Newly arrived to my blog? Want to know more about me before you dive into my posts? Why not visit the home page first and start your exploration from there:
https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/welcome-to-my-new-astronomyastrophotogr.html
And welcome.
Welcome to 'UnderSouthWest Skies'. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find the experience worthwhile. This blog post has been written from my own 'beginner perspective' after doing lots of reading on various basic astronomy and astrophotography topics of interest to beginners. In getting my head around it all, I may have got odd bits slightly wrong; but, like you, I am on a leaning journey, so please forgive any unintentional errors. Also, just because I have gone down a particular road regarding equipment, it doesn't mean that I have chosen the 'CORRECT' route!
Meanwhile, clear skies to you. Take care and thanks for visiting Steve aka PlymouthAstroBoy
You will have already gathered from a quick perusal of this blog, that on almost all of my sessions, I will complete a timelapse using my GOPro Hero 9.
I haven't yet started to use my Canon 800D for timelapses, but that time will come during this next milky way season.
Anyway, returning to my GoPro Hero 9.
It has the facility to set up custom night time lapse setting programmes. So here are my settings for various types of night time shooting with a GoPro. I suspect they will apply to most GoPro's from Hero5 upwards.
Timelapse settings:
Firstly, turn off autofocus and then if there is a moon present/moon NOT present
- FORMAT - video/video
- RESOLUTION - 4k/4k
- INTERVAL - auto/auto
- SHUTTER - 20"/20" (I am thinking of raising this to 30")
- OUTPUT - RAW/RAW
- SCHEDULED CAPTURE - off/off
- DURATIONS - no limit/no limit
- TIMER - off/off
- E.V. COMP - N/A N/A
- WB - 4000k/4000k
- ISO min - 400 800/1600
- ISO max - 800 800/1600
- SHARPNESS - high/high
- COLOUR - GoPro/GoPro
- PROTUNE - on/on
- ZOOM - x1
- LENS SETTING - linear/linear (although I suspect wide might be better as it will let more light in)
- FORMAT - photo mode (night mode)
- INTERVAL - auto
- SHUTTER - 30"
- DURATIONS - no limit
- SHARPNESS - low
- VIEW - wide
- TIMER - 3"
- WB - 6000k
- SHUTTER - 30"
- INTERVAL - auto
- VIEW - wide
- TRAIL LENGTH - long
- SCHEDULED CAPTURE - off
- DURATION - no limit
- TIMER - 3"
- MODE - timelapse
- MODE - continuous drive
- ISO - 800 to 1600
- QUALITY - 4k
- SHARPNESS - low
- COLOUR - natural
- SHUTTER - 10" (if waning moon - 30"/ISO 1600; if bright moon and lots of shadows - 20"/ISO 800 or 10"/ISO 1600) (if no moon - 30" 4000K 800/1600 ISO, low sharpness)
- WB - 5500k (if moon - 4000k)
- ISO - 800 (but see moon settings above)
- SHARPNESS - high
- PHOTO MODE - night
- TIMER - 3"
- MODE - nightlapse
- WB - 3200k
- INTERVAL - continuous
- MEGAPIXELS - 12mp wide
- ISO min 400 max800
- SHARPNESS - low
- SHUTTER SPEED - start at 10" to 20"; but could go 20" to 30"
- PROTUNE - on
- EV COMP - off
- SPOT METER - off
- COLOUR - GoPro
- COLOUR - flat or GoPro
- WB - 3200k as starting point
- FRAME RATE - 1080/24
- SHUTTER - start with auto
- ISO - max 800
- If you are doing an entire session - you will need to plug your GoPro into an external power bank. One normal battery isn't going to do it! You will need to remove or unclip the battery compartment door - so this is not a 'do it in the rain' technique
- Set your GoPro up on a small tripod for stability and think carefully about what it is you want to record - I opt for lowish viewpoints/perspectives so that I can include me, my astronomy rig and the night sky passing overhead. My camera is normally angled upwards 30 degrees or so.
- experiment with shutter speeds - I find that 30" is just a little too fast - may be I should opt for 15" instead. Five hours gives me around 90 - 120" of video at the end
- ensure that something will be moving in your timelapse - the stars, clouds, you, your mount! The slower the movement in something the better - it becomes more noticeable in the final video.
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