M8 and Star Trails

[Scheelings]

Hi everyone,

I have a 12mm lens which I thought might be perfect for capturing the sky at night and for the first time since I've had the camera, I may have an opportunity to capture the night sky.

In theory it sounds simple. I just mount on a tripod and point the camera skyward. Then switch dial setting to B and screw trigger such that the shutter release holds open (until I say).

I presume the shutter will remain open as long as the shutter release is kept screwed in.

However what happens if the battery runs out?

 

[Sylvester]

Either the image is recorded at the same moment as it is captured or it is recorded after... Try putting the camera on bulb with a near dead battery and see how it turns out... or just fully charge your battery before going outside...

 

[kokoshawnuff]

The longest exposure on an M8, even on bulb mode, is 240 seconds. This is always followed by a "black frame" exposure of the same amount of time to reduce noise.

While 240 seconds will gather a good amount of light, the star trails won't really be that impressive (more like star streaks). You're better off using a DSLR that can do 20 minute+ bulb exposures, or an manual film camera loaded with slide film or something else with a low reciprocity failure.

 

[VinceC]

Star trails really don't look right unless you have an exposure of over an hour. The impressive ones use an exposure through most of the night, including Polaris in the frame so that the circular motion of the night sky is apparent.

It's also most effective far from urban areas, places in deserts and mountains that have genuine dark skies, so that the city lights don't build up and fog the background, making it look like daylight in a long exposure.

The stars move a lot quicker than it seems. Streaking becomes apparent along the celestial equator within four or five seconds, depending on how wide your lens is.

 

[ChrisN]

Have a look at startrails.de . It's a free program to blend together a set of exposures that might cover an hour (or two) in 20- or 30-second exposures. I use a dslr for this, but I imagine an M8 could be used, if there was a way to continually trigger the exposures. It's best to use a camera that lets you turn off the in-camera noise reduction.

One of the reasons for using blended multiple shorter exposures is that it avoids a lot of sensor noise that can be generated by the sensor heating up. Startrails.de also lets me use a (manually-captured) dark frame for noise reduction.

 

[paradoxbox]

IMO a film body is better suited for this kind of stuff.. unlimited exposure length, just use a mechanical cable release

 

[jtm6]

Have a look at startrails.de . It's a free program to blend together a set of exposures that might cover an hour (or two) in 20- or 30-second exposures. I use a dslr for this, but I imagine an M8 could be used, if there was a way to continually trigger the exposures. It's best to use a camera that lets you turn off the in-camera noise reduction.

One of the reasons for using blended multiple shorter exposures is that it avoids a lot of sensor noise that can be generated by the sensor heating up.

I was going to mention this. If you can disable the in-camera noise reduction, take several 30 second exposures. You can build the final image manually with layers in photoshop or use software like ChrisN mentioned.

IMO a film body is better suited for this kind of stuff.. unlimited exposure length, just use a mechanical cable release

I told an old friend of mine that that I was using film again. He told me he went back, too. He hikes a lot and became interested in star trails. He said when it comes down to it, film was the best because of the exposure length and ease of (lack of special) processing. Open the shutter, wait, close the shutter, process the roll normally. No software, no multiframes, no noise, etc.

 

[Scheelings]

hmm I was thinking that star trails with my M3 and 12mm is a possibility - but the resolution just won't hold (at least the way I scan film).

Maybe I should bring out the medium format....

 

[kokoshawnuff]

Medium format with some E6 would work quite well

 

[Katie]

Sounds like a job for mamiya 7! 🙂

Just kidding...

 

[Richard G]

If you do use film and someone else is processing, shoot something ordinary at each end of the roll or they might think it's a dud.

 

[VinceC]

If you don't shoot one or two "regular" frames at the beginning, the automatic film processing machines (or lab worker operating it) won't know how to cut the strips.

 

[1joel1]

Never let them cut your negs. Always insist on uncut.

Joel

 

[KenR]

Not wanting to start another digital-film war, but it is amazing how a low tech (film) camera can do certain things (like long exposures) quite easily, while new high tech (digital) cameras can't be made to do these things without having to work around the computer brain of the camera. This is true with many other things in life as well, such as turning on the radio in my new car.

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Yep, digital Leica's are not suited for this kind of job since a long exposure will heat up and eventually destroy the sensor...and honestly do you want to blend thousands of shots at short exposure made over night?


http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=star%20trails

 

[ChrisN]

Yep, digital Leica's are not suited for this kind of job since a long exposure will heat up and eventually destroy the sensor...and honestly do you want to blend thousands of shots at short exposure made over night?

Ron, why not?

For me it's a lot quicker than taking a roll of colour film to the processor, waiting a week for the film to return, and paying $20 for the privilege. I could use B&W and process it myself but the results are never as nice - the subject deserves colour. Neither is it technically difficult, and the software is free.