How do I film a star time-lapse?

R

RedSpectrumPictures

Well-known member
I looked up at the sky earlier, and saw the stars and thought to myself, 'how would I film a star time-lapse?'

What would the settings be so that the camera would actually pick up the stars?

I use the canon 600d dslr with 18-135mm lens. I am getting the 50mm 1.8 soon.

Heres an example video I found on youtube
 
With a photography camera, you really just need a sharp lens, decently fast, and a clear sky.

If you plan on doing this in LA, you might be disappointed. Drive out into an ideal star gazing area, clear of natural weather and light pollution.

It's not as hard as you think. Do some test exposures and then set the camera.
 
10 second to 30 second exposure helps(shutter speed), as well as long shutter noise reduction. But as Ryan said just go out and take some test shots until you are getting the picture you want and then use an intervalometer to set up your intervals(obviously).
 
Thanks for the answers, I live in England, in the countyside, so I can just go out in a field next to my village and get the shots needed. I am going out tonight to get the test shots
 
Good Luck, from where I live the skies are distinctly orange.

Also check out Star Gazers Lounge.

Dave
 
RedSpectrumPictures said:
Thanks for the answers, I live in England, in the countyside, so I can just go out in a field next to my village and get the shots needed. I am going out tonight to get the test shots
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Where abouts? I lived out in Devizes, Wiltshire Co. for a summer back in 2009. Some great hills out in that area. Spent lots of time near Alton Barnes, Avebury, and Glastonbury. Very cool part of the world. Many great hills to get some time lapses. Maybe Milk Hill or Oliver's Castle? Those were to hills I really liked.
 
RedSpectrumPictures said:
Thanks for the answers, I live in England, in the countyside, so I can just go out in a field next to my village and get the shots needed. I am going out tonight to get the test shots
Click to expand...

Likewise with Ryan. Where abouts? Im Yeovil based, and there are some wonderful locations here for Time-lapse Photography
 
Hello everyone. It took me ages, but I finally got around to producing a short star scape time lapse. I would appreciate it if you checked it out and gave feedback. I shot with the Canon 600D/T3i DSLR, EF 50mm f/1.8 lens, 20 second exposure, 25 second intervals with magic lantern firmware hack.

 
Hey, that was pretty cool, especially that streak from what I presume is an airplane going over. Nicely done.

How far from city lights did you need to go to shoot that?

- Greg
 
Thanks Greg
I live in quite a dark village away from any major soruces of light pollution. I literally biked to a field on the outskirts of my village to do this.
 
nice work, but this video 100% needs something static in the foreground or you're wasting your time. i had to watch it two or three times before i figured out you weren't just panning across the sky.
 
Nice video. Have you seen timelapse.org and timescapes.org. The forums at timescapes.org are bigger, but timelapse.org is more open and posts lots of very cool timelapse from all different people on the main site. It also doesn't feel as cliquish as timescapse. That's not to badmouth timescapse - its just sort of the way it is. Anyway, you'll get a lot of focused timelapse related help at either of those places I think.
 
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