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My first try at the Orion Nebula was a total mess
So I drove out to a dark spot near Flagstaff last weekend, all set up my new tracker, and aimed at M42. I was super excited. But after a 3-minute exposure, the whole picture was just a bright white blob. I forgot to check my camera settings and had the ISO cranked way too high (like, 12800 high). I felt pretty dumb sitting there in the cold. I had to start over, dropping the ISO down to 800 and taking way shorter test shots to get it right. It ate up like an hour of good shooting time. Has anyone else completely blown out a target because of a simple setting you missed?
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tylerr394d ago
Checklists? I just wing it like @adams.faith.
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Oh man, that "bright white blob" is so familiar. I did the exact same thing on the Andromeda galaxy last fall. What finally worked for me was making a simple checklist on my phone of all my starting settings, ISO, exposure time, lens cap off, everything. I run through it before the first shot every single time now. It saves me from my own cold, excited mistakes. What's on your pre-shoot checklist now?
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