Antarctica - Milky Way and Auroras

[Mike K]

After posting a couple similar pictures in the random picture thread a couple people offered a few suggestions to help me take some better pictures. I said I would start a new thread with the results... and here it is.

A few points worth bringing up:
- When it is -15F outside, that little rubber thing you use to cover the eyepiece freezes and you can't use it.
- Can't go past a 30 second exposure (to help drop ISO) as you can see the stars are still moving.
- I think that 50mm prime will have too much zoom to take pictures of the Milky Way. It is a super fast lens and would do a good job taking pictures of the stars, but a wider lens is more desirable to really capture the full scene. However, I think I am going to give that lens a try for everyday shooting as it had great reviews.
- Thinking about the 16-35 F2.8 L lens.
- Fuck, it was cold out there. I should really start dressing appropriately

Next time I go out I am going to lower my shutter speed and increase my ISO. I need to get the starts to stop moving in the frame, then figure out optimal ISO.

Gear used: Canon 7D w/ 24-70 F2.8 L lens. First picture was at 50mm (I wanted to see what a 50mm prime would look like) F2.8, 30s exposure, and ISO 640. The other two pictures are at 24mm, 30s exposure, and ISO 2000.








And maybe I am just being too critical; here is a picture from Jennifer Wu I found online. You can see the starts are smeared in her picture too, but I still have room for improvement.

[CJ]

Awesome, those came out great, they look a lot better.

[Dinger]

How people can actually believe we are the only intelligent life(and that's up for debate with the crap we see on the news everyday) out there when looking at pictures like that is beyond me.

Amazing pictures.

[AdRock]

Very cool.

[beech72]

im not sure what canon has to offer, but i have a nikon 16mm 2.8 that would be awesome for pics like this. gives 180 field view

[CJ]

Shit, go for the Nikkor 6mm f/2.8

[Mike K]

Awesome, those came out great, they look a lot better.

Thanks! I'll give it another try this weekend assuming the weather cooperates.

im not sure what canon has to offer, but i have a nikon 16mm 2.8 that would be awesome for pics like this. gives 180 field view

I have a 10-22mm, but it is only F3.5-4.5. So I get the field of view, but it just isn't fast enough for quality night pictures.

[Mike K]

Shit, go for the Nikkor 6mm f/2.8

...price ranges from $60K to $160K...

[Craizie]

About the same price as shipping it to him.

[CJ]

Some of the images still look a little soft to me. Are you shooting in wind?

[bluecollar]

You, sir, are an asshole.

I am insanely jealous. Those pictures are pretty badass. I can only imagine what it all looks like in person.

[Mike K]

About the same price as shipping it to him.

I think I can get it to fit in a large priority flat rate box

Some of the images still look a little soft to me. Are you shooting in wind?

Yes, very much so. 20-25mph winds are pretty much standard here. I had an E350 that I was trying to use as a wind block. I still think think my biggest problem is the shutter being open too long, causing the stars to smear.

[cobrajet69]

After posting a couple similar pictures in the random picture thread a couple people offered a few suggestions to help me take some better pictures. I said I would start a new thread with the results... and here it is.

A few points worth bringing up:
- When it is -15F outside, that little rubber thing you use to cover the eyepiece freezes and you can't use it.
- Can't go past a 30 second exposure (to help drop ISO) as you can see the stars are still moving.
- I think that 50mm prime will have too much zoom to take pictures of the Milky Way. It is a super fast lens and would do a good job taking pictures of the stars, but a wider lens is more desirable to really capture the full scene. However, I think I am going to give that lens a try for everyday shooting as it had great reviews.
- Thinking about the 16-35 F2.8 L lens.
- Fuck, it was cold out there. I should really start dressing appropriately

Next time I go out I am going to lower my shutter speed and increase my ISO. I need to get the starts to stop moving in the frame, then figure out optimal ISO.

Gear used: Canon 7D w/ 24-70 F2.8 L lens. First picture was at 50mm (I wanted to see what a 50mm prime would look like) F2.8, 30s exposure, and ISO 640. The other two pictures are at 24mm, 30s exposure, and ISO 2000.

Man I would love a high res copy of this. all rights reserved of course.


David

[CJ]

I think I can get it to fit in a large priority flat rate box



Yes, very much so. 20-25mph winds are pretty much standard here. I had an E350 that I was trying to use as a wind block. I still think think my biggest problem is the shutter being open too long, causing the stars to smear.

I use a video tripod and depending on how bad the wind is a 10 or 20lb weight hanging in the center of the tripod to steady it. Also, looking at the snow it seems like your white balance is off (it also could be the ambient light) does it look true to what you're seeing? The stars seem about right to me, I guess you have some really yellow light out there.

[likeitfast55]

What is the story on the cross on top of that small rise. Awesome pics also! I have a similar problem shooting cool shots out of a moving aircraft. I carry a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 in my flight kit. While the lens aperture gets pretty narrow at the telephoto end of the focal range, it's still relatively wide for a nice chunk of the way. Here are the points at which the maximum aperture changes:

f1.8 at 28mm
f2.2 at 30.8mm
f2.5 at 33.6mm
f2.8 at 36.4mm
f3.2 at 44.8mm
f3.5 at 53.2mm
f4 at 64.4mm
f4.5 at 78.4mm
f4.9 at 95.2mm
Keep in mind that while the aperture determines the amount of depth of field you'll have at a given focal length, so does sensor size. That means competing aperture specs are only moderately useful when it comes to comparing cameras: the f1.8 on the XZ-1 will look very different from the f1.8 on the RX100 because of sensor size difference. Larger sensors can achieve shallower DOF at a given focal length and aperture than smaller sensors, which gives the RX100 a compositional flexibility advantage