Vent: My camera battery died 45 minutes into a 3 hour star trail shoot

I set up my tripod out at Cherry Springs State Park last weekend, got my framing perfect on the Milky Way, and had my intervalometer all set. But I forgot to check my spare battery after it sat in my bag for two months, so it was dead. My main battery gave out after only 45 minutes of shooting, and I had to pack it up while everyone else around me kept clicking away. I tried to salvage what I got by stacking the 90 frames into one short trail, but it barely looks like anything. Has anyone else had a gear failure ruin a night of astrophotography, and did you find a way to make the shots work anyway?

4 comments

4 Comments

vera_robinson3628d ago

On your "90 frames into one short trail" point, careful with that wording - star trail stacking is about minutes of total exposure, not frames, so 90 frames at 30 seconds each would give you 45 minutes of trail, not a short one. Your main issue might actually be the interval timer gaps between shots, which chop up the trails into dotted lines.

gibson.avery28d ago

Fair point @vera_robinson36 but gaps aren't always the culprit if your interval's set right.

stone.lisa28d ago

Oh come on, people obsess over tiny dotted lines like they're ruining the whole hobby. It's just stars, it'll still look cool.

blair_taylor3228d ago

Yeah I read somewhere that with modern cameras the gap is barely noticeable unless you shoot super tight intervals.