# Star Trails



## JLEphoto (Feb 15, 2010)

So, this Wed. I will be going to the Everglades to capture some star trails.....  Of course the issue is that this is a first for.  Any suggestions for starting points?  Thank you for ANY advice you can offer up.

Camera: Nikon D200


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## PhotoXopher (Feb 15, 2010)

Pretty good read here:
Photographing Star Trails


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## KmH (Feb 15, 2010)

Look up TPF member Astrostu's tutorials.


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## TJ K (Feb 15, 2010)

Yep +1 on Astrostu


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## astrostu (Feb 15, 2010)

+2 on Astrostu


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## TJ K (Feb 15, 2010)

lol^


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## sA x sKy (Feb 16, 2010)

JLEphoto said:


> So, this Wed. I will be going to the Everglades to capture some star trails.....  Of course the issue is that this is a first for.  Any suggestions for starting points?  Thank you for ANY advice you can offer up.
> 
> Camera: Nikon D200



Use the 24-85 @ f/2.8 and put it as ISO 1600 but no more than 3200. Also, if you have a hand warmer, you might want to wrap that around your lens to prevent moisture/dew forming.


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## astrostu (Feb 16, 2010)

sA x sKy said:


> Use the 24-85 @ f/2.8 and put it as ISO 1600 but no more than 3200. Also, if you have a hand warmer, you might want to wrap that around your lens to prevent moisture/dew forming.



JLEphoto - please do not take this poster's advice on ISO.  You will end up with a photograph that is incredibly grainy and will saturate (become solid white) way too quickly to get any meaningful star trails, especially at an f/2.8 aperture.

I haven't done star trails in a few years, but you can take a look at the settings I used for some of my old ones by clicking here.  Clicking on any of the three photos on that page will take you to larger versions as well as a table of exposure information.  Looks like I didn't list aperture and ISO, but going back to the originals I can tell you that ISO was 100 and aperture was f/5.6.


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## JLEphoto (Feb 16, 2010)

Thanks...   This gives me a great starting point!


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## djacobox372 (Feb 21, 2010)

If you're going to be shooting star trails, you should be using film--long shutter speeds = noise on digital.  You should be able to find a nikon film slr that will use all your lenses for $50 or so online.


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