Extreme exposures with Digital EOS

[GenEOS]

Read an article latley in one of the photog mags about long exposures for night time shots. These where shots taken with near full moonlight and at f/8 for 10 to 20 minutes.

Has anyone tried this with any luck? Got any examples to show?
I would be interested in seeing what happens...

May try it if it dries up here...

[Belmondo]

I don't think that would work. The moon is going to move too much in that period of time to give a clear image. (unless you have the camera mounted on a clock drive like an astronomical telescope). I've taken pictures of the moon with my 400mm prime (f/5.6). That was only a couple seconds ISO 100, and it was well exposed.

[mjordan]

I don't think they were taking a picture of the moon, but using the moon's light to take a picture of an object or scene. Other wise the moon would be way over exposed since you expose it as any other sun lit object.

Mike

[GenEOS]

I don't think they were taking a picture of the moon, but using the moon's light to take a picture of an object or scene. Other wise the moon would be way over exposed since you expose it as any other sun lit object.

Mike

What I am talking about is long exposures of a scene using moonlight, not a picture of the moon. On some shots an exposure of the moon is taken seperately and added to the long exposure shot. The author of the article suggests doing this with film, because digital won't work because of noise.

I am looking for someone who has tried it. And yes the stars do appear as streaks in the sky. That's a part of shots like these. I am just wondering if the author is full of bull and it can be done.

[defordphoto]

Sure it can be done. Not sure how noisy the sensor might be, but it's worth trying out. I used to do this with film back in (ahem) the old days, but have not tried it yet with digital. I can think of a couple of areas that'd look awesome under moonlight and maybe a little fog...

[TeraGram93013]

Well it just so happens that one reason I opted for the 10D over the dRebel is the mechanically better ability for this camera to take long exposures, if for no other reason but the mirror lock-down.

I am taking a class on Wednesdays (non-linear digital video editing) which runs from 5pm to 10pm for the next seven weeks. This Wednesday there won't be much moon to speak of, but the week after should be good, or the week after that.

I'm all up for the challenge.

This reminds me, I need to go get a remote for my camera.

Don't tell my husband. I'm about to spend more money. heh

[Belmondo]

What I am talking about is long exposures of a scene using moonlight, not a picture of the moon. On some shots an exposure of the moon is taken seperately and added

You see? Every time I try to be helpful, the room temperature IQ takes over and I say something really stupid. :oops:

Every forum needs a dumb s**t, and I'm it---at least for today. :cry:

Tomorrow I plan on being clever. :?:

[defordphoto]

Tomorrow I plan on being clever. :?:

We'll believe that when we see it! ;)

[Belmondo]

Tomorrow I plan on being clever. :?:

We'll believe that when we see it! ;)

Okay, then. Maybe Tuesday.

[Jim_T]

Read an article latley in one of the photog mags about long exposures for night time shots. These where shots taken with near full moonlight and at f/8 for 10 to 20 minutes.

Has anyone tried this with any luck? Got any examples to show?
I would be interested in seeing what happens...

May try it if it dries up here...

You can get good full moonlight shots using an aperture of around 2.8 to 4.5 at 4 to 8 seconds using ISO 400. You might miss some sort of effect, but you can get a bright clear picture..

The problem with the CMOS sensors used by the digital EOS is noise. After about 90 seconds, you start getting hot pixels showing up as bright dots. These dots get worse as you expose longer.

Here's a 10 minute shot I took of a city skyline.. It's untouched from my 10D.. If you have the bandwidth, look at the 'original' size image (3072x2048 ~2Mb) You can clearly see the 'dots' I'm talking about..

http://www.pbase.com/image/19296218

(The streaks in the middle are trails from arriving airplanes.. A couple passed by during the time the shutter was open.. There are some other hard to see streaks in the sky.. These are star trails).

The good thing is that these dots are all the same size and can be removed using the apropriate filter.. Despeckle or Dust and Scratch filters do a good job..

[Tom W]

I was about to comment on those plane trails - you can see the periodic blinking of their strobe lights along the course of the line.

Nice night pic, BTW. I do see a fair amount of noise in the original, but I suspect that is the nature of the beast.

[GenEOS]

Read an article latley in one of the photog mags about long exposures for night time shots. These where shots taken with near full moonlight and at f/8 for 10 to 20 minutes.

Has anyone tried this with any luck? Got any examples to show?
I would be interested in seeing what happens...

May try it if it dries up here...

You can get good full moonlight shots using an aperture of around 2.8 to 4.5 at 4 to 8 seconds using ISO 400. You might miss some sort of effect, but you can get a bright clear picture..

The problem with the CMOS sensors used by the digital EOS is noise. After about 90 seconds, you start getting hot pixels showing up as bright dots. These dots get worse as you expose longer.

Here's a 10 minute shot I took of a city skyline.. It's untouched from my 10D.. If you have the bandwidth, look at the 'original' size image (3072x2048 ~2Mb) You can clearly see the 'dots' I'm talking about..

http://www.pbase.com/image/19296218

(The streaks in the middle are trails from arriving airplanes.. A couple passed by during the time the shutter was open.. There are some other hard to see streaks in the sky.. These are star trails).

The good thing is that these dots are all the same size and can be removed using the apropriate filter.. Despeckle or Dust and Scratch filters do a good job..

Jim thanks for posting the picture. I see the noise problem.
The shots in the magazine, all be it old school, where of landscape scenes with no lights in the shots. Just moonlight.
I suspect the sensor will create a ton of noise, but I also wonder how much is caused by the electric lights, like in the cityscape shot you posted?
I am going to give this a shot, first good opportunity I have.