Stars? How do you get the trails?

[clancyman]

I have had my Rebel Xti for a short time and it is my first non point and shoot camera. I am interested in getting some shots of light trails from stars and I understand it will take a longer exposure time. I'm just wondering how I accomplish this as I don't think my camera allows a long enough time out of the box. What do I need to do to extend the exposure time and get the light trails?

[cdifoto]

Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong Exposures. Not just minutes...hours. To get a shutter speed longer than 30 seconds, you need to crank the dial until it says "B" or "Bulb". Bulb means it's an open ended shutter speed...as long as the shutter button is held down, the sensor will be exposed. Let off, and it stops. You can get a timer remote that you can program the exposure time into and it'll "hold" the exposure for you (electronically, not physically). Otherwise you gotta stand there with your finger on the shutter release the entire time.

[00dahc]

Otherwise you gotta stand there with your finger on the shutter release the entire time.

Or hold down a remote trigger button that you can get on Ebay for $6

[cdifoto]

Or hold down a remote trigger button that you can get on Ebay for $6
In winter? Pfft. I'll get a timer and sit in my car. Someone has to suffer for my art. I prefer it be the timer, not me. :D

[clancyman]

Dang. I was hoping I wasn't going to have to buy more gear to do this. Oh well, at least it's fun to buy new stuff. Thanks for the help!

[cdifoto]

Technically you don't need more gear if you don't mind standing there holding the button.

[clancyman]

I don't think that is going to happen though. Maybe I could use tape? :):)

PS - Any suggestions as to a remote that would be good for this?

[cdifoto]

I've heard of some people putting a piece of styrofoam or similar between the button and the tape to ensure it stays down. So yeah tape would work.

[Adrena1in]

I think a remote shutter is the best bet really. Not expensive, and if you're going to be taking lots of star pictures you're going to want to use one a lot.

As for the trails, a single super-long exposure will work, but I would recommend a series of 30s shots for several reasons.

1) Light pollution will be vastly reduced.
2) Hot pixels won't be so much of a problem.
3) If your camera or battery dies after a few hours, with a single shot you might lose it, but with multiple shots you'll have all the images saved okay.
4) As well as stacking the images* to make your trails shot, you could play them back like a video and get a good timelapse.

* Go to Startrails.de for a programme which can stack multiple images into a trail and it works really well.

[Rrdstarr]

Just get the Canon remote RS-60E3. It has a lock that you push forward and holds itself till you unlock it. That is what I use instead of freezing my a$$ off!
http://www.bccamera.com/images/RS-60E3%20Canon.gif

[renderwerks]

Or you could use a laptop, and use Canon EOS Utility. You might be able to sit in your car with the heater and radio going while you do :D

Plus you can view the images full screen as you take them.

[drummerhc]

Long exposures give you A LOT of noise. Unless you have battery grip, sometimes noise reduction process after the shot can drain the battery before it is even completed.
I usually stack 30~40 30 sec exposures.