatient, thinking something's wrong, and interupting it before it's completed its task

KmH · May 21, 2012

It always helps if you know how the gear works.

As mentioned, long exposure noise reduction (LENR) takes just as long as the exposure.

So a 15 minute exposure with LENR enabled, requires 30 minutes total to complete.

Serious night sky shooters often take a series of very much shorter exposures, and stack them using software.

exposure stacking software - Bing

TTM · May 21, 2012

Thanks for the replies! I'm hoping to try again tonight, but this time with noise reduction off.

TTM · May 21, 2012

Thank you 1) for keying me in on LENR, that was the issue. It saved in seconds. 2) for eloquently wording RTFM in the first line there.

bratkinson · May 22, 2012

I have never tried LENR yet, but this thread is definitely a heads up for me! Now all I have to do is remember what I read at some time down the road...