Milkyway Rising
Lincoln, Nebraska
A goal for this year is to improve my Milkyway photography. This is one of the times where I thought that a lens that I don't have would make a difference. I bought a 12mm f2.0. which on micro 4/3 is like a 24mm full frame lens. The lens I've been using is a 17mm f1.8. (Like a 35mm lens on FF) My frustration with the 17mm lens is that it's really not wide enough which means that I often need to stitch photos to get a wide enough view. But that doesn't always work well. Also, in order to get an exposure where the stars don't appear to move I'm limited to a 13 second exposure. This requires a minimum ISO of 1600 which underexposes and leaves some significant noise. Unfortunately, boosting the ISO doesn't really help. The 12mm allows a 20 second exposure - almost double the time and gives a wider view without having to stitch. This picture is the result of an experiment done a couple mornings ago. It's a 5 image stack to reduce noise. The picture was taken on the edge of a red zone on the "Dark Sky Map". I should not have been able to see the Milkyway, so I was delighted to be able to faintly make it out in the night sky, and it was more obvious on the camera screen.
To my surprise, each of the 5 photos had at least one shooting star. There is one on the right margin that was very bright and was the only one I saw with my eyes. The camera caught the very end of it's flight. I liked the shooting stars so much I left them in on the composite.
I can see some elongation of the stars, so I should try a little shorter exposure, but all in all I'm pleased with the result.
Milkyway Rising
Lincoln, Nebraska
A goal for this year is to improve my Milkyway photography. This is one of the times where I thought that a lens that I don't have would make a difference. I bought a 12mm f2.0. which on micro 4/3 is like a 24mm full frame lens. The lens I've been using is a 17mm f1.8. (Like a 35mm lens on FF) My frustration with the 17mm lens is that it's really not wide enough which means that I often need to stitch photos to get a wide enough view. But that doesn't always work well. Also, in order to get an exposure where the stars don't appear to move I'm limited to a 13 second exposure. This requires a minimum ISO of 1600 which underexposes and leaves some significant noise. Unfortunately, boosting the ISO doesn't really help. The 12mm allows a 20 second exposure - almost double the time and gives a wider view without having to stitch. This picture is the result of an experiment done a couple mornings ago. It's a 5 image stack to reduce noise. The picture was taken on the edge of a red zone on the "Dark Sky Map". I should not have been able to see the Milkyway, so I was delighted to be able to faintly make it out in the night sky, and it was more obvious on the camera screen.
To my surprise, each of the 5 photos had at least one shooting star. There is one on the right margin that was very bright and was the only one I saw with my eyes. The camera caught the very end of it's flight. I liked the shooting stars so much I left them in on the composite.
I can see some elongation of the stars, so I should try a little shorter exposure, but all in all I'm pleased with the result.