DVX100b - stars in the night sky...

GND

GND

Well-known member
Hey, anyone have an idea or the answer as to get footage of stars in the night sky? ...I've tried what seems like every possible setting; and aim up at the sky/zoom in, and can't get the stars to show.

Is it even possible without some other adapter or something?

...basically, I'm trying to get a shot where you can see stars in the night sky, but keep failing. Can anyone help with this?

thanks
 
slowshutter, as slot as it will go and a REALLLY steady tripod. Tha might help. but ususally, on photographs, the Exposure times are long like 5-30 seconds depending on the film type. ITs just not really possible to see them.
 
You can just shoot a black sky and composite the stars on top of them. It's not hard to create star points in 3ds Max or AE.
 
Where are you shooting from? If you're in the center of Los Angeles, or some other big city, you're not likely to see anything. Go somewhere like middle of Nevada, or a high peak somewhere and you'll see a lot more. Make sure to shoot on a moonless night. Otherwise, the others comments are true. Super steady tripod, slowest shutter, gain all the way up. Expect to tweak the contrast and gain in post as well.

Starfields can definitely be created in Photoshop then animated in After Effects. For example This Graphic was done entirely in Photoshop.
 
You aren't going to see stars with a DVX on any setting... at best you may get a tiny glimmer from the brightest star in the sky... that's even if you're in the middle of nowhere in a darksky environment.

You need low lux performance for that... no consumer/prosumer cams are going to do what you want. To get that you need to gather light... which means ultra-low shutter... super clear and open glass (low f-stop)... and/or a large ccd imager.

When you see that beautiful night shot on survivor or on Discovery... that is a major cam getting that shot... with glass that probably cost more then most cars... and 2/3" of ccd.

The best bang for the buck night cam is a little Sony 1/3" cctv cam... it's listed as .003 lux... then pair that with a Computar F1.0 zoom lens... Your total cost for this will be about $350. I'm not sure if this is the answer you wanted... but this is the closest you'll be able to get to video-taping stars. That's what I did... of course if you define your expectations as simply wanting to see evidence of stars... like some tiny clue of stars... then you might be able to cheat that out of the DVX... but I gather you want more quality/clarity then that.
 
You'll never get any stars to show with the DVX nor the HVX - even on slow shutter at 2fps.

Best way to do it? Well, that's with an observatory and state of the art electronic sensors - but that's not likely at your disposal.

Next best way is if you have a telescope with a strong mount and the ability to plug a camera at the end of it, also probably not likely.

Or take a digital SLR (or film SLR, just easier with digital) and a fast 85mm lens, pony it on the back of a telescope with a motorized mount if you can borrow one, travel to middle of nowhere (zero lights) on a cold and clear night, and expose until you get the amount of stars you want.

Cheaper way? Same camera setup, same location setup, tripod, put at max ASA setting, shoot around 20-30 of frames at around 1-2sec (and use cable release or timer, mirror lock up) in RAW, then line them in photo program and average them all together. The last step eliminates a lot of the noise present in high ASA photos, and the result works out pretty good.

Then after you are done, you can bring that photo into your NLE or effects program. Or if you want to try something a bit more wild, you can print it out on transparency and put it over a light table and then film some moves on your DVX.

Good luck,
Garrett
 
thanks, for the ideas. I agree it's basically impossible to do it with the DVX (especially since I'm in toronto...city). I'll go with the idea of doing it in post.

that or borrow my friends dad's telescope....it has a plug and everything. But, doubt he'll let me use it unless it's at his house with his dad watching. ...well, post-effects for sure then. thanks
 
Since you asked about getting footage, and not about faking it:

It is possible.

I recorded the Southern Cross constellation from Argentina with a VX2000. This cam doesn't seem to have any super-cam abilities that the DVX dosen't have. I have used both cams.

Shoot 60i, use the gain, and choose the longest shutter speed you can. Maybe 1/8th on the DVX? These may not be the settings you'd want to use on the rest of your shoot, but they got me the shot and I got my paycheck.

-ab
 
bikefilms said:
It is possible. I recorded the Southern Cross constellation from Argentina with a VX2000.
-ab
Click to expand...

May I ask about your altitude? Proximity to city lights? I thoght this might be possible with a decent low-light cam. I had tried this with a Sony PD100a (not as good of low-light as a VX) with mixed results (meaning, not that usable) high atop on a mountain once. I'm curious as to how grainy your footage was as well. The Southern Cross is bright enough that it would help too. Curious to your lens factor (zoom) as well.

Keep on riding!
 
snowleopard,

I was no higher than 2000 feet, and used the cam at full telephoto. Yes, you are right about the constellation-- it is fairly bright.

I think the PD and VX cameras are some of the best when it comes to using the gain setting. I had a little noise, but I added contrast in Post to counter it without darkening the stars.

-a
 
Since the stars move so slowly you wont see the movement, then can you not take a photograph of the sky using a digital SLR with the lens set similar to your footage and then composite the photograph's stars in in post.
 
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