7D does the desert sky...

[drkim]

This is the first photos I have posted here, and hopefully there will be many more. 3 weeks ago I went camping in Joshua Tree National Park and the night sky was incredible. I have not shot the night sky much before, so these are a first attempt. I used my new 7D at iso3200 with 30 second exposures (more gave me star trails), with the Tokina 11-16 set at f2.8:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2690/4023263683_ecb822595d_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2777/4024022092_a29e6268dd_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2464/4024023206_9c8b2b5229_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2495/4023265979_98fe766633_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2685/4024024278_2e29831045_o.jpg

I cant wait to get out to the desert again, and perhaps try a telephoto lens, rather than the wide angle...

Now how do I embed from Flickr so that it links to the Flickr page???

[CaptainTonus]

I cant wait to get out to the desert again, and perhaps try a telephoto lens, rather than the wide angle...

Looking good. I love the Tokina 11-16 for night landscapes and star shots like this. I wouldn't recommend using a telephoto lens if you want nice star pictures, unless you're trying to take a picture of something specific. The more zoom you have, the more the stars are going to trail off on you.

[GPFocussed]

Nice shots! Looks like that 7D is working out for you! The second photo is my favourite.

[mtbdudex]

Fantastic shots, I was at Joshua Tree National Park a few times in the late 90's, though never camped there.

I like 5 the best.

[troypiggo]

Wonderful set. Keep using that lens, though. That star trailing you noticed with longer than 30s exposures will begin to appear at shorter and shorted exposures the longer focal length you have.

[RadAL]

if you crop the bottom part (since its just mostly black) of the last photo, it would easily be a wall hanger.

[drkim]

Thanks for all the comments - the 7D is really impressing me so far and the high ISO performance is letting me get shots that I could never have previously obtained with by 450d (such as all of these!).

This is the best use of the 11-16 I have found so far - I just cant seem to get the hang of ultra wide angle in the day light ;) The problem I see with using the wide angle all the time is the starscapes will always look relatively similar?? I figured that a telephoto would let you focus on specific areas and bring out more detail. I guess you would have to crank the ISO higher to keep the exposure down...

[Celestron]

Nice shots , i like the ones with a horizon foreground best .

[rlrouse]

The last one is simply superb.

[gjl711]

Very nice shots.

[cntry]

Nice shots, 2 does it for me.

[jgrussell]

+1 for the last one.

[mtbdudex]

Thanks for all the comments - the 7D is really impressing me so far and the high ISO performance is letting me get shots that I could never have previously obtained with by 450d (such as all of these!).

This is the best use of the 11-16 I have found so far - I just cant seem to get the hang of ultra wide angle in the day light ;) The problem I see with using the wide angle all the time is the starscapes will always look relatively similar?? I figured that a telephoto would let you focus on specific areas and bring out more detail. I guess you would have to crank the ISO higher to keep the exposure down...

So, by saying this you are tempting me to return my 2 week old T1i/500D for a 7D, I just don't know how the wife will go with that though.......

[edit]
Black Friday is only 2 weeks away, 11/27, possible I'll see what deals are out there then.

[drkim]

So, by saying this you are tempting me to return my 2 week old T1i/500D for a 7D, I just don't know how the wife will go with that though.......

[edit]
Black Friday is only 2 weeks away, 11/27, possible I'll see what deals are out there then.

While the image quality is not a huge improvement over my 450D (although the extra resolution is noticeable), the 7D has allowed me to get many shots which I would not have been able to with the 450D. On my 450 anything over ISO800 had too much noise and too little detail - on the 7D I am comfortable shooting at ISO3200 and still preserving good detail, which is a must for any photos indoors. My son is now 11 months and walking around so I needed to be able to get good shots of a fast(ish) moving object in poor light, and the 7D delivers. My only complaints thus far is that the white balance is weak, and the RAW files take too much space - in fact I have been shooting in JPG for the 1st time in 6 years...

[mtbdudex]

While the image quality is not a huge improvement over my 450D (although the extra resolution is noticeable), the 7D has allowed me to get many shots which I would not have been able to with the 450D. On my 450 anything over ISO800 had too much noise and too little detail - on the 7D I am comfortable shooting at ISO3200 and still preserving good detail, which is a must for any photos indoors. My son is now 11 months and walking around so I needed to be able to get good shots of a fast(ish) moving object in poor light, and the 7D delivers. My only complaints thus far is that the white balance is weak, and the RAW files take too much space - in fact I have been shooting in JPG for the 1st time in 6 years...

Even with my T1i my computer hard drive spare space is quickly going away.
Have you considered this: shooting in RAW+jpeg, upon download the "keepers" keep the RAW, delete the jpeg, the "tourist shots/so-so" you want to keep but leave as is keep the jpeg delete the RAW?

I'm leaning to doing that, but I can see you have to be disciplined at download time or picture-itis-overload will quickly creep in.

With your comments I have to now discuss with the wife and sway her mindset for a 7D deal/buy if one presents itself on Balck Friday.

[CaptainTonus]

I would just buy the biggest memory card you can find and get a bigger hard drive for your computer. It would be worthwhile to be able to shoot in RAW without worrying about space constraints.

[drkim]

I would just buy the biggest memory card you can find and get a bigger hard drive for your computer. It would be worthwhile to be able to shoot in RAW without worrying about space constraints.

I just checked my photo library - 200 gigs... That's shooting digital since 2001 with most of the time (5 years) using a Canon Rebel where the RAW files were only 6megs. I have 18 months of the 450D at around 12 megs per file, but now with close to 30 megs per 7D RAW file its going to eat up space! I agree though - shoot RAW and don't worry about the space as in 5 years a terabyte will be considered as a gigabyte is now...

[fiveFPS]

nice shots! the 7d is definately capable.. try 12,800 iso and some noise software

[ieatstars]

Wow, the second and last photos are spectacular. I think #2 could use a little brightening/contrast to make it pop a bit. Either way, a beautiful sight!! :)

[int2str]

Wow, #2 is stunning!

[z3speed4me]

Awesome shots... too bad I will never ever see anything that that produced while I live in the northeast :(

[ArcticShooter]

These are great.
Did you do any noise reduction after using ISO3200?

[pixelbasher]

#5 and 2 are really nice, but if I had to vote, it'd be #2 for sure , it's a pearler!

[doodie889]

Love the second very much. what's the exposure time?

[drkim]

All of these are 30 second exposures. No noise reduction - just a touch of sharpening. The star trails are just starting to show with the 30 seconds - next time I think I'll try shorter exposures and bump the iso to 6400. Seems a good way to see what the 7D can do!

[Karl Johnston]

Beau shots - I use the tokina too :) it's a beast !

Last shot feels like I am there, love that.

[chrisc85]

Those photos are incredible. Glad to see there is so little noise for such a high ISO.
thumbs up from me

[slimenta]

All of these are 30 second exposures. No noise reduction - just a touch of sharpening. The star trails are just starting to show with the 30 seconds - next time I think I'll try shorter exposures and bump the iso to 6400. Seems a good way to see what the 7D can do!

Going to be in Sedona next week and planning to shoot with my 7D and 1D mark III, what ISO did you use?