Despite the fact that I have dabbled at various times with different aspects of astrophotography, albeit in a very amateur way, I have never had a crack at star trails.
Knowing that we would have a clear, if cold, evening last night, I prepared for my first attempt.
- Download Photo Pills app to phone, and figure out how it works.. It is great.
- Download Starstax to PC for stacking the images. This works well too, and is fun to watch as it builds the finished product.
- Prep the camera
- Charge battery, dig out remote release cable
- Set to manual everything, exposure, focus, ISO, you name it.
- Gaffer tape the focus ring to avoid accidently knocking it
- Switch off IS
- Mount to tripod
As I mentioned it was very cold out, at least by Vancouver standards, so I bundled up in several layers, brewed some coffee and took the camera outside for 10 mins to acclimatize to the temperature
I took this opportunity figure out my exposure settings.
Next I used the photo pills app to pretty much aim at the Polaris, and then cranked up Yes – The Yes album, and toughed it out for 30 mins.
The resulting image was pretty good for a first attempt ( click image for full picture )
Intervalometer is already ordered so I don’t have to freeze my nuts off on the next attempt.
Next stop is getting some foreground interest in the image as well.
Enjoy