Shooting star timelapse

[J_Gasper]

Active member
So yesterday was my first attempt at shooting a timelapse of the stars. Then I realized its a lot harder then it looks. I had my shutter at 8 seconds, f/4.0? And took a picture every 10 seconds. For some reason, the intervalometer couldn't keep up and the LCD on the camera kept saying BUSY. I was shooting such a long shutter because anything lower then that I couldn't really see the stars to well.

Does anyone reccomend certain settings? Do I need to space out the time of the amount of pictures I take to every 20-30 seconds? Thanks and of course +K for help
 
this is what i do,

i almost always have my shutter open for 30 seconds (sometimes 25), and then have my intervalometer close the shutter for 1 second, then reopen for another 30. so basically your camera is working nonstop.

but the nice thing about star timelapses is, yes, it takes a long time, but if you shoot for two hours, you only shoot ~250-300 photos.

any star timelapse I have done in the past have been done using this technique. works well for me
 
^word. Thanks for the quick response. Im gonna try that tonight. Do you ever have problems with your intervalometer skipping takes? Also, how long do you usually shoot for to get a considerable movement with the stars?
 
no never have a problem. although since there is no battery meter on mine i usually keep an extra battery lying around, because if its low it can skip and do weird things.

and my "rule of thumb" personally is two hours minimum.
 
probably. but i've never run out of battery when shooting stars, because the camera is only taking less than 300 photos, and keeping the shutter open for 30 seconds takes as much battery as keeping it open for 1 second
 
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