Hi all,
So I'll be lucky enough to be in Namibia soon with my Nikon Z7ii and 20mm F1.8 S lens, so as much as I am a total rookie when it comes to astro, I thought I'd be foolish to pass up the opportunity. I'll likely be attempting to do some astroscapes in Spitzkoppe, as the sky will be dark and very little moonlight. Here's what my plan is currently:
I'll be attempting a classic Milky Way shot with Spitzkoppe as my foreground subject, as well as a star trails shot, as well as a possible timelapse.
I'd like to stack for both, as I don't have a star tracker. So I figure I'll stack 16 images for the Milky Way, and however many images I end up taking over 4-5 hours for star trails.
Camera settings:
Aperture: 1.8
Shutter speed: 10 seconds (based on default setting for PhotoPills NPF rule)
ISO: 3200 (this is just based on recommendations I've seen online)
White Balance: 3800
Other settings: IBIS off, LENR off, Manual Focus
Do these settings sound reasonable? Should my settings be different for the star trails images? Any other advice or things I'm forgetting? Thanks a lot. I realize this can be very situation-dependent but as a beginner in astro I'd like to go in with a plan as best I can.
What an exciting opportunity! Hope to see some of your results soon! Those settings match the notes I have. I would also recommend turning off image stabilization, weight down and lower your tripod, and don't leave your memory card at home. LOL
The 1.8 fast lens is sweet...I shoot a lot of astrophotography and find that depending on how dark it is, I would even shoot at up to f2.8. If you are shooting wide, the lower f-stop creates 'coma' at the outer edges. As far as white balance, I just put it on auto and edit in post. You might mess around with the ISO and shutter speed depending again on the lighrt pollution. Yes, definitely stack. Lightroom denoise works pretty well also. I'm now talking about MW. For star trails...your settings look pretty good. Have fun and hope to see some images here. And yes, don't forget your memory card and a remote shutter, preferably an intervelometer for star trails, is important.
Your settings look pretty for your planned situations. I would manage the white balance later in post, too. It's about your personal feeling and you can play around with the sliders. Have fun!
To find a good compositing I recommand to take some test shots on location with very high ISO for 1 or 3 seconds. So you can correct quicklier than waiting 10 seconds for one shot at ISO 3200. And let's have a try for a higher ISO like 6400 or 8000. If you stack your stars much noise will go away and maybe you can win some "more" light. I've made good experiences while using such higher ISO pictures and stack with Sequator.
For my stacks I use the camera-in-built intervalometer for taking the shots without your hands on the camera. And on my D7200 I use my IR remote control to press the shutter button and to avoid vibrations on the camera.
Please do post results! I've been thinking about getting a copy of that lens for the same reason.