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Post by Hope C. on Jan 19, 2010 1:01:07 GMT -5
Alright so... Montana is called big sky country for a very very good reason. I'm in the middle of math homework, so this will be a very brief explanation before I forget what I was going to say. Tonight is a very clear night and as such I decided to try some long exposures on the stars... unfortunately, on my Canon Rebel XTi, the longest I can have the shutter open is 30 seconds without being on blub, and I don't have a cable connector at this point so that I can put it on blub and not be in contact with the camera aside from through the cable to decrease the movement. So... what I'm wondering is if you guys have any suggestions on cables or anything like that that work well and don't cost an arm and a leg so I can get some decent long exposures of our amazing night sky out here.
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Post by MarianMurdoch on Jan 19, 2010 9:24:41 GMT -5
Cover a piece of cardboard with some black velvet. Set your camera on bulb and hold the board in front of the lens, not touching the lens. Hit your shutter. Wait a few seconds for vibrations to settle, and remove the board. When you are ready to stop the exposure, place the velvet back in front of the lens and hit the shutter. Very old trick but that's because it works.
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Post by ScottWood on Jan 19, 2010 12:32:23 GMT -5
I have no idea what is out there in the after market for Canon, but I suspect that you can find some cheap alternatives to the expensive releases on ebay. I can't really recommend them though, I have tried a few, and they ALWAYS fail, and they ALWAYS fail at the worst possible time.
Marian's suggestion is actually something that I have used myself. Anything dark will work.
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Post by Hope C. on Jan 19, 2010 17:25:04 GMT -5
See that's just the thing... bulb on my camera isn't a "hit the shutter to open, hit it again to close" it's a "the shutter will stay open only as long as you hold the button down" It has no setting where I can just open it and leave it... and considering the constantly sub freezing temperatures... I'm obviously going to be shivering at least slightly no matter how much I try to bundle up, so naturally there would be constant vibrations. That's why I need a cable, so I don't have to be touching the camera. It's really rather inconvenient, but it is what it is I suppose.
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Post by ScottWood on Jan 19, 2010 17:36:56 GMT -5
I would take a look at some of the aftermarket ones our there then. Ebay is a good place to find them, and most come from Hong Kong. They do work, but like I said, expect them to fail.
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Post by MarianMurdoch on Jan 19, 2010 17:57:30 GMT -5
Wow, I've never heard of a bulb setting like that! That sucks!
What kind of night sky photos are you trying to do? I did meteorshower ones and set it for 30sec exposures and got some nice ones. Anything more, and you'll start to really get star trails, which can be cool.
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Post by Hope C. on Jan 19, 2010 19:02:18 GMT -5
What I'd like to do is get the mountains with star trails... preferably long ones. It'd be some really long exposures to get what I'm looking for. My photography instructor told us about a thing a friend of his did where he did an exposure of a canyon where the star trails made a half circle from horizon to horizon. I know it would take forever, but I'd like to at least try it, considering the Rocky Mountains are just too good for me to pass up the opportunity.
I really like my camera, but that's the one thing that drives me crazy... the canon people really screwed that one up... but life goes on, I'll live with whatever I can get.
I'll definitely check out Ebay, and hopefully find something to do the trick.
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Post by MarianMurdoch on Jan 19, 2010 22:51:56 GMT -5
I'd be out in the garage fabricating some mechanism from scratch, haha. All you need is a screw type device that you could tighten down and it would hold down the shutter release button for you. ;D
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Post by ScottWood on Jan 19, 2010 23:15:49 GMT -5
I was just thinking. Perhaps you could use something like a rubber band to hold something against the shutter button. In addition to using over the lens, you might get it to work.
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Post by Saknika on Jan 19, 2010 23:48:50 GMT -5
Plus, if you can put something to hold down the shutter button, you don't have to stay out in the cold, and can instead sit inside the garage with hot cocoa and a book while you wait and make sure no one steals the camera.
But really, I think the rubber band and over the lens sound like something good to try.
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