Milky Way / Night Sky Photography

[Crasstoe]

Hi all,

We are planning a holiday this year and it is looking like Tenerife may be coming out on top. Now Teide National Park is obviously fairly high, no street lighting and clear skys, sounds like an opportunity for some night sky photography.

Has anybody been able to capture the stars (or the milky way?) with their L1020? I would like to refrain from taking another camera with me (more to lose) but I won't pass up the opportunity to get some amazing photos.

If you have any advice on which apps to use, or techniques, or even examples of your own photos I would be happy to hear it/see them.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

 

[gpobernardo]

Hi all,

We are planning a holiday this year and it is looking like Tenerife may be coming out on top. Now Teide National Park is obviously fairly high, no street lighting and clear skys, sounds like an opportunity for some night sky photography.

Has anybody been able to capture the stars (or the milky way?) with their L1020? I would like to refrain from taking another camera with me (more to lose) but I won't pass up the opportunity to get some amazing photos.

If you have any advice on which apps to use, or techniques, or even examples of your own photos I would be happy to hear it/see them.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

Hello,

I'll suggest taking a professional camera - one that can shoot at higher-than-normal ISOs - with you in order to make the most out of your trip and night sky photography. The L1020 performs well in low light, but it (in my opinion) is not sufficient for capturing stars... you most probably would need to do a some form of post processing to make the best out of what you have captured.

Here's a sample of a photo (impromptu) I took with my L1020 of the Orion's constellation:

The sky was clear that night, but being in the city I'm sure the stars could have been a lot brighter. Also, the moon was shining brightly (just around 25 degrees off of Orion's belt) so that added a bit of lens flare. In the end, I had to clean out the lens flare from the moon (and the surrounding city lights) and brighten up the highlights to bring out the stars while avoiding enhancing signal noise.
The L1020 was set to focus at infinity, ISO4000 and 1/3s (couldn't go longer, since that would blow up the flare from the nearby moon) exposure time... and was placed camera up on my leather case on a table at a garden party (told ya it was impromptu ).

However, despite the rather "simple" enhancements done on the photo, it still doesn't come close to what a professional camera can take:


I'd love to try exposures at 4s, but it's currently stormy outside. But given that the exposure time in the photo I took was only 1/3s, I believe that the L1020 can take "acceptable" photos of stars with longer exposure times.

Hope this helps.

 

[msirapian]

My experience is that you can shoot stars and make great star trails, but not the Milky Way. For the milky way, you need high ISO and long exposure time (longer than 4 seconds).

You can check this article by Richard Dorman aka Sheridan01 here: Can You Do Star Trails with a Phone Camera? | onlyfoolsandmobiles

And check his results on Flickr here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sheridan01/sets/72157635090112994

 

[Christus Hirschus]

I am going to travel to Iceland in February and there I'll try to get a few good shots of northern lights, which have similar conditions in terms of light as stars.

If you are interested in seeing a comparison of the L1020 with a beginner dslm, I could definitely try how the L1020 works in this conditions.

 

[Crasstoe]

That would be great! I have access to other cameras but it would be far easier to just use the 1020.

Look forward to seeing what you can come up with!

Also, enjoy Iceland, supposed to be an amazing place.

 

[12Danny123]

Crux Constellation in NZ

 

[12Danny123]

If you want to take a picture of the Milky Way. I recommend you to come to the Southern Hemisphere. Since the Milky Way is above us here