[Smilesy]

I want to have a go at taking a star trail and I have a couple of questions. From what can tell I need to have the camera in bulb mode to do a long enough exposure, but I have to hold down the shutter button the whole time, is this correct? How do you do this without sitting there holding the button for 15 minutes?
Thanks

[Aegon]

On a K-5, custom settings menu 19, "Remote Control in Bulb Mode", described on page 116 of the English manual, allows either a wired or wireless remote to toggle the bulb with one actuation.

Press button on remote, wait wait wait, press again.

Other cameras are more or less similar.

[SpeedyTortoise]

but I have to hold down the shutter button the whole time, is this correct? How do you do this without sitting there holding the button for 15 minutes?
Thanks

Actually, in bulb mode, you don't need to hold the shutter down. You press the shutter once, and that that opens it, and press it again when you are done to close it. No need to hold it down the whole time.

Though as Aegon said, it may be better to get a remote so you don't shift move the camera while clicking the shutter.

[Smilesy]

Ok, thanks, thats pretty easy then. I had an image of me holding a button for 15+ minutes.
To the bay for me then.

[optijet980]

Actually, in bulb mode, you don't need to hold the shutter down. You press the shutter once, and that that opens it, and press it again when you are done to close it. No need to hold it down the whole time.

Though as Aegon said, it may be better to get a remote so you don't shift move the camera while clicking the shutter.

Anche sulla K-r si può fare così ? In Modalità B ?

[zorak]

You need to go into the cameras menu and set shutter bulb activation option to where one press of shutter button opens the shutter,another press closes it.You can also enable mirror lockup after 3 seconds.its listed in the manual.

[ytterbium]

Just a side note: It is recommended to do multiple shorter exposures instead of one long.

If something goes wrong during the exposure (e.g. a car drives in the scene with bright headlights overexposing everything), you just remove that frame instead of loosing all exposure.

Also you should think of some "manual shuttering" method. Lens cap can be used but it will move the camera. Something like a dark, unreflective cloth, you can put over the lens. This way you don't even need the remote or timer(put on cloth, release shutter, remove cloth). Also can be used to cover the lens when there is unwanted content in the scene (e.g. clouds moving across, people walking by).

[Smilesy]

Just a side note: It is recommended to do multiple shorter exposures instead of one long.

If something goes wrong during the exposure (e.g. a car drives in the scene with bright headlights overexposing everything), you just remove that frame instead of loosing all exposure.

Also you should think of some "manual shuttering" method. Lens cap can be used but it will move the camera. Something like a dark, unreflective cloth, you can put over the lens. This way you don't even need the remote or timer(put on cloth, release shutter, remove cloth). Also can be used to cover the lens when there is unwanted content in the scene (e.g. clouds moving across, people walking by).

Interesting. I'm intending on doing it in the mountains so other light sources won't be an issue, but I hadn't really thought about clouds. Hopefully I get a really clear night. When you say do multiple shorter exposures instead of a long one, is it then possible to combine them afterwards?

[aT0Mx]

Where in the menu is the:

You need to go into the cameras menu and set shutter bulb activation option to where one press of shutter button opens the shutter,another press closes it.You can also enable mirror lockup after 3 seconds.its listed in the manual.

[rfg]

Interesting. I'm intending on doing it in the mountains so other light sources won't be an issue, but I hadn't really thought about clouds. Hopefully I get a really clear night. When you say do multiple shorter exposures instead of a long one, is it then possible to combine them afterwards?

Also digital sensors & readout electronics have noise which slowly builds up in a really long exposure, so the sky wont be black anymore. That's another major reason for taking a series of shorter exposures. A lot of the classic star trail photos were (are?) made with film which doesn't have this problem.