Starry Night

[pixelated]

Sittin here bummed. This entire week has been like the holy grail of night star photography. Crystal clear skies and no moon to contend with. 20 miles out of town and it takes your breath away. Decided it'd be fun to add a few shots for a time lapse sequence so dug out the old Canon G5 and headed for the desert. Shortest intervalometer is one minute, longest exposure time is 15 sec - should work. Set ISO 400 wide open and RAW, spent a quiet couple of hours listening to it grind.

Back to town, Fire up photoshop and pffft. Crank it just to where the Milky Way starts to stand out and it just disintergrates in noise. REALLY disappointing.

Figure OK, if it was easy . . .

Dig VERY deep in the pile, find my trusty old Canon FT. Even find some glass for it. I'm stoked. Just need film. Go all over town - no Ektachrome, no Kodachrome, most places no film period.

I'm feeling very, very old at the moment. I mean just because I remember fuming my film with ammonia to up the speed back in the day....

Did I miss something along the way??? Resuming the hunt tomorrow - if this is totally in vain someone please clue me in. Maybe the weather'll hold one more day.

 

[Alex H.]

Good luck finding Kodachrome. Kodak officially discontinued that a while back, and several months ago, the last roll of Kodachrome was processed by the last remaining facility that would even touch the stuff.

Most places are downsizing their film stocks, and you'll be hard-pressed to find anything worthwhile on the shelves. Places that do still keep film in stock, keep crappy film in stock. If you want the good stuff, you have to mail-order it. B&H has Ektachrome, but the rest of the Kodak offerings are pretty lousy. Portra is okay, but there are many better options. If you like transparency Fuji Provia is nice, as is Velvia.