Thanks! And thanks for the advice.Originally Posted by Jonathan Huyer
Pat that's a great composition and very nice result. This is definitely an area of photography where gear can make a big difference (full frame sensor, fast pricey prime lens). However it's also good to know that the nifty fifty can make the Milky Way pop out like that, which goes to show that everyone who lives near a dark sky should definitely do this. I'm curious --- did you focus with live view? I've found that a very good way to ensure that the stars come out as sharp as possible. And I also stop down the lens just a wee bit... you give up a bit of the speed but can make up a lot of sharpness. You might also be able to use a longer exposure without having star movement affect the image. There are tables published somewhere about the maximum recommended shutter speed versus focal length, but you can also do some trial & error shooting and see what works the best (for example, twice the shutter speed at ISO 800). Thanks for sharing the shot!
(Edit --- I'm saying 'twice the speed' but I'm really meaning half. A double positive... kind of like saying, 'turn down the refrigerator')
Yes I did focus in live view. I lost sharpness because I was wide open. I did try stopping down a bit, but then I needed to lighten in post (which looked bad) or I had to increase shutter speed to much and I got to much star movement (which made it appear blurry).
The rule of thumb for shutter speed vs. focal length vs. star movement is the shutter speed should be less than or equal to 600/(focal length). For me, I was at 50mm with a 1.6 crop, so my shutter should have been at 7.5 sec - which was not practical with the 7D ISO performance. I ended up at 15 sec which made the stars elongated a little... making them appear even less focussed.
Seeing shots like the one you have here has me convinced that I have a FF camera and 24mm f/1.4L II in my future.
Last night's aurora was rated as "moderate" in Yellowknife terms... just an everyday yawner for the locals. For me it was stellar, and it was also quite a treat not having to try to shoot at -37 C, as was the case last time we were here.
Canon 1DX, 24 mm f/1.4 LII, 8 sec @ f/2.0, ISO 1600 (note the original image was underexposed by one stop, so I adjusted in Lightroom).
Reply With Quote