Exposure lengths?

[Carl*]

Hi

I haven't taken the plunge in a DSLR yet, but from what i've been reading up they only have a maximum exposure time of 30s!

My old film SLR has a setting where you can hold the shutter open as long as you want.

Do DSLR's (Canon range in particular) have this same feature or am i just missing something?

[Carl*]

also are there any recommended sites for second hand cameras/equipment?

I've been a member of this forum for 2 yrs and only have 20 posts so at this rate i wont be able to access the for sale section until 2015!!!

Thanks

[Cornelius Varley]

DSLRs do have a B setting. You will need an electronic cable release to use it.

Peter

[Merlin66]

On current DSLR's there's effectively no limit to the duration of the exposure.

You'll find however that the sky glow and other issues will probably limit you to 3-5min subs...which can then be stacked to give a much longer effective exposure.

HTH

[Psychobilly]

The 30s limit applied to the maximum exposure that was possible to set over the USB connection on the older canon DSLR's .. with these cameras you would have to use a cable that connected to the shutter release socket on the camera to control longer exposures with the camera set on Bulb...

Unless the Canon Camera has a Digic IV processor you will still need this shutter release cable to contoll mirror lockup if you want to use it... For the older canon cameras ,using software like APT there is a work around that uses Liveview mode but this warms up the sensor intoduces noise into the images...

Peter...

[rocketandroll]

I don't know of any DSLR's that don't have a 'Bulb' setting, which allows any length exposure you want. Take a look through the imaging sections here and you'll see loads of images taken using DSLR's with anything up to 10 minute+ exposure lengths.

As has been said, you ideally want a programmable remote release or a suitable laptop or notebook to run an imaging sequence so you don't have to touch the camera and risk shaking it. Most of the Canon DSLR range have remote releases available that can be programmed to take up to 1000 exposures of any length for about £20 or so... so not a big investment.

You also want to set the mirror lock on the camera too when you get it, that also helps remove camera shake.

Hope that helps

Ben

[BlueAstra]

The canon control software is also very good if you plan to control the camera from a PC. Also, make sure it has liveview, very useful for focussing. I think there are issues if you want to use mirror lockup with the control software though. However, I never found the lack of mirror lockup an issue.

[Psychobilly]

The Canon supplied software doesnt allow long expsoure control and mirror lock at the same time - I havent tried it on a Digic iV camera...

If your using the cheaper remote timers theres a work around where you enable mirror lockup and use the self timer setting on the camera in combination with the timer remote... You basically add the self timer period to the exposure duration that you set in the remote, When the remote trigegrs the "shutter" it actually starts the self timer which then activates the shutter when its counted down... but seeing as the timer remote still wants the shutter open its stays open until the timer remote closes it...

Peter...

[rocketandroll]

What he said :-)

That's what I do with my EOS 500D.

Took a while to work that out though!! :-)

Ben

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[JohnnyD333]

Canon and Nikon (Im sure the others as well) have the bulb setting. Like everyone mentioned, unless you want to hold your finger on the button you need a shutter release of some sort. Remember that even the best DSLR is going to produce noise in the picture eventually, unlike a CCD they are not cooled, so keep the exposures around 5-10 minutes unless your ISO is set at 100. Good luck:)

[Carl*]

Great advice, thanks