Tag Archives: intervalometer

Review: CamRanger

Posted on by
1

I am always looking for the best solutions for automating my night photography. In fact, I recently reviewed a litany of products. At the time I didn’t know about the CamRanger product – my friend Rob C. told me about it.

guaranteed payday loans

I am now the owner of a CamRanger. Here are my first impressions:

IMG_1552

iPhone Application

  1. I ordered from the CamRanger website, selected two day delivery. The box came all the way across the US. From Virginia to California and it arrived in two days. Woohoo! Great store and interaction.  It’s also available through Amazon, but doesn’t qualify for Prime. I figure if I’m going to pay for shipping I’ll order it directly from the company and hope they keep a bit more of the cash.  By the way I paid with PayPal. Sweet. 
  2. The packaging is reminiscent of the iPhone. Everything is nicely tucked into a little box. I was worried briefly because I also ordered two extra batteries. Thankfully they were tucked into the same box.
  3. Included were: Quick start instructions, a charger (wall wart), charger cable, USB to mini USB to connect to the camera, Ethernet cable (for upgrading the firmware), the batteries, a cigarette sized-packet with the CamRanger unit, and a carry pouch with a velcro closure and a carbiner clip.

The CamRanger is an incarnation of the TP-Link portable wireless router. It even says so on the batteries and under the case. Really clever approach! Kudos to them. Of course the firmware has been customized, and they are using the USB connector to drive the camera.  With that arrangement they can do a WHOLE lot more than you can do with a lowly intervalometer.

Essential is the CamRanger application for iPad and iPhone. They are planning to roll out other applications, including one for the PC. Since the device is a portable router, theoretically they could even provide some simple browser driven connectivity.  I loaded the app long before I received the box. You can’t get to square one without the device, however – it won’t show you any of its glorious features until it can talk to a camera. Makes some sense since what you can do depends on the camera it connects to.  I found some blemishes with the application which I’ll enumerate in just a moment.

What Can the CamRanger Do?

Before I criticize, let me first explain what you CAN do with this clever device. And this is just scratching the surface.

  • Focus stacking – let CamRanger control incremental focus for maximum depth of field with your macro (or other) shots.
  • Remotely adjust focus (camera auto-focus must be turned on for this).
  • True HDR using exposure time, ISO or f/stop increments. Up to 7 exposures are allowed.  Intervalometers with this feature can only work in low light since they can only crudely control the camera shutter.
  • Monitor “live view” and captured images. Even delete them when they suck. I am slathering at how this will improve my Astrophotography. Have you ever tried to adjust focus of a telescope pointed nearly straight up – it’s a neck breaker.

    IMG_1556

    Delete Images from Camera

  • Intervalometer functions: timelapse, and bulb exposures.
  • Complete control of settings (how complete depends on your camera). Nearly all of the settings can be changed remotely including ISO, f/stop, exposure time, metering mode, image size and type… and more.  I even moved the connection from my Canon 5D Mark II to my cohort’s Nikon D800 and had immediate control of his camera and its unique settings.
  • Some features do require manually changing the camera mode knob. For example to get bulb exposures you must be in Manual mode on a Canon 50D or in Bulb Mode on the 5D Mark II.  These peculiarities vary by camera.
  • CamRanger can do everything the EyeFi can do for sending images. EyeFi isn’t supported on CompactFlash media cameras so CamRanger is a great replacement!
  • IMG_0137Focus by touching the iPad screen.
  • Provides a Live View Histogram.
Touch the iPad to select focus point!
IMG_0128

Landscape Mode

 

 

 

 

IMG_0127

Portrait Mode

IMG_0136

View images from the camera memory card

What Could Use Some Improvement

I’ve ordered my complaints according to how much they affect the way I do most of my work which is night and astrophotography.  Some of these are nitpicking, I know.

  1. There is no sub-second interval for long exposures. I’d love for them to add a “star trail mode” and select the shortest possible interval between shots based on the camera type and behavior. The company says this is a limitation in what they are able to do through the USB connection to the camera.
  2. There appears to be no way to know if a timelapse is running nor can you stop a timelapse in progress.  The CamRanger can continue to run a timelapse sequence without an app driving it.  That’s a plus. But not being able to tell if it is running or to abort a sequence in progress is annoying. CamRanger tells me they are planning to address this in an upcoming release. Yeah!
  3. The pouch for the CamRanger could be improved to:
    • Hold all the items that come in the kit. The pouch can only hold the CamRanger device, USB cable and perhaps an extra battery – not the additional cables or plug-in charger.
    • Add velcro straps so I can wrap them around my tripod leg and secure the pouch to my tripod,
    • Provide a closeable window so I can see at a glance the unit status (i.e.those LEDs which are too bright, see below).
  4. The timelapse settings use spin dials to select the number of exposures and exposure times. The keypad would be more efficient.  It would also be great if the App automatically calculated your elapsed running time based on the number of exposures and a configurable frame rate (like TriggerTrap does). CamRanger is adding the calculation.
  5. The LEDs on the device are pretty doggone bright for night work. Would be great if they were dimmable. Of course that can be achieved by putting the device in the pouch or by putting some semi-opaque tape over the LEDs.
  6. IMG_1564To interact with the CamRanger, you have to switch your iDevice to the WiFi network generated by the CamRanger. Unfortunately that means you can not use your iDevice browser to surf the internet. If there were some fast-switch way to do it, I’d like that. Or better yet, I’d like to integrate the CamRanger into an existing network.
  7. The CamRanger itself comes with a serial number sticker. I’m SURE it will come off or get lost, but you need that serial number to connect to the device. The same serial number can be found on a sticker under the battery cover, though.
  8. The Access Key to join the CamRanger network is all in upper case.  All lower would be easier to type.
  9. My buddy Rob noted that he felt like he was going go have to break the battery cover off. Mine seems to come off quite easily if you hold it correctly.
  10. The CamRanger battery is a custom lithium-ion form factor. You can charge the battery in-device, but there is no additional charger provided.
  11. Sometimes when switching functions, for example when switching to Timer it told me “must turn off live view” which seems a bit strange since it knows how to do it!
  12. I ended up with both my iPad and my iPhone attempting to connect to CamRanger. It caused a problem that was not obviously solvable (Communication Error) until I realized both of my devices were trying to get CamRanger’s attention.

As I noted, some features depend on the way your camera interacts with the USB connection. I didn’t figure out, for example, how to cause my camera to meter the scene for me so that I could manually adjust my exposure – i.e. what I’d normally do with a half-press of my shutter button.

I haven’t tested the range or battery life as yet. Claimed battery life of the CamRanger is 6 hours. There is, however, no on screen indication of the CamRanger’s current battery condition.

Now That I’ve Used it More…

The problems with not being able to see if or stop a timelapse are more than irritating.  The only way to stop a timelapse in progress is to turn off the CamRanger device and turn it back on. It takes about a minute to come back up and meanwhile since the WiFi from CamRanger goes away, my iPad or iPhone will by default switch back to another known network (my home in this case).  That means I have to remember to also switch WiFi networks or I get “unable to communicate”.  I also noticed that for bizarre reasons which are not quite clear I could start a timelapse, but the camera did nothing.  However I *could* use the Capture button.

But that’s not the end of the pain, unfortunately.

  • The Bulb and timelapse settings are not saved. All settings reset to 0 when a timelapse completes.  If you want to re-run the same program – as I do when I take darkframes after my astrophotography sequences – you have to reprogram everything. That’s tedious.
  • Apparently the interface is not smart enough to know how to do HDRs that exceed the camera settings 30″ exposure time.  On my 50D, for example, an HDR sequence that should shoot at 15, 30 and 60 seconds will not be accepted. However that sequence can easily be achieved by using bulb mode for the last shot and that does not require changing the dial on the camera – so the app could figure it out.  I even tried doing this in “Bulb” mode, but it still didn’t seem to work.
  • The biggest pain in the butt is that the “Autofocus” behavior is not preserved.  What this means is I leave the AF button on on the lens, carefully fine tune the focus, turn it to MF (manual focus mode) on CamRanger and take my shots. If, however I am forced to cycle the CamRanger power it reverts to AF mode by default so the first shot will try to autofocus in the dark – which prevents the camera from shooting.  I’d like to set the default behavior to NOT AF even though I have set AF on the lens.
  • It also appears the timelapse is not aware of the drive mode for the camera.  I often set my camera to the 2-second (or 10 second) delay for two reasons: 1. it lights the self timer on the camera so I know when a frame is about to fire, and 2. In delay mode, an Autoexposure bracket (AEB) will automatically complete from a single press of the shutter. The timelapse settings could know that the minimum delay will be the length of the camera self timer delay (plus perhaps a second).  But it doesn’t use that information.

The good news is that the biggest pain points can be fixed in the app. I suspect some of the more advanced things would require the app to know more about the camera – and are thus less likely to be supported.

The other good news is, it really does save me from breaking my neck trying to get my eye down to the view finder or to view the LCD – when objects are high overhead I’ve had to lay down on the ground to see the LCD – blecch. And it’s great fun to watch the images roll in as the timelapse runs – even from indoors while my poor equipment is out shivering in the cold.

Camera Control Devices Compared

Posted on by
25

IMG_0092 IMG_0106 Neweer_Shoot SatechiWireless._SL500_AA300_

Welcome to another investigative report on… devices to control cameras.

My readers will already know about intervalometers. No? Ok, you can read about them in this moldy old article.  Reduced to its simplest form, an intervalometer is a device that electronically presses your shutter button and releases it.  Fancy intervalometers have many other important and useful features including those described in that aforementioned article.

In this article I will compare four devices I have with one I don’t own. The devices I am comparing are all for use with a Canon 5D Mark II but most have variations that make them suitable for wider use with other cameras and brands. Here are the devices in question:

There is one obvious difference: price.  In my opinion the somewhat unreliable cheap Shoot Intervalometer is worth the price as a sacrificial device for use in a harsh environment but not something I would recommend for a critical shoot.

It is also a little unfair to compare the two smart phone based products on price alone since they require a smart phone to operate them. Both the Trigger Happy and the Trigger Trap are picky about what phones they support.  Neither supports an iPhone 3G – each requires at least an iPhone 3Gs, 4G, 4Gs or 5.  That’s unfortunate since I have an old iPhone 3G which I would gladly convert for use only as a camera control device. What I am hinting at is that you may want to consider the cost of an iPhone or Android phone to drive these devices.

If you’d rather that I just “cut to the chase” and tell you which of these devices I recommend… Here is my ranking from best to so so:

  1. Trigger Trap
  2. Satechi Wireless Intervalometer
  3. Promote Control
  4. Trigger Happy
  5. Shoot

Promote Control

PromoteControlThe Promote Control is the unit I don’t own and its ranking is based on three things: the cost (high), the features (many) and the usability. As a dedicated device the Promote Control is almost the most versatile. Indeed it is the only device I investigated that can control the camera – using a USB connection – not just the shutter.  But they bill themselves mostly as an HDR device. Watching their videos and following the many modes and button presses made my head hurt.  The smart phone based products clearly have a leg up. They can present the data more intelligently and allow more features through upgrade than the few buttons available on the Promote Control.  The Promote Control screen is reminiscent of those multi line text pagers of yesteryear.

Because it has direct camera control the Promote Control can perform several features that the others on this list can not touch. The Promote can: shoot real extended HDR shots, not only long-exposure HDR. It can also control the focus to do focus stacking.  In various modes it can do timelapse, star trail and “bulb ramping”.  And it *might* have a method to be dormant for a while and start running the configured program in the future… however it can never be as clever as the Trigger Trap which is able to take advantage of all the other goodies on a smart phone like GPS location, tilt/shift, on board cameras, and WiFi. Being this is a dedicated device, you may not have to worry about choosing between a timelapse and and important phone call.

I learned that there is another device like the Promote Control that uses WiFi to allow extended control of the camera through the USB link: the CamRanger ($299).   What is enticing about the CamRanger is that it says you don’t need to keep your i-device connected after you set up the shooting program – that would be very nice!

If you are a Nikon shooter, there is the curiously named Zesty or ZGR-1 ($70). I downloaded the ZGR-1 app – it looks like a bad hack job – especially the translation of the manaual (as they called it) from Chinese to English.  The ZGR-1 app seems pretty limited, too, but it’s hard to tell since it only connects to cameras I don’t have.

TriggerTrap

IMG_0078This device is the newest in my arsenal and is perhaps the most promising. The funny thing is that I was able to test it without having the dongle… because the TriggerTrap and the Trigger Happy dongles both work on the same principle: they attach to the headphone port of your smart phone and control the shutter button by playing sound through that port. If you have an alert, or incoming call, it may make the camera do strange things – I’ve noticed that behavior with the Trigger Happy product, and unfortunately an incoming call during my star trail test with TriggerTrap terminated the current exposure even though I didn’t do anything to the call. Indeed, selecting the home screen on the iPad or iPhone seems to terminate TriggerTrap’s signal – it doesn’t continue to run in the background like the built-in Music Application or White Noise do.

The TriggerTrap application exploits features of your smart phone or iPad in very clever ways not only can you configure it to do normal timelapses, star trails, bulb ramping and long exposure HDR shots.  TriggerTrap can fire your camera when it:

  • determines you’ve moved x meters from your previous location
  • notices movement in the smart phone camera
  • notices faces in the smart phone’s camera
  • detects that the device is moved
  • hears a sound of a configurable volume (clap, bang, whistle)
  • detects magnetism / metal (presumably using the built-in compass)
  • gets a wi-fi signal from a master – that is it can become a remote control device.

The TriggerTrap application is well done, has copious help, lots of little features, and clear definition of functions. If it lacks anything, it is the ability to save a particular camera or shooting setup. IMG_0086I really appreciate the ability to set times and duration using a slider with a pop-up spin control to fine tune the values that are hard to hit via the sliders alone. And it supports sub-second intervals, timeouts, etc.  It also calculates and displays the results of your changes on the fly so if you increase the number of photos that will be taken in timelapse mode, it shows you how many seconds the timelapse movie will last, and automatically calculates the photo interval.

It really only lacks ONE very useful feature that I would use… the ability to set an initial delay or an ending time.  I’d like to app to “sleep” until 20 minutes before moonset and THEN start my star trail sequence, or set it to end 40 minutes before sunrise, etc.  It has the built-in intelligence to know when the sun will rise or set for your current location so it’s just a small matter of code to add the delay function or the cut-off function.

IMG_0110Some functions are a little too cute. The Cable Release mode, for example, has an odd little spin-wheel to select functions. A pull down would be easier to use than the mostly useless single letters on the wheel. The area you press to start the exposure is both small and it does not light to show when it is exposing. In the diagram at the left the exposure has been started but nothing is counting down and nothing has changed since pressing the small gray “start” button.

One problem with this app, and the Trigger Happy application, is that it must be dedicated to use for the purpose it is intended to serve.  I made the mistake of leaving my Bluetooth on and with my car parked nearby my phone paired with the over-visor Bluetooth speaker in my car and could not drive the camera (but I got strange buzzing noises in the car). Turning off Bluetooth  solved the problem. BUT a phone call or pressing the home button to return to the main screen effectively ends your exposure. Oh, and the cable is short – about 1.5 feet total – so you’ll need something to hold your iPhone or iPad close to your camera. And the app spills light which may affect your shot. Oh, and an inadvertent touch may stop whatever you’re trying to do.  But it does do sub-second delays between exposures. I got mine down to 250 milliseconds between shots without missing any exposures on my Canon 5D Mark II – that’s 1/4 of the time you can do with the run-of-the-mill intervalometer.  Indeed, I set my exposures to 26.63 seconds and delays to 250 milliseconds. 45 shots took 20 minutes, 10 seconds which works out to 26.88 seconds per shot.

Trigger un-Happy

IMG_0092Trigger Happy ranks near the bottom of my list not because it is unreliable, and not because it is more expensive than its TriggerTrap cousin, which it is, and not because many people are reporting months long delays in receiving a working product. No it’s near the bottom because the iOS application (version 1.03) that was released to control it is… maddening.  It seems to have features I want (timelapse, Bulb Ramping, HDR Bracketing) but its sophomoric interface feels like it hates me.  For one thing, the many screens are all “single purpose” but you MUST select things in the order the app expects or it will both complain AND ignore you.  IMG_0100For example, you must start by setting the Interval. If you then try to set a shutter time that is longer than the interval it refuses to let you go ahead – you must go back and change the interval.  Moreover when you try to set the Shutter time, it doesn’t TELL you what the current Interval is. A better application would add a “Star Trails” mode where all you do is set the exposure length and it ASSUMES a 1 second or less pause between shots.  And a MUCH better application would either adjust or offer to adjust the other parameters for you. A good example of a better application is the TriggerTrap. TriggerTrap shows the settings together on the same screen and doesn’t divide them across screens.

IMG_0091If you switch e.g. from “Timelapse Normal” to “Timelapse Bramp” it pops up an annoying dialog box “Bulb Mode Required”. Switch the Shutter mode from “Auto” to “Manual” and guess what dialog box pops back up! Blecch.  A little on-screen reminder would have been fine, but why pop up a box I can only say “OK” to?  Thankfully it has sub-second exposure and interval lengths, but it could be made MUCH better if it asked you what camera you are using and initialized the settings for you… or if you could create a profile for a specific camera.  There are many other problems with the interface… for example in “Single Shot” mode the banner across the top on my iPad still reads “Time Lapse” what? A One shot timelapse?  The good news is that a release of a better app could dramatically improve the usability and usefulness of this device.  I have tried to persuade the makers to do a better job with their application, but the very young adults who started this project long ago on Kickstarter and apparently have had a falling out after collecting $221,000 in starter money.

Satechi Wireless

SatechiWireless._SL500_AA300_Rather than expend a lot of energy writing about it, you can read my (rather glowing) review of the device on Amazon (its the topped ranked favorable review).  One thing to note: the device I received was labeled “Young Nuo”  not “Satechi”.

 

Shoot Intervalometer

Neweer_Shoot

This devices is a cheap knock off of the manufacturers device. Like the Satechi, there are different connectors available to fit different cameras.  I bought three of them for loaners with my workshop participants and one of them developed the problem I described in the review.

 

Device Comparison

F E A T U R E Trigger
Trap		 PromotControl Trigger
Happy		 Satechi
Wireles		 Shoot
Timer
Price $ USD (3) 30 320 50 60 15
Control Type Audio USB+S Audio Shutter Shutter
Computer-less operation Yes (4) Yes Yes Yes
Timelapse Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
StarTrail Mode Yes ? No No No
Delay Before Start No No No Yes Yes
Sub-second intervals Yes Yes Yes No No
Bulb Ramping Yes Yes Yes No No
Ease of Use (6) Great Fair Poor Good Good
Bulb based HDR Bracketing Yes Yes Yes No No
Full HDR Bracketing No Yes No No No
Focus Control No Yes No No No
Android Compatible (5) No Yes No No
iOS Compatible Yes No Yes No No
Battery Life (7) ? (7) Months Months
Flash Control Yes ? No No No
Wireless use (2) (1) No No Yes No

(1) Can use WiFi with Master/Slave for remote control.
(2) Theoretically all audio jack based controls COULD be operated via a BLUEtooth audio device.
(3) Includes the cost of an application and a cable or cables to connect to the camera.
(4) Computer and USB cable required to upgrade the firmware, but not for programming/use.
(5) The android application has fewer fancy controls, but the timelapse, bramping, and star trails work fine.
(6) My subjective evaluation of ease of use.
(7) I ran both the Trigger Trap and the Trigger Happy applications on my older iPhone 4. Each ran for over 4 hours and consumed less than half of my battery – and that was with all phone functions left on (WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular).  Of course your battery life may vary.  I did not test the battery life of the Satechi in Wireless mode.

 Yet More Control Ideas

  • DSLR Remote (Homebrew Hardware)
  • CamRanger ($299). Wireless (WiFi) control with USB support. Allows you to view photos like you can with the EyeFi card but you can also control focus, and much more.
  • Zesty or ZGR-1 ($70, Nikon models only)
  • Timelapse+ ($210) In development – also a Kickstarter Project.  Currently only shutter control, but it looks like it may be a serious competitor to the Promote Control with USB support *and* an iPhone application to control it.
  • Rubberband. Yep, rubber band. Set the camera in continuous exposure mode and hold the shutter button down with a rubberband. Works in a pinch – trust me!

Struck by Lightning – an Interview with Phil McGrew

Posted on by
4

My friend, and fellow moonatic*, Phil McGrew found himself instantly thrust into the international spotlight for an image he captured from his office window. The occasion was a rare display of violent weather in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The photo has gone viral with over a 200,000 views on Flickr (1,474″favorites”) as well as international appearances.  For mysterious and unfathomable reasons, Phil’s photo didn’t make it to the famed “Flickr Explore” which clearly is not measuring how phenomenally great a photo is!

Bay Bridge Lightning Strike!

Photo by Phil McGrew - The Sizzle Heard Around the World. Used with permission.

More than just a few people have “honored” Phil by copying his photo and posting it among their own work. I understand the temptation. But that’s just plain wrong (not to mention a violation of copyright law).  Phil has given me permission to show his photo and tell his story.

You may be here because you’re looking for some specific information.  If so, here is the cheat sheet – or just read on for more interesting data.

Is this Photoshopped? Is it Real?

First let’s get a few things right – lots of speculation and conjecture about the photo has swirled on various social networking sites. None of that related to anything Phil ever said or wrote. All of it due to misquotations and assumptions.

Phil took the photo from his office window. Those “dots” are rain on the window because Phil wasn’t too eager to put his brand new Canon 5D Mark III out in the elements. The ISO was set to 100, and f/10 was the f-stop.  The photo was captured using an intervalometer that continuously snapped 20 second photos. He didn’t try to “time it”.

Here is how Phil describes it:

The photograph is a single, 20-second exposure. The Daily Mail interview implied that all 8 strikes hit at the same time. There are actually 9 strikes, and some people argued that the lightning didn’t all hit at once. All I can say with certainty is that there are no strikes on the photo before or after this one, so all the strikes had to have occurred within the 20 seconds. Some people commented that the photo must have been compiled in Photoshop because it didn’t look like there were any cars on the bridge. However, in a 20 second exposure, car headlights and taillights appear as a streak. Because our vantage point is higher than the traffic deck that streak of car lights also seems to blends in more so it looks like part of the bridge.

What Was the Most Difficult Part of Getting this Image?

The most difficult thing was getting my office completely dark so I could eliminate reflections on the window. I have five computers, six monitors, a mini cell tower, and a router. Like a lot of home offices, it’s full of lots of electronic things with blinking lights. 

Can I Buy This Image?

Phil is overwhelmed with requests at the moment but he is feverishly trying to set up to sell and license the image.  Check Phil’s website:

http://www.philmcgrew.com 

He hopes to have an order page set up soon.

Can I Use this Photo on My Desktop?

Not legally, no. Making a personal copy is a violation of copyright law. However the Google Photos Screen Saver is able to pull and display photos from Flickr and other sources.  For example if you add this to the “Google Screen saver” it will pull in the latest of Phil’s shots.

http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?id=56674458@N08&lang=en-us&format=rss_200

How Did You End up on the News?

You may have seen Phil’s shot. It was featured on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, and his shot has been widely shown on local, national and international news stations.  Here is how that came about.

My girlfriend Sherry urged me to contact the NBC Bay Area news the first night because we knew they’d be featuring the storm, and by the time I realized I had lightning and that it was in focus and not overexposed, there was still time to make the 11:00pm broadcast. I had a contact number for the assignments desk because I had contacted them previously to let them know about a great story featuring Eric Harness.  (NOTE: That is Eric Harness of StarCircleAcademy!) He’d found a camera in a creek bed while hiking in Yosemite and used social media to post a few of the photos in an attempt to locate the camera’s owner.  I called the assignments desk again to tell them about the photo, and posted it to my Flickr account so they could see it. They decided they’d like to use it during the broadcast. We thought it’d probably just appear once at the beginning of the weather segment, and we were shocked that they actually showed it four times during the broadcast, mostly as an interstitial, but still, it was fun to see.

Are You Really 49 Years Old, You Seem Much Younger?

I think one thing Phil definitely regrets is being made several years older needlessly.  When I asked him whether he was indeed 49 his answer was:

No, but I hope to be someday so I wasn’t too upset when the Daily Mail listed me as 49. I thought it made me sound more experienced.

It’s also a good case of “don’t believe everything you read.”

Is This Lightning Strike Your Favorite Shot?

Definitely not. My favorite shots are the ones I’ve had to work for. Lunar and solar alignments require some effort to plan. As a former nuclear engineer, I love the challenge of doing calculations to figure out where the moon or other planets are going to be and when, then scouting out the best location and angle to get an interesting shot. Then, of course, you have to hope for clear skies, which is never a given here in the Bay Area. The lightning show was more of a “I’m going to set up the camera and see what happens, maybe I’ll get lucky” event. In fact, once I set it up, I went into the other room and watched TV for a few hours. Don’t get me wrong, the attention that it’s gotten has been an amazingly fun and overwhelming experience, and I’m really grateful for all the kind words and interest people have shown in it. I never thought I’d be on local or national news, or appear in back-to-back issues of San Francisco Magazine, without having committed a serious crime. However, I’d have to say that one of my favorite photos is the full moon over the Transamerica building in San Francisco with the Golden Gate Bridge in the foreground. It took quite a bit of planning and the sky ended up with some really amazing colors. It was kind of a “magical” moment where everything just went right.

Moonrise Over San Francisco

Photo by Phil McGrew. Used with Permission

What Subjects Most Interest You?

I gravitate towards night photography. But I’m still trying to figure out what kind of photographer I am so I always try to shoot a variety of subjects. My Flickr account is a little all over the place because just about everything interests me. Night scenes, animals, landscapes. The only thing I don’t really shoot much is people. I think that’s because I’m actually pretty shy and I’m never really sure how to approach them.

Are You Surprised About Your Instant Fame?

I can’t think of anything that hasn’t surprised me. The first night I thought it was great that the local NBC late news showed it four times during the broadcast. I still have no idea how an image clearing house in the UK found it on Flickr, but I was surprised when they called me later that evening to ask if they could distribute it. The next morning, it appeared in the Daily Mail and people started forwarding it to me, and obviously, their other friends. It just sort of took off from there. Before the Daily Mail article, my main goal for that day had been to try to catch the jet fly over for the Giants home opener. I certainly wasn’t expecting to get hundreds of emails and Twitter posts, much less do interviews with local news stations. The whole thing has been one surprise after another. 

What Photographs and Photographers Most Inspire You?

I didn’t study photography formally so I’m probably not as familiar with the “greats” as other people are. However, I’m always inspired when I surf Flickr and see the amazing night photography featured.  I get assistance and inspiration from a variety of photographers I interact with whether they know it or not.  The greatest influences thus far are people I’ve personally shot with and they include Steven Christenson, Harold Davis, and Fred Larson.  There are so many people out there with interesting views and great composition that it doesn’t seem fair to only name a few but that’s the top three.

NOTE: Steven and Harold are also founders of StarCircleAcademy – thanks for the plug, Phil!

More Exposure for Phil

Phil Appears on CBS News, San Francisco

Astro101: Checklist

Posted on by
1

From the simple to the extraordinarly complex here is a list of things to take when you venture out to do astrophotography:

Starter Kit – Camera & Tripod

  • Camera
  • Wide field, fast lens (40 degrees or more, f/1.8)
  • Sturdy Tripod
  • Intervalometer – though a simple remote push button will work, too.
  • Memory cards
  • Batteries (plenty)
  • Binoculars
  • Green Laser (optional), see Target that Fuzzy
  • Planisphere / star chart / smart app like Star Walk.
  • Red head lamp / flashlight with red cellophane over them.

That’s about it.  This approach allow visual observation, and photographs of large areas of e.g. the Milky Way.

Intermediate Kit

Starter kit plus:

  • Intervalometer
  • Equatorial Drive + Polar scope + batteries  (Polarie for example)
  • Head/mount to put the camera on the Equatorial drive.
  • Stadium cushion or garden kneeler
  • Telephoto lens (zoom or prime)
  • Bahtinov Mask (focus aid)

Serious Intermediate Kit

All of the above plus:

  • Deep cycle marine battery (or astro power kit)
  • Laptop with imaging aid program (e.g. BackyardEOS, MaximDL, …)
  • BIG battery for your camera (or converter to use astro power kit)
  • Voltage inverter to power the laptop
  • Red cellophane to cover the laptop screen
  • Small folding table
  • Folding chair
  • Power strip, extension cords
  • Power inverter (convert 12 VDC to AC)
  • Modest sized apochromatic refactor, mounting rings, extensions, eyepieces, star diagonal, dual speed focuser, dovetail plate, heads up finder.
  • Optional: GoTo solution for the mount

Sold Out Astroimager

  • Large APOchromatic refractor or Reflector
  • Massive mount with GoTo control
  • Astro CCD image camera with thermo electric cooling
  • Filters for Hydrogen Alpha, Oxygen, etc.
  • Finder scope
  • Guide scope and autoguider
  • Lots of $$$$.
  • Large car to drive it around.
  • (optional) Sherpa to lift it all.

For more information, please attend a Webinar!  See the training list here, or see all events here.

Collecting and Processing Images

I have a Canon, and an windows machine. These two things together mean that I can use BackyardEOS ($25) to aid in the focusing and capture of night sky images; and I can use Deep Sky Stacker (Free!) to process my images.  Deep Sky Stacker takes some patience to learn, but it is mostly automated.

I understand “Keith’s Image Stacker” ($15) is available for Mac people – though apparently it’s not quite as powerful or as widely used as DeepSkyStacker.

Pricier and more complete options include ImagePlus, MaximDL, and much more. For a full list of options, prices and features, please see Jerry Lodriguss’s site.

 

Trouble with Long Exposures – Part 2 of 2

Posted on by
14

In the previous article I discussed 4 of the 6 most common problems that occur with long exposures.  Those problems are:

  1. Poor Focus
  2. Dim Stars (low contrast)
  3. Strange Colors
  4. Purple or Pink Glow

In this installment we tackle these two issues

  1. Gaps in Star Trails
  2. Lots of Noise (Colored Speckles)

Gaps in Star Trails

To oversimplify a bit there are four causes for gaps in star trails created from successive exposures:

  1. Camera limitations
  2. Camera or intervalometer misconfiguration
  3. Processing choices
  4. Weather conditions

Camera limitations: I described this issue in my article “How long does a 30 second exposure take?“  All the Canon cameras I own – including the top of the line 5D Mark II require 32.8 seconds to complete a single 30 second exposure. Well there you go: almost 3 seconds of time where there is no exposure. This problem can be compounded by two common misconfiguration blunders:

  • Failing to allow enough time between exposures when using an intervalometer. Or using the wrong drive mode on the camera.
  • Failing to turn off long exposure noise reduction.

To avoid intervalometer misconfiguration I operate in either continuous exposure mode or bulb mode. I use continuous exposure mode when my exposures will be many and a maximum of 30 seconds – e.g. when trying to capture meteors or planning for a time-lapse animation. In continuous exposure mode I set my intervalometer with a start delay and then program an exposure time of several hours… AND I put my camera in Manual, high-speed continuous exposure mode with a typical exposure of 30 seconds. You do not really need an intervalometer for this – a locking cable release is sufficient.

When I operate in bulb mode, I try to get a moderately long exposure. Usually in the 4 to 10 minute range depending on the sky conditions. In this setup it is very important to put the camera in Bulb exposure and program the intervalometer to leave a 3 second gap between one exposure and the next. I have recently discovered, however that the Canon 5D Mark II will work with my intervalometer set to 1 second intervals. That’s goodness. I am still trying to work out whether the problem is due more to the timer or the camera. I do know that in continuous exposure mode all my cameras require 32.8 seconds per each 30 second exposure. Failure to allow a long enough pause between exposures can cause unexpected results.

Photo 1: For the first half of the evening I mistakenly left long exposure noise reduction on. The result was that half of my shots occured at every-other eight minute intervals.

The “dotted lines” in the circle above were caused by leaving on long exposure noise reduction. The result was that the intervalometer timed an 8 minute exposure, waited three seconds and then pressed the shutter for the next 8 minute exposure. However 3 seconds after the exposure completed it was still doing long exposure noise reduction so that cycle was skipped until the intervalometer released the shutter for the next 3 second “off” interval.

I have gotten into the habit of setting my exposure length to 3 seconds less than what I want… e.g. 9:57 for a 10 minute exposure. I then set a 3 second inter-shot interval. I used to set a 10 minute exposure plus a 3 second gap – but the predictability of starting a new exposure every 10 minutes makes it easier to monitor what is going on.

Another cause for gaps: changing the battery. I can offer the following important tidbits when you need to change the battery.

  • Do not wait for your battery to be exhausted. A partial exposure may not stack well or be completely written to your card. Battery exhaustion will likely occur at an inopportune time.
  • Have everything at hand in advance of the change. For example, keep the battery in your front pocket where your body heat will keep it warm.
  • Practice a battery change BEFORE you start your exposures. Only by practice beforehand will you be able to discover that the battery compartment is blocked by your tripod, or impossible to reach, etc.
  • When you DO change batteries beware! Your camera settings may change dramatically!

Processing choices you make when stacking the star trails also affect whether your gaps will be inconspicuous. Do not do any sharpening until you complete your stacking – and even then avoid sharpening the star trails themselves. The method used to stack trails is significant. However, I have observed that people do not notice gaps even in this image of 19 8-minute exposures printed out at 20×30 inches.

Photo 2: Even though it is composed of 19 eight minute exposures the gaps are never noticed even when printed at 20x30.

Weather conditions can also introduce gaps. In a truly dark sky where clouds are not lit by city glow, moonlight or twilight, clouds become “black holes” and block starlight. Low or fast moving clouds can obscure some, most or all of one or more images in the set. This can be perplexing if you happen to be sleeping during exposures which started and ended with clear skies.  Another problem is dew which may form a fog that diminishes or eliminates some or all of the exposures. Vigilance with a rag, the use of a hood or a dew heater are your only weapons against dew.

Lots of Noise (Speckled Colors)

I purposefully left the noise in Photo 1. It’s quite noticeable in the rock silhouette at the lower right and appears mostly as red specs. Annoying? Well, yes, but it is not the end of the world.  In order of effectiveness here are your best approaches to keep the noise manageable:

  1. Shoot at a lower ISO (100 or 200)
  2. Shoot and stack shorter exposures – longer exposures generate more noise.
  3. Capture the foreground and the star trails separately. A better lit foreground will exhibit less noise.
  4. Shoot during colder seasons – lower temperatures result in lower noise.
  5. Control stray light with a lens hood – and close or cover your viewfinder while exposing.
  6. Use high ISO noise reduction
  7. Use noise reduction post processing tools. Chrominance noise is usually most in need of correction.
  8. Use long exposure noise reduction.

Hopefully you noticed that long exposure noise reduction (LENR) is last on the list. If you are trying to stack star trails it is impossible to get continuous trails with LENR on. It is also the least effective unless you are only going to shoot one shot.

Before we go much further, it is worthwhile to note that there are 4 causes of “noise” and each has a different source. The random speckles are usually what is meant by noise. Those random speckles are created by heat, limitations in the electronics, and things as bizarre as electromagnetic phenomenon like sunspots. No kidding. True noise is by nature random and LENR can not do a thing to combat random noise except to diminish it by reducing the luminance of the offending pixels – which also reduces the sharpness of your image. But there are 3 other kinds of noise that are not random though often lumped into the same general category: hot/stuck or degraded pixels, local heat noise (sometimes called amp glow), and high ISO noise. LENR is effective for these because they are not random.

Hot or stuck pixels usually appear as bright pink, red, blue, green, white or purple spots. They are caused by either electronic problems on the sensor chip or by the dyes used to detect the color.  A pixel detects the intensity of the color red by use of a red dye (inkjet droplet) over a sensor site. If that red dye is insufficiently thick, or missing altogether then that pixel location will always read hot if there is any light falling on it – and if the problem is electronic it may read hot even if no light is striking it. Dead or degraded pixels are just the opposite. Too much dye or dead electronics at a pixel site. Degraded pixels are stuck black or darker than the surrounding pixels and are seldom if ever noticed in night photography.

Locally caused heat noise is noticeable in some cameras and is due to the heat of electronics in proximity to the sensor. In my opinion this problem is a design flaw in the camera. However this kind of noise is repeatable so LENR can help correct it. The “Pink or Purple Glow” that results from this flaw was discussed in Part 1.

High ISO noise has an understandable parallel in the world of audio. Take nearly any cheap radio. Turn it up. At some point the sound will become distorted and harsh. This harshness is because there are limitations in the signal, the amplifier circuitry and the speaker used to produce the sound.  Increasing the ISO in your camera is the photographic equivalent of the audio scenario.  At some point amplifying the light measurements made at each pixel makes the noise more obvious.