seanh91•1mo agoProlific Poster

PSA: Fixed my star trails issue by changing a camera setting I overlooked.

My long exposure shots kept getting blurry star trails even with a tracker. I realized my camera's long exposure noise reduction was adding delay between shots. Turning it off let me take more frames in sequence. Now my stacked images are much sharper and cleaner.

3 comments

3 Comments

james6611mo ago

But what if your noise reduction is actually SMOTHERING fine details you can't get back? I've had way better luck shooting dark frames separately and using proper stacking software that can handle hot pixels. That in-camera delay often ruins your polar alignment rhythm on a tracker too, which is way worse than a little grain.

kelly.michael1mo ago

Disagree with ditching noise reduction so fast lol. That setting seriously cuts down on ugly hot pixels and grain in your long shots. Sure, the wait between frames is annoying, but stacking a bunch of noisy images can make a real mess. I tried skipping it once and my final edit looked way worse with all that speckled crap. The extra time per shot often gives you better raw material to work with later. You might just be trading one problem for another, honestly.

emeryb341mo ago

Lol, yeah the wait between shots is like watching paint dry though. So you're saying we should just embrace the boredom for cleaner pics? I guess if you enjoy staring at your camera doing nothing, more power to you. But honestly, all that speckled crap in post does sound like a nightmare. Maybe the real problem is we need cameras that don't take forever to think about it.