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Long Exposures question. +k for help

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icantskiiFILM
Posts: 2113 - Karma: 140
ok guys so i recently got a remote for my camera so i can do long exposures past the 30 second limit on my camera. ive got just a couple questions here that im sure some of you might be able to answer...o and btw i have a nikon D60 if that means anything.

1. how should i go about and determine the length of the exposure? i mean its a timely thing. i did a 20 minute so i could get the stars to pull a lot but a lot of the foreground was soo so hot. another one it was just still too dark..is there any trick that you guys have when determining the length?

2. on a few of my photos i had seen red blotches around the photo and especially on the right side going all the way down. what is the cause of this? is this my sensor? i had the nikon 50mm on so the glass is not cheap or anything.

but thanks in advance for the help..especially with number 1
Jul 24 2010 10:13PM
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ngates_EC
Posts: 1464 - Karma: 807
I have a d60 too. never done star trails... but I have heard that you can overheat your sensor. Most my guess is that is what you are doing. I would hold off on the super long exposures for now, cause you can total the body.
Jul 24 2010 10:35PM
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Jordan
Posts: 4079 - Karma: 2,122
1) you can just go for a while haha, if you're doing something like star trails I think I've seen ones that are like an hour or something, just make sure there's not a lot of secondary light sources. When you expose that long anything will show up...

2) could of been some light source you didn't really expect to expose, can you post the image?
Jul 24 2010 10:47PM
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ngates_EC
Posts: 1464 - Karma: 807
listen to him not me. haha
Jul 24 2010 10:51PM
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.jr
Posts: 5313 - Karma: 356
post up the pictures of the red splotches or whatever you called them. And as far as juding the time, youll need your meter and a little knowledge on math and how the aperature is related to shutter speed. For every stop you adjust you adjust the shutter speed by double, so going from 5.6 to 8 you would cut the shutter speed in half (to allow more light) for what you cut out with the aperature. So you would go from 1/60th to 1/30th. So using your meter if it says f/ 2.8 for a second, go 5.6 at 4 seconds, or f/32 at ????.

Or just guess a few times. But id suggest learning the ratios somehow.
Jul 25 2010 2:10AM
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FMeissner
Posts: 490 - Karma: 85
Haha I always just do it in my head, I don't think about all the numbers.
Jul 25 2010 3:53PM
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icantskiiFILM
Posts: 2113 - Karma: 140
thats gys a lot. ill post th epics tomorrow..im goin out but thought id let ya know i appreciate the help!
Jul 25 2010 5:56PM
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benk
Posts: 1342 - Karma: 988
if you're set on doing a long, long exposure like 20+minutes the ISO will affect the photo the most.

If there is any sort of city lights, moon, or other light in other then the stars you will want to use the lowest possible ISO.

On the other hand, if you're in the middle of no where and there are only stars, use a ISO of around 640 to 1000.   This of course is using Fstop of around 11 to prevent vignetting. (at least in my fisheye)

Dont use your 50mm either.  The stars just look like a bunch of lights moving across the lens. open the lens up and bring some mountains, tress, whatever into the photo.

I have quite a few long exposures in my profile if you want to check them out.
Jul 26 2010 1:58AM
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icantskiiFILM
Posts: 2113 - Karma: 140


thats it. idk if it will upload cuz idk how to embed with flickr anymore as it doesnt have the [IMG] thing just html. but heres the link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickbogannam/4831302580/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Click for larger image
Jul 26 2010 12:40PM
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icantskiiFILM
Posts: 2113 - Karma: 140
Click for larger image
Jul 26 2010 12:48PM
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