Milkyway with ML-Bulb

[gordo1507]

A few weeks ago on my vacation in Ameland we had a night so clear that you could see the milkyway which I captured with a long exposure of about a minute with ML-Bulb. It helped me very well because otherwise the pictures would be shakey.

Milkyway von g.schroedter auf Flickr

I hope you like it! - G.Schrödter

[markwears_pants]

looks amazing! how did you find focusing on the night sky? because I can't see much I can never get a decent focus

[chris_overseas]

looks amazing! how did you find focusing on the night sky? because I can't see much I can never get a decent focus

The best way I've found is to pick a bright star and use 10x liveview to help you focus on it manually. It's well worth spending time trying to get the focus as precise as possible as it makes a big difference to how sharp the stars look in the final image.

If you're having trouble seeing it clearly on the camera, consider using a mobile app like DSLR Controller. With that you can view 10x liveview on your phone or tablet (bigger screen), and you can also step the focus motor in tiny increments without having to physically touch/bump the lens. Even with this approach it can be a little tricky to get right but with a bit of practice you should get the hang of it pretty quickly.

Finally, to get the sharpest stars you want to keep your shutter speed as fast as possible to prevent star trails due to the rotation of the Earth. The rule of thumb is 600 / (focal length) seconds on full frame or 600 / (focal length) / 1.6 seconds on a Canon crop camera.

[gordo1507]

I did a lot photos to find the focus, because in liveview I couldn't see anything. But it was very hard also to find the right shutter speed to have enough light and not so rotating stars..

[a1ex]

Next time try display gain and FPS override, it really helps seeing in complete darkness.

[ozcancelik]

I don't need to focus for stars. For astrophotography just make focus infinity.

[Doyle4]

I don't need to focus for stars. For astrophotography just make focus infinity.

Some lenses on infinity go past the sweet spot..

[Doyle4]

Next time try display gain and FPS override, it really helps seeing in complete darkness.

does fps over ride the liveview screen also?

[ozcancelik]

Some lenses on infinity go past the sweet spot..

Yes, some fast lenses has this issue. For example my samyang 35mm f1.4 @1.4-1.8 and canon 50mm [email protected]. But i use wide angle lenses for long exposure. And most of them 2.8.

[gordo1507]

Next time try display gain and FPS override, it really helps seeing in complete darkness.

Next time I will try that. Sounds legit!

[gordo1507]

Yes, some fast lenses has this issue. For example my samyang 35mm f1.4 @1.4-1.8 and canon 50mm [email protected]. But i use wide angle lenses for long exposure. And most of them 2.8.

My lense (Tokina 11-16mm) had that same issue. So infinity was a bit too long.