Shooting Stars with nex-5n

[jcaddy]

I was attempting to take some pictures of the night sky and the stars.

I found a guide found here http://www.petapixel.com/2011/06/01/how-to-photograph-the-night-sky/ and followed the 600 / length of lens rule. I shot the two below with a 28mm Vivitar. But I am still getting the trails. I am using a tripod and use 10sec shutter release. Additionally when I tried to use ISO 2000-4000 like the video recommends the resulting photos are white. I had to turn the ISO down to 100-400. Looking for some help and suggestions. I had no luck at all with the kit lens.









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Flickr Photo stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacobcaddy/

 

[twald]

If you are getting a white sky then you are experiencing light pollution. This may be caused by moonlight or city lights. From what I've heard, you need to be about 40 miles from a major city to avoid light pollution. I live in a rural area, so the only source of light pollution is the moon. Also, the air should be clear of clouds and fog.

All of these are reasons why observatories are built on isolated and remote mountains.

for the 600/focal length rule of thumb, you need to factor in the sensor size because the length of the star trails will be dependent on your image magnification factor, which is dependent on the sensor size. So for the NEX, max exposure time is 600/focal length/1.5 or 400/focal length.

If you are interested in taking images of stars only (no landscape), check out the free DeepSkyStacker program. What it does is it lets you take multiple exposures and then automatically aligns and stacks them and theoretically gives you the combined amount of exposure.

Following is one of my shots of the Andromeda galaxy. I used a Canon FD 50mm 1.4 The white veil is from the moon. I haven't had a chance to try this with clear, dark skies.

 

[jcaddy]

Thank you for the great information esp the focal length. I was trying to shoot in my backyard with an almost full moon.
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Flickr Photo stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacobcaddy/

 

[aLf4]

here u have a couple of shots made with a nex3

 

[jcaddy]

Did you shoot those with the kit lens? If so how was the manual focusing?

here u have a couple of shots made with a nex3

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Flickr Photo stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacobcaddy/

 

[cosmicpop]

That's a great shot of the Andromeda Galaxy. I don't suppose you know of any decent stacking software for Mac?

 

[El Matadurr]

If you are getting a white sky then you are experiencing light pollution. This may be caused by moonlight or city lights. From what I've heard, you need to be about 40 miles from a major city to avoid light pollution. I live in a rural area, so the only source of light pollution is the moon. Also, the air should be clear of clouds and fog.

Not true, this was taken in the smack dab middle of a big city in Kentucky, on a full-moonlit night. Zoom in if you can to see what I mean:

 

[exm3racer]

For shots with no earth in it, try doing some post-processing.. it may also work for single frame shots. Take multiple exposures and use DeepSkyStacker as the other poster mentioned. I'm just learning it myself, but setting your black level and adding an artificial flat will help in getting the light pollution out, even with single frames. There are some good tutorials on those, just google them. Here are some examples from my house which is in a suburb.

For my shots I shoot raw in S mode, using longest shutter that gives no trails for each focal length; start long and back down from there. Check each shot for trails and focus, don't trust AF or even peeking. Sweep ISO from 100 on up to get the stars to come out. It's digital so take a boat load of frames, trying all the settings. I use long shutter noise reduction, not sure how much it helps. Other folks shoot "dark" frames, I'm not that advanced yet.

It's amazing what you can get to come out. I sometimes use my camera to locate objects such as m31 that I couldn't find with my eyes or binoculars.

My short term goals are to capture M31 like the poster above (awesome shot by the way) and also the Milky Way this summer.

50mm 1.4 FD at f2-f2.8, probably 10 exposures combined, ISO ranging from 100-1600



kit zoom at 18mm f3.5, 6 exposures



EF 70-300 at 70mm at f4 don't remember how many frames

 

[twald]

If you are getting a white sky then you are experiencing light pollution. This may be caused by moonlight or city lights. From what I've heard, you need to be about 40 miles from a major city to avoid light pollution. I live in a rural area, so the only source of light pollution is the moon. Also, the air should be clear of clouds and fog.

Not true, this was taken in the smack dab middle of a big city in Kentucky, on a full-moonlit night. Zoom in if you can to see what I mean:

You are right in that you can take pictures of stars in lit-up skies and, in fact, the OP's pictures could resemble yours in terms of star clarity if he/she increased the contrast of the sky section. The problem with lit-up skies is that it is impossible to image stars that are fainter than the atmospheric lighting. I assumed that the OP was not satisfied with the level of star detail. I suppose your need for dark skies will depend on what you are trying to image.

 

[El Matadurr]

If you are getting a white sky then you are experiencing light pollution. This may be caused by moonlight or city lights. From what I've heard, you need to be about 40 miles from a major city to avoid light pollution. I live in a rural area, so the only source of light pollution is the moon. Also, the air should be clear of clouds and fog.

Not true, this was taken in the smack dab middle of a big city in Kentucky, on a full-moonlit night. Zoom in if you can to see what I mean:

You are right in that you can take pictures of stars in lit-up skies and, in fact, the OP's pictures could resemble yours in terms of star clarity if he/she increased the contrast of the sky section. The problem with lit-up skies is that it is impossible to image stars that are fainter than the atmospheric lighting. I assumed that the OP was not satisfied with the level of star detail. I suppose your need for dark skies will depend on what you are trying to image.

Precisely.

 

[exm3racer]

twald,

Would you mind sharing the specs on your Andromeda shot? It must have been a pretty dark place to get that. How many frames, ISO, what aperture?

Thanks