Slowest Shutter Speed Q...

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mikeyp69

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I was playing around with long exposure shooting on the weekend and was very disappointed to find that my camera will only allow the shutter to remain open for a max of 30 seconds (Nikon D40).

I want to play around with long shutter open times e.g. tracking the stars, mess about with a torch, experiment with what works & what doesn't blah blah. I don't care if the shots are **** - I just want to learn.

So what DSLRs have significantly longer / unlimited shutter open times?

Thx.
Mike.
 
mikeyp69 said:
I was playing around with long exposure shooting on the weekend and was very disappointed to find that my camera will only allow the shutter to remain open for a max of 30 seconds (Nikon D40).

I want to play around with long shutter open times e.g. tracking the stars, mess about with a torch, experiment with what works & what doesn't blah blah. I don't care if the shots are **** - I just want to learn.

So what DSLRs have significantly longer / unlimited shutter open times?

Thx.
Mike.
Click to expand...

Can't you use B (bulb) and a watch or stopwatch?

A couple of seconds here or there won't make much difference......
 
Sorry guys, what is bulb mode? I only know about M, A & S modes !
 
Choose whichever mode you are comfortable/confident with and beyond a 30" exposure, the next exposure is bulb. When set to bulb, the shutter remains open for as long as you press the shutter or lock off the shutter release cable if you have one. This is a very simplistic explanation, I am sure someone will be along soon to explain it better than me.:D
 
Thx guys. I found the manual now and read up on bulb mode having posted in haste earlier whilst on the way out the door with baby...

From the manual: "Shutter opens when the shutter-release button on the remote control is pressed and remains open for 30 mins or until the button in pressed a second time".

So it seems that I have a max of 30 mins shutter open time with the D40 which is a start, but still not what I had in mind. As an example, half an hour isn't going to get much of an arc of stars @ 7.5 degrees...

What Nikon would I need if I wanted unlimited shutter open time? Suggestions appreciated!

Thx
Mike.
 
a film one. digi sensors get too hot with that sort of exposure. Alternatively, you can stack multiple shorter exposures using an intervalometer. Google "stack exposures, star trails" or something along those lines for info.
 
mikeyp69 said:
Thx guys. I found the manual now and read up on bulb mode having posted in haste earlier whilst on the way out the door with baby...

From the manual: "Shutter opens when the shutter-release button on the remote control is pressed and remains open for 30 mins or until the button in pressed a second time".

So it seems that I have a max of 30 mins shutter open time with the D40 which is a start, but still not what I had in mind. As an example, half an hour isn't going to get much of an arc of stars @ 7.5 degrees...

What Nikon would I need if I wanted unlimited shutter open time? Suggestions appreciated!

Thx
Mike.
Click to expand...


Most star trail photographers take a hundred or more 30sec exposers and stack them in software... if you do an exposure too long you may get light bleed from the stars..

The longest exposure I have done was 16 mins and sky was too bright...

I am about a mile from street lighting here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sounds-and-images/3956658144/
 
all good points.

will have a play in the dark with 30 min exposures at the weekend !

(if this wasnt a photo forum, that would sound kinky...)
 
mikeyp69 said:
all good points.

will have a play in the dark with 30 min exposures at the weekend !

(if this wasnt a photo forum, that would sound kinky...)
Click to expand...

Still sounds kinky :D
 
If you don't have a remote control or cable release I'd try to find one. Otherwise you'll be sat there with your finger on the button for 30 minutes.
 
The Matt said:
If you don't have a remote control or cable release I'd try to find one. Otherwise you'll be sat there with your finger on the button for 30 minutes.
Click to expand...

Quality giggle there for this time of day, just about spat my T :lol:

Get yourself one of these...
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nikon-ml-l3-remote-controller/p1001599

When set on BULB, press button to open shutter then press it again x minutes later to finish. For the cost it has to be one of the most useful things you could purchase.
 
To record star trails you need to have a fairly wide aperture to capture the light of the stars, especially if you want to capture some of the fainter ones. The problem then is that unless you live in an area of extremely darks skies, like the middle of the Sahara, any exposure longer than 10 minutes will result in an overexposed sky due to light pollution. Depending on where you are, this can often happen in much less than 10 minutes.

By all means, experiment with a 30 minute exposure, but I think it's a long time to wait for a blank picture. As others have already said, the best way to capture star trails is lots of shorter exposures blended together in post.
 
Scarecrow said:
By all means, experiment with a 30 minute exposure, but I think it's a long time to wait for a blank picture. As others have already said, the best way to capture star trails is lots of shorter exposures blended together in post.
Click to expand...

multiples of 30 mins will fly by when accompanied by a few tinnies and bottles of wine...
 
The Matt said:
If you don't have a remote control or cable release I'd try to find one. Otherwise you'll be sat there with your finger on the button for 30 minutes.
Click to expand...

That's what I did :shake: (admittedly, it was only about 10 minutes)
 
Problem with doing that is that the finger is attached to the hand, which is attached to the arm, which is attached to the body, which is alive, and therefore, despite best efforts, moving - you'll have great difficulty ending up with a crisp sharp image...
 
Hmm call me stupid, but you could put it on self timer and then tape the shutter down.. So it wont capture the shake of you applying tape :thinking: actually a terrible idea, sticky camera mess..
 
SamuelHearn said:
Hmm call me stupid, but you could put it on self timer and then tape the shutter down.. So it wont capture the shake of you applying tape :thinking: actually a terrible idea, sticky camera mess..
Click to expand...

When you're stacking (using several shorter exposures) this works fine. Set the camera for 30sec exposures and in continuous shooting mode then tape a small stone about the size of a pea onto the shutter button. The first (and often the last) exposures are a write-off due to shake from applying or removing the tape but everything in between is useable.
 
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