[Vicioustuna2012]

So, I just purchased my first DSLR, a pentax K-30 and I'm loving it. I'm interested in trying some timelapse photography, but I have a few questions I thought I might ask. First, let me describe what I want to shoot, and then I'll pose the questions.

I plan to set my camera up in my backyard (since i'm learning this) and do a timelapse of the sun going down and on into night with the stars coming up. I won't be shooting at the sun, but opposite (east) pointed at a nice tree in my yard and the sky.

Now I know there are a couple ways to go about this on the k-30. I've noticed you can do a timelapse in video mode where it stitches it together, or you can do interval shooting and I'm assuming stitch the photos together in post. My questions are as follows:

1. Which method above renders the best results, video mode, or still shots.
2. ISO...being that I'm going from just before dusk, and on into darkness, how should I handle the ISO? should I set it to auto? I know once it get's dark enough that stars are out, I'm going to want to shoot a longer exposure at a low ISO because I love that look. Is this too complicated for a beginner?
3. I had another question, but I forgot, lol.

Any help you guys can give me is great. This community is amazing, and you've all helped me out so much. Thanks in advance.


- Tuna

EDIT: I ALMOST FORGOT TO ADD THIS - I'm using an SMC Pentax-m 50mm f/1.7 manual prime lens. I know this may complicate things as far as what shooting method to use. I'm pretty sure I can only shoot in Manual mode with this lens, right? How would that affect the technique I need to use?

---

Last edited by Vicioustuna2012; 02-03-2017 at 02:39 PM. Reason: Omitted very important information!

[lithedreamer]

The K-30 is a great camera. I'll try to answer what I can...

1) Take still shots and stitch them in post. There are so many reasons to do this, and it'll improve the quality of your time lapse significantly.

2) I haven't done this, but I'd keep the ISO at a low fixed setting. Make sure to give the camera enough time between exposures to actually complete those longer exposures. Otherwise, it'll get out of sync and you'll start missing photos.

[thazooo]

No expert here but Ill add.........Use Tv mode that way the shutter will change vs your aperture setting........I always focus manual and leave it set though out the session........take more than you think you need at the end.....remember the Earth is what moves so set your interval accordingly.I made mine too long the first time
Good Luck

[lithedreamer]

No expert here but Ill add.........Use Tv mode that way the shutter will change vs your aperture setting........I always focus manual and leave it set though out the session........take more than you think you need at the end.....remember the Earth is what moves so set your interval accordingly.I made mine too long the first time
Good Luck

Wouldn't you want to use Av, so you keep your aperture constant?

[thazooo]

your right got my letters confuse Like I said no expert....LOL
Rotation is a bit over 1/4 mile per second, so in my 1st case 20 second interval was to long and gave a jerky movement.

[ramseybuckeye]

Just to clarify the video time lapse actually takes still photos, but it will put them together in a movie file. This is the easy way to do it but you won't have still images in the end. I'm not promoting either way, they both have purposes.

[Vicioustuna2012]

No expert here but Ill add.........Use Tv mode that way the shutter will change vs your aperture setting........I always focus manual and leave it set though out the session........take more than you think you need at the end.....remember the Earth is what moves so set your interval accordingly.I made mine too long the first time
Good Luck

Sorry, I forgot to add that I'm using an SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/1.4 prime lens with manual focus/aperture. I can't shoot with that lens in Tv mode, right?

[lithedreamer]

Sorry, I forgot to add that I'm using an SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/1.4 prime lens with manual focus/aperture. I can't shoot with that lens in Tv mode, right?

No Tv, but you want a constant aperture anyway (Av), so you're fine.

[Vicioustuna2012]

No Tv, but you want a constant aperture anyway (Av), so you're fine.

I guess my real confusion is this. If I set the ISO myself, then I have to set the shutter manually as well. So, my first photos the sun will be up, and at the end the stars will be up, so my shutter speed will need to change if my ISO is constant. The only way I can get my shutter speed to work automatically is if I set the ISO to automatic, but when I do that it likes to use higher ISO values than I would like. I prefer the lower ISO/longer shutter speeds. I feel like that gives me less noise. Do I need to change the shutter manually while it's automatically taking shots, or when I set up the interval shooting does it meter TTL and set the shutter even though I have the ISO set manually?

EDIT: Nevermind. I failed to realise that Av mode adjusts the shutter according to the aperture. I really need to read the friggin' manual -_-

[discharged]

I've done more or less exactly this myself but I had two cameras on hand.

What I used: two cameras, tripod, remote shutter.
Settings: manual mode, manual focus, manual white balance and manual aperture (all manual)
1. Get a good exposure to start with.
2. Snap shots with the other camera at 1/3 or 1/2 stops above or below. Make sure that you use histogram and blowout and under exposure warning
3. Change when shots with other camera gets close to the edge.
4. Painstaking work in lightroom begins

[Quartermaster James]

If you happen to have a cell phone with an IR blaster, the dslr remote app is handy for this too.

[Vicioustuna2012]

I've done more or less exactly this myself but I had two cameras on hand.

What I used: two cameras, tripod, remote shutter.
Settings: manual mode, manual focus, manual white balance and manual aperture (all manual)
1. Get a good exposure to start with.
2. Snap shots with the other camera at 1/3 or 1/2 stops above or below. Make sure that you use histogram and blowout and under exposure warning
3. Change when shots with other camera gets close to the edge.
4. Painstaking work in lightroom begins

Thanks so much for the advice, but I'm a total noob, so some of this is greek to me. Unfortunately, I only have the one camera.

[discharged]

Thanks so much for the advice, but I'm a total noob, so some of this is greek to me. Unfortunately, I only have the one camera.

You can adopt the same strategy with one camera aswell.

The change from night to dawn will be a bit trickier though.

The basic problem is that you want the images as identical as possible. To avoid unneccesary post processing. That is why all settings should be manual. That way you can add the same corrective settings on a large number of images and recive the same result on them all. Using any automation means having to check each image to make sure it has all the same settings... However this adds a new issue, the same settings can not capture a scene at both sunset and during the night with proper exposure.

So you are going to have to change, either manually or automatically. Most people here seem to want to promote automation for camera settings, something I am strongly against, for the reasons above and for the simple fact that you might get such a great error that you have to scrap the entire image...

I would recommend testing your setup in every way you can, my guess is that you want the night sky to move during the night shots... Positioning yourself so that the milky way is visible often provides the best results. You also want to check what ISO settings to use on the k-30 I would say 1600 or lower. The interval you choose has to be long enough to allow proper exposure when it is dark at it will get. Having a 10 second interval if the camera needs 15 seconds for exposure is not that smart

You have additional problems, going for something like this requires many images, the k-30 produces dng raws at around 15MB if I remember correctly. Going for 12 hours would require aprox 2900 images if you go for one every 15 seconds... That is around 45 gigabytes. So minimum a 64GB card is needed, does the k-30 support sdxc? And it is also more than 2000 more than the k-30 can take on a single charge. Can you charge it while taking shots?

Additional problems.
You need to keep the interval the same, some remote that can do interval shots is required or using the built in function... Unless you want to press that button every 5-10-15 seconds for 12 hours...

[C_Jones]

If you use all Manual settings, which will enable you to use your preferences, and adjust them during the process according to light availability per your meter reading during the daytime, then resort to shutter speeds that will provide enough light during the night, you will get some results. You could do individual test shots on a day during the different times of the evening/sunset/night using the scene you plan on shooting your time lapse to get an idea of what the basis of effective settings would be, and note them. Then on the day of your time lapse shoot, you would have your notes to derive basic settings to apply during the shoot. You could also do short period time lapses for evening, sunset, and night to get an idea of what settings are most accommodating prior to the all inclusive longer period time lapse that you are planning on. The trial and error experience of you actually performing the task is going to teach you what works best with your equipment.

[Just1MoreDave]

The Pentax-M lens will be wide open in any mode except for M. M won't work because none of the settings will change. You might want to stop down a little bit, like f2 or so, just because that will improve the individual images. You could do this by not quite mounting the lens fully. About 10 degrees short of locking, the lens aperture lever won't engage with the camera's arm any more, so you can set any aperture you want on the lens aperture ring. It is not quite as sketchy as it sounds.

Exposure is going to be the hard part. The camera will try to make everything the same brightness in any automatic mode, but you want it to look darker at night. You probably don't want auto white balance. If you shoot all individual RAW images, you can adjust them to get a better flow between dusk and darkness.

Night sky RAW photos will have smaller files than usual, and the K30 does take SDXC cards so that is not a limiting factor. The internal interval timer only does 999 shots; that may be a problem for the best flow. The K30 has a socket for an external timer. Battery life is going to be a problem.

It would be nice to have three identical nights in a row or break the shoot up into three segments. In the break, swap batteries and adjust settings. Maybe time the breaks so they happen during complete darkness. Lots of experimenting!