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Question: Long Exposure with the D80!.!.!.!.!.!?
I want to take sky trail photos but I cant change my exposure on my Nikon D80 to minutes!. Am I missing something!? Or can I do this if I get a shutter release cable/clicker!? Want to do a 10-20 minute exposure!. Or do you think I should do longer!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
You have to put it on the Bulb setting!. Put the camera in Manual Mode & rotate the dial until the word "bulb" appears where the shutter speed is shown!. You'll have to time it yourself and keep the shutter release button depressed or use a shutter release cable!. In the bulb setting as long as the button is depressed on the camera or shutter release cable the shutter curtain will remain open!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I use a Fuji S-2 which is a Nikon D-80 with a few different internal parts!. The camera is very able to take long exposures but does NOT have them listed in minutes!.

Your shutter speed settings stop at 30 seconds and from there you get a Bulb setting!. Here you will now have to use a cable release, a long cord like thingie that has a syringe like end that you push and IT now trips the shutter!. It screws into the lil hole on the chrome shutter button on the camera!. Make sure you get one that can be locked so 10 minute exposures can be made with OUT you holding the button down!. also get a cord of at least 18" long or more!. If too short you can still transmit vibrations thru it which can ruin your exposures!.

You will need to use either a timer from Radio Shack or a watch (with timer!.!.!?) in order to make your exposures!. But don't fret any here!. When dealing in time exposures, it takes 2x the last one to see any marked change in your image!. If your last exposure was 5 minutes, it would take a 10 minute exposure to see a change!. And, then again on to 20 minutes to see another marked change!.!.!. You will get better results by using a medium speed 'film speed' setting of 400 ISO!. The camera's sensitivity to long exposures is far superior to film because of a process called - reciprocity failure - or LACK of it here in this case - http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Reciprocity!.!.!. - and if you have a fair amount of sky fog (city lights at night) you may want to try a lower setting!.!.!. Setting at the full 1600 gains you nada but you may want to test and try it for your self some dark night!.

Don't worry about a - fast lens - here!. In fact too fast of a lens will get you tons of sky fog anyhow unless your in the Rockies somewhere and it is TOTALLY dark!.!. Your standard 3!.5 to 5!.6 lens will be great for these 10 minute, or more, exposures!. Just make sure the lens IS indeed set to it's max or near max open setting before you start your time exposure!. Same if for lightning and fireworks!. However, here, because these items are so bright a F/8 is great!.!.!.

A solid tripod and a cable release are all you need for star trails and / or lightning (or any other night based exposures)!. Some people in light polluted areas will take a number of short exposures very close together and either stack them with a photo editing program or Stacker, a program available from the web - http://www!.tawbaware!.com/imgstack!.htm - to make 1 image!. A number of short exposures helps prevent the chance of a long exposure being ruined by a gust of wind or the tripod being bumped and wiggled!. also, with a series of short exposures, if there IS a bad one, just don't use it in the - stack!.!.!.

The camera also has a double exposure switch!. You could try this too and - stack - the exposures INSIDE the camera, one on top of the other!. Just remember to activate the double exposure for each and every shot you want!.

If the D-80 behaves like the Fuji S-2 you should also notice that after you take time exposures, there is almost equally as much time AFTER the pic waiting for the camera to process the image before you can see it!. This is a process called Dark Frame subtraction where the camera is automatically removing electronic noise from the image!. It works GREAT in the S-2 and I have gone as long as 20 to 30 minutes with no ill effect (but the dark frame subtraction is only about 30 seconds or so)!.!. This is also a process used in many astronomical digital cameras to assure you have a sky full of stars and not a bunch of hot pixels from the CCD chip being "on" so long!.

Another wise thing, use the AC adapter if you can!. The time exposures will eat up batteries something fierce!. Have more batteries ready if you don't have the AC adapter!. I have also used a 6V lantern camping battery on my S-2 as a external power supply (it uses 4 AA batteries @ 1!.5V each)!. I have NOT used a Nikon D-80 so I do NOT know all its requirements here!. Be safe and careful!.!.

With a few basic tools you should be on your way to many a happy night shooting COLOR star trails, lightning, fireworks and other night time street and city scape's!. Go out into the night, be not afraid!.!. haha!.!.!.

Bob - Tucson

PS - Now, for them who want a APS-C size CCD astro cam for well under $5000, look no farther!. This is a FULL COLOR, chilled (cooled to keep noise down) astro cam for LONG night time exposures!. It looks NOTHING like a regular camera but many find ways to attach their camera lenses to it and not just a telescope all the time!.

http://www!.telescope!.com/control/product!.!.!.

If the above link doesn't work, try - http://www!.telescope!.com/control/main/ - and on the home page look for Sky Pro Deep Space Color Imager!.!.!.

Again, BobWww@QuestionHome@Com