Nikon D3100 Star Trail Problem

urdygurdy

urdygurdy

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Darren
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I have been trying my hand at star trails and kinda getting addicted.
Here is my first attempt with my Nikon D7100



I am using shutter release cable, locked open so the camera keeps taking photos of 30 second exposure continuously until i stop it, in the case above for 60 photos over 30 mins. then all images stacked in star trails software

My mate has a Nikon D3100 and hes using same setting as me but the camera is taking almost as long to save each image to card as the actual exposure itself after each image

he's using a Scan disk class 10 16gb card shooting jpegs, noise reduction has been disabled

can anyone shed any light on why his camera is taking so long to save or write the long expsoure to the card

Thanks in advance

Daz
 
He has long exposure noise reduction turned on. It takes a dark frame the same length as the exposure to combat noise. Go into the menu and turn it off, problem solved! Usually found in the shooting menu next to high ISO noise reduction.
 
thanks for your reply but it has been turned off, i did mention that above
 
Are you referring to the continuous shots until you stop it?

If so, I never found a way of doing it on D3100 without a timer remote (and I did look) but these can be picked up for £15.
 
TCR4x4 said:
He has long exposure noise reduction turned on. It takes a dark frame the same length as the exposure to combat noise. Go into the menu and turn it off, problem solved! Usually found in the shooting menu next to high ISO noise reduction.
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This was my first thought too. I'd double check this setting.
 
urdygurdy said:
thanks for your reply but it has been turned off, i did mention that above
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Are you sure you tuned off long exposure NR and not just high ISO NR? There is no other reason why the camera would take the same length of the exposure again before being ready for the next shot.
Unless you are doing interval shooting and have set something up wrong.
 
I'd suggest that your friend double checks their settings as it sure as hell sounds like they haven't turned NR off, or even better get your friend to join TP so that we can help them directly rather than vicariously through you ;)

TCR4x4 said:
Are you sure you tuned off long exposure NR and not just high ISO NR? There is no other reason why the camera would take the same length of the exposure again before being ready for the next shot.
Unless you are doing interval shooting and have set something up wrong.
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Doing some research suggest that the Nikon D3100 only has on or off for Noise Reduction and this is the only setting there is not actually standard NR and then LENR :bang:
 
ok thanks for your help folks.......i going around this afternoon, will check his camera myself :-) & report back

cheers

Daz
 
MWHCVT said:
I'd suggest that your friend double checks their settings as it sure as hell sounds like they haven't turned NR off, or even better get your friend to join TP so that we can help them directly rather than vicariously through you ;)

Doing some research suggest that the Nikon D3100 only has on or off for Noise Reduction and this is the only setting there is not actually standard NR and then LENR :bang:
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Looks like you are right.. Found this..


Noise reduction....

Controls both the dark-frame subtraction noise reduction (when using exposures slower than eight seconds), and the high ISOÂ noise reduction. High ISO noise reduction cannot be disabled completely; it will still kick in at higher ISO sensitivities (cut-off point unspecified) when disabled. Dark frame subtraction processing can be cancelled by switching off the camera after the exposure has completed.
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So the d3100 does have long exposure noise reduction, but its built into the high ISO system, which can't be turned off.

So as above, after the 30 sec exposure,the camera is doing a long exposure NR dark frame as I said it was originally. Just switch the camera off to cancel it.
 
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right i have been round, it seem your correct it was a noise reduction issue, i found it in the menus for him and disabled it. (he told me he had done that )

The camera is now taking a 30 second exposure and displaying the image almost instantly after the picture was taken, as i thought it should do, problems solved, cheers folks

Daz
 
urdygurdy said:
right i have been round, it seem your correct it was a noise reduction issue, i found it in the menus for him and disabled it. (he told me he had done that )

The camera is now taking a 30 second exposure and displaying the image almost instantly after the picture was taken, as i thought it should do, problems solved, cheers folks

Daz
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Happy to have been of service :)
 
Karl12347 said:
Having the d3100 myself I knew he had not turned it off. I had the same issue with long exposures in bulb mode.
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Same here. I get comments everyday on my youtube just like this.. "I have turned off such and such, but I still won't work"

I tell them to check it.. Next day..

" oh yeah, it wasnt turned off"

I knew I was right, its just convincing the people who ask the questions that I'm right!!
 
I'm jumping in on this thread a little bit late, but sounds like there are some knowledgeable forum-goers who might have some ideas.

I also have a D3100 and love trying star trails. They have been improving. I use the 30s exposure method on continuous mode with remote trigger, and stack with star trails. My image post processing skills are nil at this point, something I need to work on.

I am running into a problem where, I think, the internal buffer memory is filling up with images during continuous shooting, and the camera stops at 100 exposures. Funny thing though, I tried decreasing the resolution of the images and I still did not get any more than 100 images before the camera stopped shooting. Presumably the buffer, but I am not sure.

Given theory would suggest that a single 30s exposure won't capture much trail itself, I'd be happy to somehow write-to-memory after each shot, even if it meant a 5-10s, or even more, delay between shots. Don't know if this is possible though.

Does anyone know what I can do to get more shots without the camera stopping at 100? Hoping for longer trails!!
10020817164
 
fish_kc79 said:
I'm jumping in on this thread a little bit late, but sounds like there are some knowledgeable forum-goers who might have some ideas.

I also have a D3100 and love trying star trails. They have been improving. I use the 30s exposure method on continuous mode with remote trigger, and stack with star trails. My image post processing skills are nil at this point, something I need to work on.

I am running into a problem where, I think, the internal buffer memory is filling up with images during continuous shooting, and the camera stops at 100 exposures. Funny thing though, I tried decreasing the resolution of the images and I still did not get any more than 100 images before the camera stopped shooting. Presumably the buffer, but I am not sure.

Given theory would suggest that a single 30s exposure won't capture much trail itself, I'd be happy to somehow write-to-memory after each shot, even if it meant a 5-10s, or even more, delay between shots. Don't know if this is possible though.

Does anyone know what I can do to get more shots without the camera stopping at 100? Hoping for longer trails!!
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You do not want a gab between exposures as even 5 seconds will cause the trails to be a little dotted and 10+ second breaks would actually leave visible breaks in the trails...I suspect you are using the camera in built timer and if memory serves me correctly this is limited to 100 exposures by software it is not a buffer issue, there is never more than 1 file righting to the card while a second is shooting so no way is it a buffer issue even the slowest of card should more than cope

Now where the D3100 is really let down is you cannot get a proper cable release for them :(

You can go down the Bodgit route and dial in your 30 seconds exposure them tape down the shutter button, you will of course ruin your first and last exposure but that's not really a big issue
 
Hi Matthew - thanks for the response.

For setup, I am putting the camera in manual mode, 30s exposures. Release mode is set to Continuous. I attach a remote trigger and lock the trigger... then I leave and have a beer. ;) After 50min (100 exposures), the camera displays all the images one by one before its stops doing anything.

So, what I think I understand you saying is that it has nothing to do with the buffer memory filling up, but it is a software issue inherent to the D3100 that limits the number of shots that can be taken in Continuous Release mode, is that right? (in which case I won't be able to get longer trails out of it unless I start using Bulb).

I read the issue about the buffer filling up here: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D3100/D3100A5.HTM Thats where I got that thought from.

Here's my best one to date: http://www.flickr.com/photos/61677265@N00/10020817164/
 
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fish_kc79 said:
Hi Matthew - thanks for the response.

For setup, I am putting the camera in manual mode, 30s exposures. Release mode is set to Continuous. I attach a remote trigger and lock the trigger... then I leave and have a beer. ;) After 50min (100 exposures), the camera displays all the images one by one before its stops doing anything.

So, what I think I understand you saying is that it has nothing to do with the buffer memory filling up, but it is a software issue inherent to the D3100 that limits the number of shots that can be taken in Continuous Release mode, is that right? (in which case I won't be able to get longer trails out of it unless I start using Bulb).

I read the issue about the buffer filling up here: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D3100/D3100A5.HTM Thats where I got that thought from.

Here's my best one to date: http://www.flickr.com/photos/61677265@N00/10020817164/
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First of all that's a nice effort :thumbs:

Second it seems after a little research I need to correct myself as you can get a wired shutter release for the 3100 it appears I was thinking of the older D3000 :bang: there should be nothing stopping you with a remote release from doing as many shots as you see fit the, hundred shots referred to in that link is at nearly 3 fps you are taking 2 frames per minute so I wouldn't worry about that :)
 
good advice her but what would you turn long exposure noise reduction back on for
 
iwols said:
good advice her but what would you turn long exposure noise reduction back on for
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No I'd never ever have LNER on for anything, there is nothing that the camera can do that you cannot easily do in editing and for star trails it will ruin them as you'll have a series of dots not trails :(
 
MWHCVT said:
No I'd never ever have LNER on for anything, there is nothing that the camera can do that you cannot easily do in editing and for star trails it will ruin them as you'll have a series of dots not trails :(
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Thanks for that
 
Well, I spoke with Nikon and without getting a straight answer, it really does sound like 100 shots is the max you can take in Continuous Burst mode with the D3100. Apparently, the camera does not write to the card from buffer until the continuous burst stops. So the max number of files in the buffer is 100. Doesn't seem to have anything to do with memory.

I tested my camera and just in auto mode, set it to continuous burst. Stops at 100 everytime, no matter how I set the resolution or no matter how long my exposures are.

In the end, if I want to do star trails with longer trials, I need to use a different method. Any suggestions? The D3100 does not have a wireless trigger, and I have a cheap tripod. If I were to try a bulb exposure for 2hrs, I'd be sure to ruin the shot based on camera movement during the start or end when I engage/disengage the remote trigger.
 
fish_kc79 said:
Well, I spoke with Nikon and without getting a straight answer, it really does sound like 100 shots is the max you can take in Continuous Burst mode with the D3100. Apparently, the camera does not write to the card from buffer until the continuous burst stops. So the max number of files in the buffer is 100. Doesn't seem to have anything to do with memory.

I tested my camera and just in auto mode, set it to continuous burst. Stops at 100 everytime, no matter how I set the resolution or no matter how long my exposures are.

In the end, if I want to do star trails with longer trials, I need to use a different method. Any suggestions? The D3100 does not have a wireless trigger, and I have a cheap tripod. If I were to try a bulb exposure for 2hrs, I'd be sure to ruin the shot based on camera movement during the start or end when I engage/disengage the remote trigger.
Click to expand...

A single exposure with digital is really not the way to go anyway as you increase noise as the sensor gets warmer, can get other issues from that...not to mention anything could balls it up costing the entire time...far better to take lots of exposures and merge for all sorts of reasons...as to going beyond 100 frames...I say sacrifice the first and last frames and tape the shutter button, you'll need a small ball of tape or something like that over the button to keep it depressed :thumbs:
 
Basically that is what I am doing, with the remote trigger. So I think I really can't do any more than the 100shots, take a delay (gap), then fire it up again. Sucks. If I had known in advance I would have splashed out for a model without that limitation, just doesn't seem to be something that is mentioned in the normal set of features.
 
fish_kc79 said:
Basically that is what I am doing, with the remote trigger. So I think I really can't do any more than the 100shots, take a delay (gap), then fire it up again. Sucks. If I had known in advance I would have splashed out for a model without that limitation, just doesn't seem to be something that is mentioned in the normal set of features.
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Quite a concerning limitation :( I'm frankly a little bit surprised as I cannot see why you'd build such a limitation into a camera :( there must be or at least I'd hope there is a work around :shrug: I it seems a little odd to say the least that Nikon would not write a file to the card to clear the buffer as some as it was created :thinking:
 
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