first time taking photos with tripod - what did I do wrong?

[astroNikon]

Your D3300 does not have the Mirror UP (MUP) feature someone mentions up above.

as to your $70 tripod. Does it shake at all? When you push the shutter release I'm going to take a guess and think it shakes a bit, as compared to another of your shots where you have the camera on some sturdy wall or something.
Cheap(er) tripods are not actually very sturdy.

Also what is your QUAL(ity) setting ?
was it small for a 3MB file? or did you just convert it to 3MB? (press the I button, then check the current Quality setting NEF/RAW, JPEG fine/ normal / basic

 

[waday]

Your D3300 does not have the Mirror UP (MUP) feature someone mentions up above.

Oh, Nikon.

as to your $70 tripod. Does it shake at all? When you push the shutter release I'm going to take a guess and think it shakes a bit, as compared to another of your shots where you have the camera on some sturdy wall or something.
Cheap(er) tripods are not actually very sturdy

I agree with this to a certain extent. I would think the tripod shouldn't shake that much with the D3300's weight. But, it might be, especially because the other longer exposure didn't have that issue?

 

[KenC]

I don't know Nikon, but could it be "live view" or something like that you need, rather than "mirror lock-up"? In Canon, live view necessarily locks up the mirror so you can see what the sensor sees.

 

[Mr.Photo]

Long exposure photography will show even the slightest (so slight most people don't notice it) movement if not on a 100% stable surface. Many of the lighter duty tripods out there (even the expensive ones) will have some movement in them especially if it's breezy out. Another thing that many people overlook is the mounting head itself. You can have a great heavy duty expensive set of tripod legs, but with a crap head on it your camera will flop all over the place.

Some tripods have a hook located on them for hanging your camera bag to add additional weight for stability. However as I mentioned above the head of the tripod also has to be solid enough to dampen any movement.

 

[astroNikon]

Your D3300 does not have the Mirror UP (MUP) feature someone mentions up above.

Oh, Nikon.

as to your $70 tripod. Does it shake at all? When you push the shutter release I'm going to take a guess and think it shakes a bit, as compared to another of your shots where you have the camera on some sturdy wall or something.
Cheap(er) tripods are not actually very sturdy

I agree with this to a certain extent. I would think the tripod shouldn't shake that much with the D3300's weight. But, it might be, especially because the other longer exposure didn't have that issue?

I don't think the d5x00 has MUP either. Just the d7x00 and above. One reason I bought the d7000 initially even though I liked the swivel screen d5100.

It's not the weight of the camera on the tripod.
It's when you press and release the shutter release bu your finger that causes the major issue. But using a remote also helps a lot depending upon circumstances.

==> Mirror Lock-up Test Does MLU actually improve sharpness
first 2 paragraphs of "Lock up test" section

Mirror Lockup makes absolutely zero visible difference in the sharpness of the photo IF you shoot from a rock solid tripod and ballhead. Period.

When the test was performed on my favorite tripod, there was no difference in the sharpness of the photos at all. However, when we tested lighter and cheaper tripods, poor quality mounts, or if the ballhead was not tightened down properly, mirror lockup made an obvious and profound difference.

First lesson learned from this test: If you use a high quality tripod, mirror lockup makes no difference at all.

My old cheaper tripod the lock of the platform to the head is not rock solid and one can see a difference to my other tripod/heads.
BUT YMMV on everything.

Also if you walk around your camera while it is taking a shot that can cause motion. When I take astro stuff I have to be away from the setup. Some of my test shots of me standing / slightly moving next to it shows obvious movement. So I use a Radio remote for any long exposure with MUP. I showed that in some thread several months ago.

 

[waday]

==> Mirror Lock-up Test Does MLU actually improve sharpness
first 2 paragraphs of "Lock up test" section

Mirror Lockup makes absolutely zero visible difference in the sharpness of the photo IF you shoot from a rock solid tripod and ballhead. Period.

When the test was performed on my favorite tripod, there was no difference in the sharpness of the photos at all. However, when we tested lighter and cheaper tripods, poor quality mounts, or if the ballhead was not tightened down properly, mirror lockup made an obvious and profound difference.

First lesson learned from this test: If you use a high quality tripod, mirror lockup makes no difference at all.

I saw that, actually. But, if you read on, you'll see that he says there's a dramatic difference on cheaper tripods. There's no discernible difference on his expensive tripod.

 

[astroNikon]

I saw that, actually. But, if you read on, you'll see that he says there's a dramatic difference on cheaper tripods. There's no discernible difference on his expensive tripod.

Yes, OP has a cheap(er) tripod ...

 

[480sparky]

After studying the images, it appears that about half the exposure time was taken with the camera relatively motionless. Perhaps another 25% it was moving, and the remaining 25% in place again.

Is the place the tripod was placed on rock solid? Or is it flexible enough to move, such as in a floating dock?

 

[Corinna_Naso]

To answer some of the questions:

It wasn't a moving dock. It's the promenade in Brooklyn (if anyone has been there). It's normal concrete.

I did not use a remote shutter release, but I did use a self-timer (5'') in order to avoid my clicking causing any motion.

But, I did move around. I thought hey I got a tripod, I don't need to stay here lol. I was at some point dancing behind my camera lol. I didn't actively touch the tripod but who knows, maybe the air or something.

As for my tripod, I asked the store if this is a good tripod. They said that the best they have is a 200 dollar one. I found that a bit excessive for a beginner...I didn't anticipate that my more expensive of the cheaper range would actually cause such visible problems though. I mean, what's the point of owning one then?

I used live view. I don't know if that is relevant, I just found it more convenient for me to be able to see what i am shooting.

About the quality of my photo: I shoot in RAW.

I intend to go back tonight and try lots of different solutions (like not dancing...). I shall keep you updated.

 

[astroNikon]

I have a concrete patch I put my camera and telescope on.
If I walk on the concrete it introduces image shake. If a car drives by 40 feet away, it introduces very minor image shake.

and my tripods costs more than yours,
Dancing .. yup .. I can see that doing it.

 

[Corinna_Naso]

Haha thanks! I mean, if that's the problem I am very happy cause it's easy to fix.

Can I also ask you guys some more questions about night time photography, since I've got you all hooked here with my fascinating issues

1. Sometimes when its quite dark (after the blue hours, but sometimes even during) I find focusing quite tough. Is there a trick to make my camera focus better? I'd use manual focus but when it's so dark I can't see anything anyway

2. Say I want to photograph a subject in front of a dark background. What's the way of doing that? If I use flash, I loose the nice background. I tried just exposing for long time but they were just a black spot in the camera hahaha. I assume the light radiating from their eyes wasn't enough to make them register in my camera lol.

 

[waday]

Dancing is the key to a happy photographer.

 

[480sparky]

As one who works on construction sites, I can tell without a doubt that the earth is not solid. Nor is concrete. And rocks, no matter how large, cannot be used to prove the phrase 'rock solid'.

If the earth were that immobile, we needn't fear earthquakes.

 

[philsphoto]

Many would suggest to disable image stabilization on their lens when the camera a tripod mounted. Also, is it windy? Many tripods will have a hook on them for weighted items like sandbags. Also, a fully extended tripod is less stable than one not fully extended.


Sent by philsphoto.com from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Derrel]

Gotta agree with Phil--switch the image stabilizing system to OFF!!! It looks to me like a very momentary bit of camera movement. The lights show the movement pretty well, since they are light sources, and the movement leaves a nice "trace". Accidentally hitting a tripod leg, or the camera strap moving or falling during an exposure, a passing vehicle, a gust of wind, things like those--any of those things can cause the type of blurred exposures seen in the first two example shots I reviewed. The image stabilizing system could also be at fault, creating what is called "a feedback loop".

In a 30-second exposure, the camera must be perfectly still, motionless, for a good, rock-solid exposure, and whenever there are pinpoint light sources, any camera movement will show up most readily in the light source rendering. As you can see, the buildings and bridge components do not show the problem very readily, but the lights, since they are sooooooo much brighter than the other non-illuminated things, look disconcertingly blurry.