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low priced camera for star night photos ?

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    • low priced camera for star night photos ?

      I am looking for a camera that I can use to take pictures of stars out on a hike. Of course, this will be while I probably should be asleep.

      My current two cameras, F6.3 and F6.6 have lenses just too slow for doing this with. These are a Sony DSC-P52 and a Canon Sureshot 490. The Sony can change the ISO rating and get a slower or faster 'film', but I don't know enough to know if F6.x at ISO 400 is good enough for star shots.

      Finding one under $100, is being a pain. I know what I need to get, a high priced digital camera... but I cannot afford those.

      A tripod wil lbe a must to. I did try my telephone, Samsung Galaxy S4, on the 3/4 moon and it left an overload spot on the camera CCD.

      I think I need a F2 or F2.4 lens on the camera.

      Any suggestions for a digital camera ?

      Thanks ?(
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.
    • I don't know a thing about cameras but stars are a great thing to want to photograph.
      While we were hiking in Maine recently we spent 1 night camped on top of Old Blue Mountain.
      There was room for 1 tent and it was us.
      I woke up in the middle of the night to hear Kathy say "look at the stars".
      The sky was pitch black, and deep, and the stars were an explosion of light and color.
      I understand why there are people and groups trying to fight light pollution, I wish them luck.
    • I have seen a huge increase in light pollution snice I was a kid. Many power companies, because the lights cost more, told towns and cities the high pressure sodium lights are required by law... except there is no such law. These type of lights are like looking into high beams of an approaching car. Tests have shown that a burglar, in some circumstances, can hide from people in passing cars and yet be fully visible to someone walking by.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.
    • There is nothing else like lying under a truly dark night sky.

      Jim, I have tried with my hiking cameras and I have never been able to get a decent night sky photo. I think there is no getting around the need for a big lens.
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • LIhikers wrote:

      I've come to the conclusion that cameras never get as good a picture as your eye, while in the outdoors.
      Of course some cameras are better than others, and some people are better at composing a photo but my best pictures are in my head, not on a camera memory.
      Could not agree more. Plus I am a lousy photographer married to a semi-professional. My pictures never do justice to what I see on my hikes.

      Plan to get what I took on here later this week after I catch up a little more at work.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • If you don't mind a star photo showing trails, just use a very long exposure.

      For that, you don't need terrific glass. What you do need is a rock-solid tripod. Start the exposure using a self-timer so that the camera has a chance to settle from you taking your hands off it before it opens.

      A high ISO is going to be noisy. Use the lowest you can get away with or your image will be full of speckles.

      Experiment.
      I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.
    • Well, not very interested in star trails. I hope to get out to Cheaha in the next few months. If I go out there in November agan, I'll stay out there unless it snows. My sister want me to get rid of lots of my stuff and not go out to Cheaha. It would be great if I did win the lottery. As it is, I have to depend on her for a place to live. But I know the cause, her kids wont pick up their clothes or anything they do after they are done.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.
    • As Kevin suggest you can use the camera on bulb setting and use what's called "the hat trick" where by you cover the lense from excepting photons before it has had a chance to settle or dampen from activating the shutter open.
      Up to about 27 second should keep from getting start trail. I liked using black and white film, but today's Digital SLR's are the way to go ideally cause you aren't having to develope a lot of unwanted photos that just didn't come out right. I once used a fugi film and can't seem to find my notes on the number, but it was a color film that enhanced the magenta showing a dust lane or cloud around M42 in Orion, Kinda neat for just messin' around and pokin' my nose in a few books. good luck Jim, lots of fun chasing the far away, and the up close and microscopic.
    • I gave away my last film camera around 5 years ago. Two I've mentioned are digital. No place to put a bulb on them.

      mostly I wanted to just take some photos of stars overhead after a day of hiking. I have somewhere two rolls of film. Pictures of a lunar eclipse. Doubt I'll ever get those developed.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.
    • JimBlue wrote:

      I gave away my last film camera around 5 years ago. Two I've mentioned are digital. No place to put a bulb on them.

      mostly I wanted to just take some photos of stars overhead after a day of hiking. I have somewhere two rolls of film. Pictures of a lunar eclipse. Doubt I'll ever get those developed.
      'Bulb setting' is the setting where the shutter is 'click to open, click to close'.

      But most digital cameras allow exposure times of several seconds, so no 'bulb setting' needed. Use the self timer and you don't even need your hat.
      I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.
    • AnotherKevin wrote:

      JimBlue wrote:

      I gave away my last film camera around 5 years ago. Two I've mentioned are digital. No place to put a bulb on them.

      mostly I wanted to just take some photos of stars overhead after a day of hiking. I have somewhere two rolls of film. Pictures of a lunar eclipse. Doubt I'll ever get those developed.
      'Bulb setting' is the setting where the shutter is 'click to open, click to close'.
      But most digital cameras allow exposure times of several seconds, so no 'bulb setting' needed. Use the self timer and you don't even need your hat.
      didnt know that, cool.