Stars with tails even at 30 seconds?

[Garbz]

Doesn't work with canon... tried on my XTi. Got some weird looks from the roomates...haha

It does, you need the right remote.

Any device? Your saying my phone can set of my D40?
HOW.

Not any device.


It needs to be able to send the remote codes to the camera that the camera understands. Chances are though if you get a universal remote, one of the inbuilt remotes they mimic will set it off with some key.

 

[msf]

When I tried this last year, I found I had to use an exposure of 4 seconds or less before the stars started to get trails. I think I had to use iso 1600 F1.8, but not 100% sure on that. Someone told me there is a machine that you can get that moves the camera to counteract the rotation of the earth so you can do longer exposures and not get the motion blur.

Once, I even got what looked to be a galaxy in one of my pictures. Didnt think that would be possible with a 80mm lens.

 

[Josh66]

When I tried this last year, I found I had to use an exposure of 4 seconds or less before the stars started to get trails. I think I had to use iso 1600 F1.8, but not 100% sure on that. Someone told me there is a machine that you can get that moves the camera to counteract the rotation of the earth so you can do longer exposures and not get the motion blur.

Once, I even got what looked to be a galaxy in one of my pictures. Didnt think that would be possible with a 80mm lens.

Many telescope mounts do this. I forget what it's called... It will follow the rotation of the Earth though...

 

[decado]

It's possible you could be getting extra trails by camera shake. Are you using the camera's timer or a remote? Is your lense image stabilized and if so do you have it turned off?

 

[Garbz]

No it's not. Not with stars that dim and not with those long exposure times. Camera shake from pushing the shutter stops being relevant beyond something like a 4 second exposure.

 

[decado]

No it's not. Not with stars that dim and not with those long exposure times. Camera shake from pushing the shutter stops being relevant beyond something like a 4 second exposure.

Interesting, I did not know this, sorry about the false info.

So I'm noticing I'm having this problem too, only the trails are much longer (at 30 seconds), is this because I was zoomed to 250mm?

 

[astrostu]

So I'm noticing I'm having this problem too, only the trails are much longer (at 30 seconds), is this because I was zoomed to 250mm?

Yes. See this.

 

[Garbz]

Yes based on the quick rule of thumb I posted earlier with a 250mm lens you would need 900/250 shutter speed or less than 3.6 seconds to not get startrails.

 

[CraniumDesigns]

if u dont want star trails, u gotta cut down on exposure time. this means either upping your ISO (which adds more noise), or opening lowering your aperture to let in more light, which is more preferable, but depending on the DOF you're going for, u may lose focus in some areas.