Question about camera shake and a pic

[Kevdan]

Hi All,

Firstly I have been attempting some long exposure photography but am getting camera shake due to the lens mirror when it moves to open the aperture on the camera, SO question is - as this is long exposure photography can I go realy old school and cover the camera lens with a cloth, set the exposure length to something like 2mins then after about 4 seconds of the frame gently pull away the cloth covering the lens which will cause almost no shake?

Secondly here are a couple of pics of Saturn I took last night, do they look ok or does anuthing need tweeking?

Kev.

[Bizibilder]

Yes you can use a mask to "start" an exposure - I would use a piece of black card and hold it in front of the lens for a second or two after the exposure has started. Don't use a cloth as that will also vibrate the camra.

The Saturn's are fine. To be picky they are a bit over saturated with colour maybe?

[glowjet]

You should be using a cable shutter release to avoid touching the camera, but if this is mirror flop when the camera is activated, then a piece of black card held in front of the lens before you commence your exposure should improve matters.

[glowjet]

I see we sing from the same Hymn sheet Bizibuilder

John,

[brantuk]

You could just hold a large piece of black card over the lens and pull away quick after 4-5 secs when the shake has settled down. The saturn pics are a tad yellow - you can filter it but I can't remember which colour filter to use - someone else will tell you.

A couple of months ago there was an article in SaN explaining how to use RGB filters in turn to gather .avi's with the webcam then align and stack together to get the correct blend. Be worth getting hold of that one I reckon

[philhas]

If you look on Astronomy Shed Home Page there are some tutorials regarding capturing with webcams and stacking and RGB filtering.

[Kevdan]

Thanks guys, so is it a common problem then when the mirror pops up?

will re-do the sat pics as I never delete the originals.

Kev.