Ed Addis

OK, thanks for encouraging replies! I'm still puzzled as to why I didn't capture very many of the other bright stars in the sky away from the Milky Way. I'm already using stellarium, and had expected numerous objects to be visible, and indeed they were - to the naked eye - but not the camera. I just about managed to image Orion, but only with a 40" exposure that obviously had star trails. Trouble is, in the summer, you have to go out there in the middle of the night to get a dark sky, and the nearest site is half an hour's drive away. Not sure I have sufficient motivation for that.

@AstroNebulee - I arrived there about 8.30pm and spent around half an hour there. I chose what I thought would be the darkest time, and before moonrise which I assumed would generate too much background light. @vlaiv, @Rustang - Ah OK, I hadn't realised I was going to have to do all that multiple stacked exposure, and post-processing stuff. It was all that malarkey that decided me to sell my telescope a couple of years ago - I just can't be bothered with all that stuff. For me it takes away the fun and interest out of it - I spend more than enough time already in front of a PC! I guess I'll probably not bother with the milky way photography then, if it's not going to be possible just to go and take some simple shots.

I went out last night to one of the dark sky discovery sites - Mill Pond near Malvern. I had my camera (Panasonic Lumix G3, 14-42 kit lens) set up as per instructions on a website about this kind of photography - lens at widest setting f/3.5, maximum ISO 3200, white balance 4000K, RAW, Long shutter NR off, exposures of 10", 20", 30", 40". It was a good clear night with a very starry sky, but the shots I got were disappointing - no more than a handful of stars visible, whereas I had hoped for a bright milky way display. I'd be grateful if anyone could suggest any reason that so little was picked up? I have no real experience of this kind of photography - have I made some simple mistake, or is the camera just not good enough or what? Many thanks