Newbe settings for shooting Saturn with D4

[malcolm_baba]

Can you suggest any ballpark settings for shooting Saturn using a D4?

[Sandy Vongries]

Suggest you search online for How to shoot Saturn with a digital camera. Lots of info.

[malcolm_baba]

Thanks, it seems I'm way out of my element for a simple snapshot. Oh well.

[jon_savage]

Assuming you mean a single shot to crop in you need a very long lens and a sensor with lots of small pixels. I've managed tiny cropped snapshots with a Nikon D7100 and a Sigma 150-600 at 600mm and f6.3. The subjects are in bright sunlight so you can try starting at settings around 1/00th and iso 200 and go from there. No need for very high iso's or very long exposures. Here's a couple of old threads about my related attempts on the ISS and Jupiter that have setting information.

 

Astro Photo Op

 

Photo of Tim Peake! (on International Space Station)

 

Shoot in raw and don't be afraid to tweak it a lot to get something (or probably I just got my exposures wrong!). I took lots of shots at various settings and a few worked out OK so do experiment. I have done Mars, Saturn and Venus but I don't recall the settings. My portfolio here has Saturn in it to give you an idea of what you might expect.

 

There's nothing to lose having a go. :)

[JDMvW]

I'm way out of my element for a simple snapshot.

 

Well, not necessarily. Remember that the sky is really DARK, so you need to find an exposure that will yield the sky as BLACK. Automatic is no good in this sort of situation as the camera will try to bring the black up to neutral gray.

 

Here is a hand-held picture of Ursa Major, at f/2, 1/4 sec at ISO 25,600, 400mm focal length which was not at all optimum, but it did produce a crappy image, anyhow, if a snapshot is all you want.

Edited December 19, 2020 by JDMvW

[Ed_Ingold]

Planets are a lot brighter than you might think. For Jupiter, I used 1/60 at ISO 25,600 with a 1300 mm reflecting telescope, and was barely able to discern the bands. A shorter exposure failed to show the Galilean moons.

 

Stars and deep space objects are different. For those, it's best to use longer exposures at lower ISO, with multiple images, dark and light reference images. Let the sky go bright (actually muddy brown) to capture as much light as possible without overexposing. You can fix the sky in post. Auto exposure is completely useless, since 99.99% (or more) of your subject is black.

[rodeo_joe1]

What settings do I use to see through the thick cloud that looks like it's going to hang around for at least the next 24 hours?

:(

[mike_halliwell]

What settings do I use to see through the thick cloud that looks like it's going to hang around for at least the next 24 hours?

The new Nikon RADAR 2020?

[Ed_Ingold]

I'm bummed.It was cloudy on the 21st, and every day since. I'm convinced Gov. Pritzger (Illinois) ordered the weather to keep people inside in the Time of Plague.