Star Trail Photography

[ChrisW]

Has anybody tried their hand at Star Trail photography?

I came across this article on the BBC website - http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/conte..._feature.shtml

Here is a link to a bigger version of Mark’s star trail photo - http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/72962...327_nzish-A-LB

I tried this using an E-1 and found that I could only take 12 photos before the having to re-set the wired remote control.

Can this type of photography be done with an E-1, or should I expect to keep re-setting the remote control at the end of each set of 12 photos?

Alternatively, could this be done with an E-520, a wired remote control, or would I still be limited to 12 photos?

[crimbo]

Havent done any since the days of film...
In those days you just opened the shutter and walked away no limited exposures on B.
With a wide lens I would probably start with 30s exposure every 30s
I have been trying to source an intervalometer for Olympus cameras - there is a good one for the sigmasony and canikon - so you can just program your shots and walk away

Dont know why you had a 12 shot limit

I know a pro photographer in Liverpool called Peter Carr who was commissioned to do one of these recently. He found you could use two methods, either a series of 30s exposures (and then combine them together) or one very long exposure. He used the 30s exposure method.

He had to have several goes at it and found cloud movement to be a problem. He eventually got the pic done (and just in time too!).

Here's a link to the picture on his Flickr page (which also mentions some software he used to compile the images):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petecarr/3280262712/

[ChrisW]

Just finished a wee experiment

With the E-520 set in Manual Mode, fully charged battery, F8.0, 30 second exposure, Noise Reduction off and wired remote control locked on the camera took 320 photos (for approximately 170 minutes) before running out of battery.

This should be plenty of time to get a decent series of photos to make up a star trail. All I need now is a cloud free night.

[crimbo]

Rod Souter pointed me in the direction of this intervalometer

Other thing to consider is that most astro images will stand ISO 1600 as a raw capture and then developed in Capture One 4

Once the intervalometer arrives I am waiting for an auroral event....oh for clear skies ...havent even seen Comet Lulin yet!

[ChrisW]

Hope you get some clear skies - looking forward to seeing your results.

[snapper1609]

I belong to a local flickr group and one of its member has some really good star trail images. Have a look at this.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/horrgakx/3152766691/

I'm sorry it's not done with an Olympus!

[Ellie]

Don't know much about photographing star trails, but has anybody managed to get a picture of the comet?

[theMusicMan]

Ooooh, a comet!! Where in the sky is it Ellie, and what one is it? I used my spotting scope to see Venus last week... it was obviously Venus as it was crescent shaped.

Would love to spot the comet.

[crimbo]

Easier to see than to image I found
Comet Lulin, E400, ISO 1600 5 seconds ... lens 7" f2.5 Aero Ektar

To find a map go to the Heavens Above site

and an image at 3.2 seconds

[raichea]

Originally Posted by crimbo

Rod Souter pointed me in the direction of this intervalometer.

Because this is such an old thread, the link to eBay is no use. Can anyone identify a known working intervalometer for E-series (ideally in the eBay price range)? I've tried one and it doesn't work too well... although it's supposed to support half and full press, the shutter fires on half press. Investigation leads me to believe that the thing is wired correctly, but doesn't seem to work as expected.

BTW - I couldn't keep the link active in the quote as I have insufficient posts...

Thanks, Steve.

[FlemmingS]

I bought one of these:
http://www.hahnel.ie/index.cfm/actio...tSearch/pid/60

It works fine with my E-30 and E-P3 (but I haven't done any interval shooting in Bulb or long exposure mode with it yet).

I am also waiting for a cold clear night soon, I can't wait to test my E-P3 with my old telescope

[raichea]

Thanks for the link... interesting that it's wireless too! I'm tempted even though the price is higher than I'd hoped.

Anyone have a good experience with the cheapo devices?

Steve

[ChrisW]

I got one of these a couple of years ago http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Opteka-Tim...ht_3158wt_1185

Two years on and it still seems to be working okay

[raichea]

Interesting... that's very similar to the device I bought (though with the multi-connector for E-4xx/5xx/6xx bodies). Although it seems to be wired correctly, a half-press causes the shutter to fire.

Steve.