Northern light / milky way

[Lemaildetom]

A few recent shot. Ive not posted in ages, i've became a dad last year and not been out at night much. I manage to go out once last week but the display was pretty weak. Still it was a really dark night without moon and prefect to try my d750 and nikon 20mm f1.8.

I have two question:
-it is so hard to focus properly with this 20mm, i can't see anything in the liveview mode and the difference between in and out of focus in maybe half a millimeter when i use it at f2.8. I wonder if there something to change in the liveview setting.
-it seems that i get motion blur from 15 seconds, maybe i'm being picky and maybe with 24MP it's easier to get motion blur that with older camera but i was thinking i could have get near 30 seconds on at 20mm on a full frame.

All shot at f2.8 and iso 6400 between 12 and 15 seconds. Overall i've very happy with the noise level in the nikon d750 in long night exposure. Now i need to find how long i can open the shutter for and how to get that focus bang on!

 

[fuzzyfelt30]

I like the second one! Using the exact same combo, I just zoom right in on a bright star in live view and then manual focus until it is a sharp pin prick. It's pretty easy really, once you've found a bright star! At 20s you do start to get short star trails with the 20mm and they are pretty noticeable at 25s (although I'm not too worried by them as I don't think most people pixel-peep night sky shots) so I try to stay at 20s. I think f2.2 (to reduce the coma effect), 20s and 3200-6400 works best for me although I am still experimenting with it!

 

[Tringa]

Agree with Mike about the exposure.

The 500 rule -

max. exposure in seconds before trail becomes apparent = 500/(focal length of the lens x crop factor)

suggests an exposure of 25s with a 20mm lens on a full frame camera would be OK but the 'rule' is more of a guide and it depends where in the sky you are looking.

Number two is a great shot and some good detail in the MW shot too.

Dave

 

[Lemaildetom]

Great mike, thanks for your comment, very glad to hear someone with the same lens/camera combination. I've taken a hip of test shot on the night so i need to go through them and find out my optimal "longer exposure time" before trails appears and also find out my optimal f stop and see by myself if the coma are that bad at 1.8 as the review suggest. I'm very impressed with the nikon d750, even at iso 6400 i get a pretty clean image, i had a canon 70D and was probably getting the same result at around iso 1600 before, i didn't like going to iso 3200 at all.

Hi Dave, I think some people use 600 instead of 500 but as you say it's only a guideline. My test would be more in favor of a 400 rules or maybe a 300 rules! I guess the more pixel you get the more trails is going to be apparent when zoomed in but the rule must be dependent at printed at a certain size? I like having it crisp even when zoomed in!

 

[Norkie]

Love number 2

 

[MartinCornwall]

Hi Thomas, great shots. The milky way could do with some foreground interest. I tend to stick with the 400 rule even on my D750. I use the samyang 14mm and that should go to 28 secs but it still shows trailing then As for focusing, use live view and focus in on a bright star until it is a pinprick. If you can't see anything on your D750 try turning exposure preview on as this will show the view with your current setting. When in LiveView press the info button and scroll down on the pad. Exposure preview is the last item. Hope this helps.

 

[Lemaildetom]

Hi Thomas, great shots. The milky way could do with some foreground interest. I tend to stick with the 400 rule even on my D750. I use the samyang 14mm and that should go to 28 secs but it still shows trailing then As for focusing, use live view and focus in on a bright star until it is a pinprick. If you can't see anything on your D750 try turning exposure preview on as this will show the view with your current setting. When in LiveView press the info button and scroll down on the pad. Exposure preview is the last item. Hope this helps.

Great cheers! I knew they would be such an option but didn't know where! I turn it ON now!

 

[derbydude]

All nice shots love number 2

 

[mr.si]

As others have said already... I love number 2!

 

[Craig_85]

Interestingly I think we both shot the same part of the MW, I prefer yours for the colour and extra contrast, looks like we had the same settings too! Where about are you?

 

[Lemaildetom]

Hi Craig, thanks for your comment i'm in Orkney! I took the picture on the 25th september on a moonless night at lochside viewpoint which is a pretty dark spot. At the bottom of the frame there's still a bit of light pollution which is due to stromness a small town which is maybe 5-7 miles away. That to give a bit of context... I went to your post and saw yours taken with a 6D and a sigma 20mm 1.4 art if i saw well? Mine is nikon d750 and nikon 20mm 1.8 but i think they are pretty close to each other spec wise (i was going to buy a 6d as i was canon but decided to go for nikon instead).

To be honest they look very similar, yours as a lot of detail and little noise and very well focused! I think it look like i push a bit more my whites and highlights and clarity in lightroom that you did. I also intensify this by adding an adjustment brush over the milky way and boosting a bit more the highlights. For the colour i didn't do anything no vibrance or saturation added, haven't tweak any color chanel, i'm at 4260K because i prefer blackish sky to the bluish tint some people do with milky way but that is personal taste. Hope this help!