It's not just exposure time, but lighting conditions and ISO settings as well. I experiment a lot (you only see the good pictures...believe me, they are not all good). If generally, however, 5 seconds is the shortest time you will get a nice trail and the longest I have gone is 25 seconds for the shuttle and ISS. If there are lots of lights or the sky is bright, try a lower ISO (100 or 200). If its darker, you can go to 800 or 1600 and get more stars in your pic.
I also mount the camera on a tripod, of course. Another thing I do is use the self timer. That way the camera takes the picture 10 seconds after I push the button so the camera is not shaking when the shutter opens. I guess I just have a hard time pushing the button without shaking the whole bloody camera.
It's not just exposure time, but lighting conditions and ISO settings as well. I experiment a lot (you only see the good pictures...believe me, they are not all good). If generally, however, 5 seconds is the shortest time you will get a nice trail and the longest I have gone is 25 seconds for the shuttle and ISS. If there are lots of lights or the sky is bright, try a lower ISO (100 or 200). If its darker, you can go to 800 or 1600 and get more stars in your pic.
ReplyDeleteI also mount the camera on a tripod, of course. Another thing I do is use the self timer. That way the camera takes the picture 10 seconds after I push the button so the camera is not shaking when the shutter opens. I guess I just have a hard time pushing the button without shaking the whole bloody camera.