(new to forum) long exposure question and continiuously picture taking

[boemboem]

Hello all,

For you I'm new to this forum however I did read a lot of threads without registering and find the information very useful.

I think I have a strange question and I hope anyone can help me with this.

I'd like to make pictures a star trails and I thought I knew all the basics for it.

I have a Nikon D5000, a tripod and a remote shutter release (HAMA)

My settings are as followed:

1 - Wheel set to "M"
2 - ISO 200
3 - Shutter speed set to 30 seconds
4 - focus at infinity
5 - mode set to continuously marked as multiple boxes []]]

With these settings I can press my remote for 3 seconds and then the camera takes continuously pictures with a shutter speed of 30 seconds (all seems to work fine)

But now my problem comes.

After a few pictures, (most of the time 4) the camera stops shooting. This was a real bummer because at one night after waiting for almost an hour you can imagine I was a bit frustrated.

Can anyone please tell me if I overlooked something?

Thank you in advance

 

[KmH]

Make sure you don't have Long Exposure Noise Reduction (NR), or High ISO NR turned on. (Page 151 in the D5000 user's manual)

 

[boemboem]

Thank you for your reply Keith,

Both are set to off. Unfortunatly it didn't solve my problem.

With 30 seconds set to continuiously gives me 6 pictures.

Also bulb mode is not "unlimited" it stops after 5 minutes or so.

I use a kingston 16GB class 4 sd card.

These are my settings atm.
Mode = MExposure = 20 seconds f4.2
Exposure compensation +/_ = 0.0
Flash compensation = 0.0
Picture control = SD
AE Bracketing = off
ADL = off
Metering = the first one of three (little girl in a play house)
Release mode = []]]
ISO = 200
White balance = auto
Long exp NR = off
High ISO NR = off

I'm really confused now

 

[MTVision]

Thank you for your reply Keith,

Both are set to off. Unfortunatly it didn't solve my problem.

With 30 seconds set to continuiously gives me 6 pictures.

Also bulb mode is not "unlimited" it stops after 5 minutes or so.

I use a kingston 16GB class 4 sd card.

These are my settings atm.
Mode = MExposure = 20 seconds f4.2
Exposure compensation +/_ = 0.0
Flash compensation = 0.0
Picture control = SD
AE Bracketing = off
ADL = off
Metering = the first one of three (little girl in a play house)
Release mode = []]]
ISO = 200
White balance = auto
Long exp NR = off
High ISO NR = off

I'm really confused now

I don't have a Nikon d5000 but I would think that bulb mode is the same on all cameras. Bulb mode is suppose to keep the shutter open for as long as you wish. I know that I've taken longer then 5 minute exposures and our cameras are very similar. Are you using a remote or a shutter release cable or anything like that when using bulb mode?

****i may be wrong about the d5000 having a limited bulb mode

 

[Jeff92]

Jw on these long exposure shots, not trying to sidetrack or anything, but if you wanted to do a long exposure time in like complete darkness, how do you determine a bulb time of over 30 seconds without under/overexposing. Is there a formula? And long exposure nr is a bad thing?

 

[MTVision]

Jw on these long exposure shots, not trying to sidetrack or anything, but if you wanted to do a long exposure time in like complete darkness, how do you determine a bulb time of over 30 seconds without under/overexposing. Is there a formula? And long exposure nr is a bad thing?

I've only done a few long exposures but I usually just start with a certain time limit - 30 seconds/1 minute - and then check the LCD for the picture and the histogram then go for there. Long exposure noise reduction takes a long time - I may be wrong but I think if you take a 10 minute exposure it will take 10 extra minutes for the noise reduction to finish up. So long exposure noise reduction isn't a bad thing since the longer the exposure the noisier the image. It just takes a long time

 

[Jeff92]

Ahh gotcha. Thank you

 

[boemboem]

Hello all,

Thank you for your replies at this point. If anyone can confirm that my settings are good, then it could be something else.

I'm thinking of the following things (sorry for my grammar, I'm Dutch )

1 - SD card to slow? It's a Kingston 16GB class 4
2 - Remote control malfunctioning? I have a HAMA (see picture below please)
3 - Battery not powerful enough?



Thank you in advance for taking the time to view my question.

 

[TacotheTurtle]

A lot of cameras have a limit on how many photos they can take without having the camera process them into the SD/CF card. Most likely your D5000 has a limit of 4 photos. I know my camera can only take 3 before it stops.

 

[MTVision]

Hello all,

Thank you for your replies at this point. If anyone can confirm that my settings are good, then it could be something else.

I'm thinking of the following things (sorry for my grammar, I'm Dutch )

1 - SD card to slow? It's a Kingston 16GB class 4
2 - Remote control malfunctioning? I have a HAMA (see picture below please)
3 - Battery not powerful enough?

<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6837"/>

Thank you in advance for taking the time to view my question.

Maybe your sd card is too slow. Try a class 6 or up. I don't know if thats the issue though