This was slightly tricky to time as the 10 second self-timer wasn't quite long enough for me to get in position, and my eBay intervalometer hasn't arrived yet. I ended up locking the remote shutter open with the camera doing continuous 30 second exposures.
The light beam is from a small (single AA) LED torch with a focusable beam, which just shows how sensitive the camera is!
There are also at least three shooting stars captured in this shot!
I'm a British software developer and photographer living in Vancouver, BC. I mainly photograph landscapes, cityscapes, night scenes, and water.
If you're interested in any...
Incredibly impressive work with these shots. My son who is mad on astronomy and wants to study astrophysics, is enjoying looking at your pics, immensely...FAV!
Ok I was trying to figure out how you got this shot with your canon then I see you upgraded to a mark III. Looks like a wide and fast lens too. The picture is stunning and the light beam is really a creative idea to toss in.
@brianl If at first you don't succeed, buy a better camera! ;)
The quality of the shots from the 5D3 is just stunning. My Perseid Meteor shot from August was right at the limit of my old camera, and the noise was horrific. It required so much work to clean it up, and even then it was only really usable at web sizes. (For those who haven't seen it, it's here: http://365project.org/abirkill/365/2012-08-13 )
Before getting the 5D3 I read a lot of reviews including one from one of my favourite star photographers, Ben Canales ( http://www.uncagethesoul.com/night-photography/best-canon-night-camera/ ) -- he reckons 6400 ISO is the limit and 8000 ISO is unusable. Clearly he has high expectations, as even the 8000 ISO shots I've taken have so much detail -- yes, they're noisy, but the noise is nowhere near as obtrusive, and is much easier to reduce in post-processing.
I really think that with a bit more processing work these shots would print quite nicely at reasonable sizes.
I'm using the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 lens which is a fantastic all-purpose super-wide lens. The ideal lens for star photography is Canon's 14mm f/2.8 prime, but it's crazy money (even more than the 16-35) and just wouldn't have been flexible enough for everyday use. I'm very tempted to pick up the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 though one day, as it's supposed to be sharper than the 16-35mm wide open, and costs a remarkable $350.
@abirkill good idea following in Ben's footsteps. He's from Portland and has made some incredible time lapse videos. I bought his tutorials and tried star shots but they just didn't work out with the gear I have. Canon rules in this type of photography for sure.
@abirkill I haven't given up hope yet. Thanks for sharing the links....gives me more hope. I live in the suburbs where light pollution is bad. I've been told I need to drive about 60 miles east for the best shots. Eventually I'll get to it.
Here's the Ben C tutorials http://bencanales.wordpress.com/. It costs $20 for the password to the videos. He's super busy so if you PayPal the money you might not get a response right away. A lot of this stuff you might already know......I.e. processing images.
Beautiful, once again. I also appreciate the amount of effort you put into your shots, and your explanations of how you accomplished them - makes it a learning moment for me too. Fav!
The quality of the shots from the 5D3 is just stunning. My Perseid Meteor shot from August was right at the limit of my old camera, and the noise was horrific. It required so much work to clean it up, and even then it was only really usable at web sizes. (For those who haven't seen it, it's here: http://365project.org/abirkill/365/2012-08-13 )
Before getting the 5D3 I read a lot of reviews including one from one of my favourite star photographers, Ben Canales ( http://www.uncagethesoul.com/night-photography/best-canon-night-camera/ ) -- he reckons 6400 ISO is the limit and 8000 ISO is unusable. Clearly he has high expectations, as even the 8000 ISO shots I've taken have so much detail -- yes, they're noisy, but the noise is nowhere near as obtrusive, and is much easier to reduce in post-processing.
I really think that with a bit more processing work these shots would print quite nicely at reasonable sizes.
I'm using the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 lens which is a fantastic all-purpose super-wide lens. The ideal lens for star photography is Canon's 14mm f/2.8 prime, but it's crazy money (even more than the 16-35) and just wouldn't have been flexible enough for everyday use. I'm very tempted to pick up the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 though one day, as it's supposed to be sharper than the 16-35mm wide open, and costs a remarkable $350.
I wouldn't discount your Sony just yet though, looking on Flickr there are some quite impressive shots taken with the A65V and older A55V, for example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benlucaslee/7272329396/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davesoldano/7391860948/
I think I need to buy Ben's tutorials and see what he does, because the end results he comes up with are always stunning!
On the subject of timelapse videos, here's one of my recent faves you might be interested in: http://vimeo.com/40802206
Here's the Ben C tutorials http://bencanales.wordpress.com/. It costs $20 for the password to the videos. He's super busy so if you PayPal the money you might not get a response right away. A lot of this stuff you might already know......I.e. processing images.