Hi,
I was practising getting the right Shutter speed/ISO/Aperture settings last night for stacking star trails in my garden. I decided on ISO 400, 120 seconds, F4.5 which seemed OK.
I took 18 photos and after stacking them, I noticed there was a glitch in the trail, I found it was the 5th photo, and was about the first 1/4 of the trail on that photo where the star had move down for about 30 seconds then reverted back to the same line it was previously.
The tripod I use is a Manfrotto MT293A4, with a 494RC2 Head, the tripod wasn't fully extended, it was on solid wooden decking, there wasn't any wind.
Does anyone know what might cause this, I had a problem at Christmas time doing a Star trail of Mount Teide in Tenerife where the trail wasn't smooth.I assumed that was because the ground was sand/dirt(although there wasn't any wind then so there was no reason for it to move).
Star trails take a lot of time, and the only way to find out if its OK is after stacking , so I'm hoping to avoid this happening again.
Here is the photo that was wrong.
View attachment 39157
This was as part of the trail(not sure how easy it is to see in this photo)
View attachment 39156
If the trail moved slightly and continued on a different line, then I would think the Camera/tripod moved. But as it reverted back after about 30 seconds to the original line I don't see Camera/ tripod movement could cause this(unless it moved twice)
I have noticed the MC2 quick release on the tripod, when screwed to the camera doesn't have a great contact area on the camera. I intend to replace the head with a Manfrotto 498MC4 which has a larger quick release plate. Although I don't see any slight wobble would cause this in a star trail.
Is it possible anything in the camera mechanism, or Lense might cause this, is there anything that could move a small amount and slightly move the image? ( Vibration control on the lense was turned off)
Any help in what might cause this would be appreciated ,I'm hoping for some clear skies tonight so I can try some more Star trails.
Thanks,
Andy
I was practising getting the right Shutter speed/ISO/Aperture settings last night for stacking star trails in my garden. I decided on ISO 400, 120 seconds, F4.5 which seemed OK.
I took 18 photos and after stacking them, I noticed there was a glitch in the trail, I found it was the 5th photo, and was about the first 1/4 of the trail on that photo where the star had move down for about 30 seconds then reverted back to the same line it was previously.
The tripod I use is a Manfrotto MT293A4, with a 494RC2 Head, the tripod wasn't fully extended, it was on solid wooden decking, there wasn't any wind.
Does anyone know what might cause this, I had a problem at Christmas time doing a Star trail of Mount Teide in Tenerife where the trail wasn't smooth.I assumed that was because the ground was sand/dirt(although there wasn't any wind then so there was no reason for it to move).
Star trails take a lot of time, and the only way to find out if its OK is after stacking , so I'm hoping to avoid this happening again.
Here is the photo that was wrong.
View attachment 39157
This was as part of the trail(not sure how easy it is to see in this photo)
View attachment 39156
If the trail moved slightly and continued on a different line, then I would think the Camera/tripod moved. But as it reverted back after about 30 seconds to the original line I don't see Camera/ tripod movement could cause this(unless it moved twice)
I have noticed the MC2 quick release on the tripod, when screwed to the camera doesn't have a great contact area on the camera. I intend to replace the head with a Manfrotto 498MC4 which has a larger quick release plate. Although I don't see any slight wobble would cause this in a star trail.
Is it possible anything in the camera mechanism, or Lense might cause this, is there anything that could move a small amount and slightly move the image? ( Vibration control on the lense was turned off)
Any help in what might cause this would be appreciated ,I'm hoping for some clear skies tonight so I can try some more Star trails.
Thanks,
Andy