Star trails help needed

9 years 5 months ago #411502 by Conner
I'm going to be heading out this evening and trying my luck at getting some star trails.  Would you happen to know if I should be using mirror lockup?  

While asking, how about:

White balance
Aperture 

Actually when you are talking about really long exposures, does any of this matter?  Speaking of long exposure, how long of exposure can I do with out harming the sensor? I'll be using a Canon 40D.  

Thank you


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9 years 5 months ago - 9 years 5 months ago #411526 by KCook
In theory you should use mirror lockup whenever possible.  However, for exposures as long as needed for star trails, I would not expect to see any benefit.

For JPGs I would use Daylight WB.  Of course with RAW, does not matter.

You may want to play aperture off against the time for the exposure and ISO.  It is possible to over expose a star trail, unless the sky has no scatter at all, which is rare.

As long as the star is not the Sun, no risk to the sensor.

Try these other threads -

www.photographytalk.com/forum/photograph...-photographing-stars

www.photographytalk.com/forum/photograph...ck-up-and-tripod-use

Kelly Cook

Canon 50D, Olympus PL2
kellycook.zenfolio.com/

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9 years 5 months ago #411552 by effron
Kelly's correct, however if you took multiple shorter shots and stacked in post, you'd lower the risk of noise from an overheated sensor. Check the links he provided and google for a couple hundred thousand more tutorials.....;)

Why so serious?
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9 years 5 months ago #411580 by Joves
:agree:
With the above posts. As far as how long should you shoot for is easy to figure out. What is the longest you can shoot in video mode? That is if your camera has it. That tells you how long the sensor can be working. Though as Ernesto said I would use a few shorter exposures. So if your camera will shoot say 15 minutes of video maybe expose for 5 or so minutes, then repeat. Just be mindful of say a minute or so of rest in between for cooling.


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9 years 5 months ago #411601 by Don Granger
Don't forget your shutter release ;)


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9 years 5 months ago #411640 by Conner
Hey thanks gang.  I didn't get out last night, my wife isn't feeling good.  So I'll be getting out tonight if she is feeling better.  I'm almost thinking I use my 5D Mark II vs the 40D.   I was using my older camera in case this sort of photography damaged the sensor. 


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