I'm sorry, but when I see that the night is bright and clear I just can't resist doing a start trail shot. This was a 3 hour (made up of 13 second shots) image through a bedroom window facing South West. All the different colours never cease to amaze and mystify me! The bright white one skimming next door's chimney is Jupiter. The orange glow at bottom-right was due to a neighbour's security light coming on in the small hours.
Best on Black.
@delboy207
I have a 12mm f/2.8 lens that I bought on eBay from a seller of such things in China (or was it Taiwan?) anyway, it was £130 which is cheap. It's completely manual so aperture and focus is down to you. I set it at the widest aperture (f/2.8) and simply turn the focus ring to infinity. Stick the camera on a tripod and in Manual mode, turn the aperture dial all the way past 60 secs to LIVE TIME and then Press Menu and set the timer to 2 seconds, then OK. Set the ISO at 1600. Press the shutter and press again when it looks right. (about 10-15 secs). Then set the dial to one more notch to LIVE COMPOSITE, press Menu again and set the timer to the same time as your Live Time (about 10-15 seconds), press the shutter again and Bob's your uncle. Somewhere around 30 minutes gets good results but the longer you leave it the better it becomes. The camera will do 3 hours maximum which is what this photo is (I went to bed and let it get on with it). Best to record in RAW as you can adjust the exposure/white/blacks and remove any noise etc. to bring out the stars better.
@delboy207
I use live time to see how many seconds it takes to get a proper exposure, say 10 seconds, and then use that time in live composite. It would probably work perfectly well if it was set to 2 seconds or something I suppose, but that's just the way I do it!
I have a 12mm f/2.8 lens that I bought on eBay from a seller of such things in China (or was it Taiwan?) anyway, it was £130 which is cheap. It's completely manual so aperture and focus is down to you. I set it at the widest aperture (f/2.8) and simply turn the focus ring to infinity. Stick the camera on a tripod and in Manual mode, turn the aperture dial all the way past 60 secs to LIVE TIME and then Press Menu and set the timer to 2 seconds, then OK. Set the ISO at 1600. Press the shutter and press again when it looks right. (about 10-15 secs). Then set the dial to one more notch to LIVE COMPOSITE, press Menu again and set the timer to the same time as your Live Time (about 10-15 seconds), press the shutter again and Bob's your uncle. Somewhere around 30 minutes gets good results but the longer you leave it the better it becomes. The camera will do 3 hours maximum which is what this photo is (I went to bed and let it get on with it). Best to record in RAW as you can adjust the exposure/white/blacks and remove any noise etc. to bring out the stars better.
I use live time to see how many seconds it takes to get a proper exposure, say 10 seconds, and then use that time in live composite. It would probably work perfectly well if it was set to 2 seconds or something I suppose, but that's just the way I do it!
I look forward to your efforts!