Nikon D600 - longest shutter speed?

[RaymondC]

<p>Might do a trip and thought about star photography, not too much into the layering technique. One pro I know does 1.5hr exposures on his Canon. Does the D600 with the wireless remote max out at 30mins?</p>

<p>Cheers </p>

[kari_oinonen]

<p>In bulb-mode the longest exposure is dependent on the battery capacity.<br>

I'd say yes, easilly. Check your remote to be suitable for the task.<br>

Easy to test both before your trip.</p>

[mike_halliwell]

<p>I'd have thought DSLRs would have had T as well as Bulb by now! Maybe it's done in the remote rather than in camera? Makes sense as you probably don't want to touch the camera.</p>

 

[mike_halliwell]

<p>I'd have thought DSLRs would have had T as well as Bulb by now! Maybe it's done in the remote rather than in camera? Makes sense as you probably don't want to touch the camera.</p>

 

[bebu_lamar]

<p>Yes Mike they do have the T setting. And unlike many people worrying about camera shake by pushing the shutter release button directly there is no such a danger for a 1.5 hr exposure. The vibration of a sec or so would not register anything on a 1.5 hr exposure. </p>

[Peter_in_PA]

<p>You'd need to be plugged into power.</p>

<p>It used to be that this kind of thing REALLY made more sense with film. Isn't that still the case?</p>

[mike_halliwell]

<p>BeBu, it seems you can't use the camera shutter release button, you need an ML-L3. </p>

<p>However, to quote from page 79 of the D600 manual...</p>

<p>• Time ("-.-"): Requires an optional ML-L3 remote <br />control (p.298). Start the exposure by pressing <br />the ML-L3 shutter-release button. The shutter <br />remains open for thirty minutes or until the <br />button is pressed a second time.<br>

Followed by...on Page 80</p>

<p>4 (To) Open the shutter.<br />Bulb: After focusing, press the shutter-release button on the camera or optional <br />remote cord all the way down. Keep the shutter-release button pressed until <br />the exposure is complete.<br>

<br />Time: Press the ML-L3 shutter-release button all the way down.<br>

<br />5 (To) Close the shutter.<br />Bulb: Take your finger off the shutter-release button.<br>

<br />Time: Press the ML-L3 shutter-release button all the way down. Shooting ends <br />automatically after thirty minutes.</p>

<p>Note..<strong> Shooting ends </strong><strong>automatically after thirty minutes.</strong></p>

<p>That kinda implies it can't stay open for longer than 30 mins...PERIOD!</p>

<p>Film? Remember reciprocity failure, that was a real pain!</p>

 

[mike_halliwell]

<p>It doesn't say whether BULB using an MC-DC2 (cable remote with slide lock) has the same limitation??</p>

<p>Seems there are lots of MC-DC2 clones with built in timers for up to 100hours such as Amazon UK ref <strong> </strong>B00C1Y01T8</p>

<p> </p>

[bebu_lamar]

<p>Yeah film does have the reciprocity failure but many film camera can stay on T indefinitely without battery and there is no long exposure noise problem. </p>

[ant_nio_gomes]

<p>@BeBu,<br /> The major problem with such a long exposure is not noise but sensor warming and manufacturers play safe in terms of sensor life span.<br /> @Ray,<br /> Is that photographer using Canon factory firmware of Magic Lantern hacks to allow longer exposures? <br /> This firmware offers some Canon cameras extra features (mainly for video) but for some of them it seems you probably play the game at your own risk.</p>

[RaymondC]

<p>No idea with firmware, all I know is that they use a 5D Mark 3. They use 1.5hr for star trails and 30" for astrophotography.</p>

[ant_nio_gomes]

<p>Have you considered multiple exposure to get a final exposure time beyond the camera limitation?<br>

You've the camera on a tripod and if your subject requires more than 30 minutes then the couple of seconds in between the individual shots will probably not be noticed in the final combined image, and the fixed elements would show the effect of the accumulated time.<br>

Just an idea...maybe a silly one but it would the one I'd try in such a case.</p>

[Andrew Garrard]

<p>I agree with António - it's probably better not to try to do this as a single exposure. It's very hard not to end up with part of the image saturating in an exposure that long, and much easier just to blend in post-production, with better control over sensor noise. It also means you can exclude the moment when a car drove past with its headlights on (BT,DT). You can do <a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120802.html">very long</a> star trails this way (although that example has more visible gaps than you're likely to be able to achieve). And you can potentially keep the aperture wide enough and exposures short enough to pick up any meteors or other interesting features that go past.</p>

[mike_halliwell]

<p>Just had a butchers over the D810 manual Andrew linked to in another post......p. 123/125</p>

<p>There's no 30 minute limit in BULB and/or TIME, so I suspect it's a deliberate cripple by Nikon to differentiate the Consumer FX from the Pro FX.</p>

<p>......<strong><em>and</em></strong> you can use the camera shutter button too. No remote required.</p>

[Andrew Garrard]

<p>Hmm. I'm annoyed that they still have a feature that mirror-up drops the mirror after thirty seconds, though. That really gets in the way for trying to capture lightning.</p>

[jens_g.r._benthien]

<p>Don't expose longer than 5 minutes, or the sensor will deliver more noise than you can handle.</p>

<p>Set up a series of shots with 5 minutes each, the according settings are in the manual. Later you can stack the images for seamless star trails...</p>

[Andrew Garrard]

<p>For the record, big thunderstorm last night, the first I've been in for some years. The mirror-up limit <i>was</i> annoying, although fortunately I was getting more than one strike every 30 seconds for a good chunk of it.<br />

<br />

A long exposure would have been a much less frustrating solution, but not with the amount of street lighting where I live...</p><div></div>