Startrails!

[Corran]

I was going to post this in the Night photo thread but I'd like to see what others are doing specifically with stars and startrails, and maybe get some discussion going regarding reciprocity and other pitfalls of super long exposures at night.

This was shot 3 nights ago on a small island near Cedar Key, Florida. I used a Linhof MT, Schneider 58mm XL, wide-open at f/5.6 and no center filter on Fuji T64. I did a test exposure on my DSLR that showed a good exposure being about 30 minutes without reciprocity. Not knowing the exact reciprocity for this film, I just went to bed and woke up 3 hours later and stopped it. It's still a little dense:



My observation is that I should've done more like 4-5 hours. This was with a half moon to the west and a dim incandescent bulb about 100ft. to the right of the camera.

I'm curious what would do better - this film shot without filtration, or Provia 100F with an 80A filter. Compared to the digital photo I shot the next night (posted in the Small Format thread), the stars are much dimmer here. When I get back my 75mm f/4.5 Biogon from the shop, that'll be my go-to wide angle for startrails, probably wide-open.

I'd love to see what others have shot in this genre!

[Tin Can]

Nice! I just want to see ANY stars, Chicago blots out nearly everything. Heck, I am making a starfield projector for sleeping under.

When I camped in the Mojave, I would sleep outside, no tent, no bugs, no rain, on my back with my glasses on, so I could wake and SEE the wonderful stars.

Please keep posting!

[Corran]

Yes I can imagine how bright Chicago is. Even down here, there is often very bad glow from even medium-sized cities. When I was up in a remote part of GA camping a few weeks ago, the stars were beautiful but the view north was still ruined by the city of Columbus, GA. Still took this anyway, on Provia. You can see here how the incandescent glow renders on daylight-balanced film with no filter.

Voigtlander 15cm APO Lanthar, Provia 100F 4x5, 45 minute exposure at f/8:



Now I don't know about sleeping out there with no tent! At this location the coyotes were howling all night.

[Tin Can]

I have slept out with coyotes many times, I usually camp alone and as far from anything or anybody as possible. Coyotes, bears and snakes no problem, wild dogs really freak me out.

[David Lobato]

Randy, I think if you stopped down one or two stops from wide open the vignetting might be less. But then exposures would be longer. The 58mm XL may be too wide, the star trails near Polaris are egg shaped.

Here is one of mine, 90mm Nikkor, Tri-X. A repost from another image sharing page.

[Corran]

I kinda like my egg-shaped circles
I knew it was going to happen. It gives it a very different look than regular circles.

[Corran]

Well all of our pics have gotten lost to time. So it's about time I shared a new startrail image on 4x5! Or 4x4 anyway!

I cranked my biggest tripod up to 7 feet tall or so and stuck my customized Speed Graphic on top, and carefully leveled out the Pentax 35mm f/4.5 fisheye lens. I set it to f/4.5 (wide-open) and took the lens cap off while I shot other images on my tracker mount. In total it was about 5 hours of exposure time. Shot on T-Max 100, I developed this sheet in HC-110 dil. B for 9 minutes @ 70F. Photographed the negative on a light table, I'll scan it properly later, and cropped to just the circle as presented in mat when printing:



This is taken in my front yard (house on top of frame is mine). The rather unobstructed view is due to being on a cul-de-sac which has been a blessing for astrophotography. Lighter area on the horizon just left of top center is probably Atlanta (south-southeast 50 miles).

[Roger Thoms]

Nice one Bryan!!! Looks like a big shiny Christmas ball.

Roger

[Tin Can]

Agreed

Love it

I recently got a DIGI Fisheye

[Mark Sampson]

Well done Corran!
I recently found a contact sheet with my first attempt at 4x5 color star trails. It was in the mid-'80s; I pointed the camera over Keuka Lake (in NY state) on a clear winter's night. I used a 90/8 wide angle lens... but the color neg film in those days was so slow, and reciprocity failure such, that even the brightest stars barely registered. Not enough there to even try making an enlargement. On my occasional attempts since, I've had more failures than successes. Perhaps I lack dedication to the idea-- but I especially admire people who can and do make it work.