Help with astrophotography P900

homeless_dingo

New member
Hi all I have some amazing photos of the moon and some average photos of stars. I understand this camera is not primarily set up for astrophotography but I am sure that it can take better photos of stars than I currently am. What would be your recommendation for settings?

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homeless_dingo

New member
206975c95623985a90b176325f6b1be6.jpg


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cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
I can't help you, but welcome to the group. Someone will come along with some good advice, soon.
 

wornish

Senior Member
Cant see your exif data so not sure what settings you used. There are no "perfect" settings for star pics.

If you take pics at exposures longer than around 20 - 25 secs then you will see the stars are stretched into star trails due to the earths rotation. The longer the better and you can get some amazing effects if you point at the equatorial pole depending on which hemisphere you live in. Polaris in the North and the Southern Hemisphere zenith if you live there.

If you want to see very dim objects and the Milky Way you need to take a series of shots at around 4 sec exposure and then stack them. As many as 1 to 2 hundred ! especially if you don't live in a "Dark Sky" area.


Have a look at some of the threads on the Low Light & Night Forum on here.
 

homeless_dingo

New member
Cant see your exif data so not sure what settings you used. There are no "perfect" settings for star pics.

If you take pics at exposures longer than around 20 - 25 secs then you will see the stars are stretched into star trails due to the earths rotation. The longer the better and you can get some amazing effects if you point at the equatorial pole depending on which hemisphere you live in. Polaris in the North and the Southern Hemisphere zenith if you live there.

If you want to see very dim objects and the Milky Way you need to take a series of shots at around 4 sec exposure and then stack them. As many as 1 to 2 hundred ! especially if you don't live in a "Dark Sky" area.


Have a look at some of the threads on the Low Light & Night Forum on here.
Thats the thing i dont know how to set exposure on the camera. I just played with the settings and i dont know what they mean but i put the ISO to 100 i put one dial to 15" and the other dial to f2.8, also used manual focus and focused to just before infinity.

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wornish

Senior Member
Thats the thing i dont know how to set exposure on the camera. I just played with the settings and i dont know what they mean but i put the ISO to 100 i put one dial to 15" and the other dial to f2.8, also used manual focus and focused to just before infinity.

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Have a look at the Education Forum on this site.

In particular the Exposure Triangle post, the third one down.

Taking star shots certainly needs you to be in (M) Manual mode and set Shutter speed , Aperture and ISO according to what you want to achieve.
 

homeless_dingo

New member
But how do i set how long the exposure is i cant find exposure on my p900

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I know how to adjust the f not that i know what it means and i can adjust the other dial that has settings like lowest 15" higest 1/2000 i think i have no idea what they mean and i have read my manual back to front

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cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
@homeless_dingo The "f" is how big or small the aperture is opened to allow more or less light into the camera. A higher "f" value means that the "hole" is smaller allowing less light to get into your camera to the sensor. The lower the f value the larger the "hole" allowing more light into your camera sensor. These are f-stop values. The other value you are talking about (15" to 1/2000) is the shutter speed setting. It is how long the shutter is open when you take a picture. 15" is 15 seconds, 1/2000 is 1/2000th of a second. A long exposure would be 15 seconds. f 3.5 would be a large "hole" to allow more light in.

The one thing you didn't mention is ISO. The higher the number, the faster the light can be utilized by the camera (this is simple terms). I would suggest that you do some Google research on the "Exposure Triangle" which involves aperture setting (f-stop), shutter speed, and ISO. It should help to clear things up for you.
 

homeless_dingo

New member
@homeless_dingo The "f" is how big or small the aperture is opened to allow more or less light into the camera. A higher "f" value means that the "hole" is smaller allowing less light to get into your camera to the sensor. The lower the f value the larger the "hole" allowing more light into your camera sensor. These are f-stop values. The other value you are talking about (15" to 1/2000) is the shutter speed setting. It is how long the shutter is open when you take a picture. 15" is 15 seconds, 1/2000 is 1/2000th of a second. A long exposure would be 15 seconds. f 3.5 would be a large "hole" to allow more light in.

The one thing you didn't mention is ISO. The higher the number, the faster the light can be utilized by the camera (this is simple terms). I would suggest that you do some Google research on the "Exposure Triangle" which involves aperture setting (f-stop), shutter speed, and ISO. It should help to clear things up for you.
Thank you so much mate. Very descriptive ill let everyone know how i go next time i get a clear night

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Shooting star photos for you is just going to be a bunch of dots for the most part. Unless you can get to dark sky somewhere and set up properly to shoot the milky way. Other than the moon the milky way is about the only thing worth shooting.

You are going to have to drive a bit north of Melbourne like all the way to Wanganella to get dark enough to shoot the Milky Way. I live in Alabama, US and the nearest true Dark Sky for me was 1600 miles away.



september_03_2015_-_16_mm_-_iso_3200_-_15.0_sec_at_f_-_2.8_-_-_.jpg
 

salukfan111

Senior Member
Shooting star photos for you is just going to be a bunch of dots for the most part. Unless you can get to dark sky somewhere and set up properly to shoot the milky way. Other than the moon the milky way is about the only thing worth shooting.

You are going to have to drive a bit north of Melbourne like all the way to Wanganella to get dark enough to shoot the Milky Way. I live in Alabama, US and the nearest true Dark Sky for me was 1600 miles away.



september_03_2015_-_16_mm_-_iso_3200_-_15.0_sec_at_f_-_2.8_-_-_.jpg
The whole southern part of Alabama is perfect for astrophotography. Go between mobile and montgomery.
Dark Sky Finder
 
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