P520 star shots? I would like to take some night shots of stars. I have a Nikon P520 I would be using. Any idea if this is possible? Thanks for any ideas.📸...

Spectre Loc: Bothell, Washington

I would like to take some night shots of stars. I have a Nikon P520 I would be using. Any idea if this is possible?
Thanks for any ideas.📸

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

Use a tripod and a long exposure. Maybe 15 seconds. Use manual mode and use the widest aperture and lowest iso (probably iso-80) and set your focal length to about 75mm. You should get something like this. This wasn't taken with a P520, but those are the settings I used and it should work the same on your P520. Note that with the naked eye I only saw about a dozen stars in the sky. The camera sensor picked up the rest.

(Download)

Hsch39 Loc: Northbrook, Illinois

Why the lowest ISO? I shoot the night sky at 1600 to 3200 ISO.

Bobspez wrote:

Use a tripod and a long exposure. Maybe 15 seconds. Use manual mode and use the widest aperture and lowest iso (probably iso-80) and set your focal length to about 75mm. You should get something like this. This wasn't taken with a P520, but those are the settings I used and it should work the same on your P520. Note that with the naked eye I only saw about a dozen stars in the sky. The camera sensor picked up the rest.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

With a 15 second exposure and a wide open aperture and higher iso I get a lot of noise and illuminate the sky. I want a dark sky in contrast to the stars. The attached photo is pretty much the same conditions as the first one I posted but at iso-400 instead of iso-100.

Hsch39 wrote:

Why the lowest ISO? I shoot the night sky at 1600 to 3200 ISO.

(Download)

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

It appears that the P520's longest exposure is eight seconds:
https://www.cnet.com/products/nikon-coolpix-p520/specs/

There's also a question of manual focus. To the OP: does the 520 have a manual focus option? Maybe others here can address the best way to use auto-focus in this situation.

To the OP: try your 8-second exposure at widest aperture and highest ISO. If that's too bright, do another at the next number down, and so forth.

Hsch39 Loc: Northbrook, Illinois

Thank you Linda.

Linda From Maine wrote:

It appears that the P520's longest exposure is eight seconds:
https://www.cnet.com/products/nikon-coolpix-p520/specs/

There's also a question of manual focus. To the OP: does the 520 have a manual focus option? Maybe others here can address the best way to use auto-focus in this situation.

To the OP: try your 8-second exposure at widest aperture and highest ISO. If that's too bright, do another at the next number down, and so forth.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

Linda the P520 does have a M (manual) mode. You are correct about 8 sec. being the longest exposure. However 8 sec. is only available at iso 80 and 100 in M Mode. Iso 200-400 is limited to 4 sec. and iso 800 is limited to 2 sec, iso 1600 to 1 sec and iso 3200 to 1/2 sec. Also any of the auto modes is limited to 1 second. From page 78 of the online P520 manual at:
https://cdn-10.nikon-cdn.com/pdf/manuals/coolpix/P520RM_EN.pdf

Linda From Maine wrote:

It appears that the P520's longest exposure is eight seconds:
https://www.cnet.com/products/nikon-coolpix-p520/specs/

There's also a question of manual focus. To the OP: does the 520 have a manual focus option? Maybe others here can address the best way to use auto-focus in this situation.

To the OP: try your 8-second exposure at widest aperture and highest ISO. If that's too bright, do another at the next number down, and so forth.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Bobspez wrote:

Linda the P520 does have a M (manual) mode. You are correct about 8 sec. being the longest exposure. However 8 sec. is only available at iso 80 and 100 in M Mode. Iso 200-400 is limited to 4 sec. and iso 800 is limited to 2 sec, iso 1600 to 1 sec and iso 3200 to 1/2 sec. Also any of the auto modes is limited to 1 second. From page 78 of the online P520 manual at:
https://cdn-10.nikon-cdn.com/pdf/manuals/coolpix/P520RM_EN.pdf

Yikes, not looking good for night shots for the OP with that camera...

Spectre Loc: Bothell, Washington

Thanks everyone from the information! I guess I’m stuck with the 8 sec. I was afraid of that.😢

Erlank Loc: South Africa, Pretoria

I also have a Nikon Coolpix P520.. I tried the same settings on it than what I used on my phone (Samsung S22 - not ultra or plus). It seems the full bodied camera (Coolpix) need a lot longer exposure.. I couldn't even get any light at 8 seconds with the Nikon. With my phone I took a very nice shot of the Scorpio constellation with a 0.5 sec exposure!😲🤷

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Linda From Maine wrote:

Yikes, not looking good for night shots for the OP with that camera...

Not really shocking when a convenience oriented P&S cannot be pushed into very specialized use.

An older worn and ugly SLR, plus a $20 adapter to use an old 135 f:2.8 manual lens, will cost very little $$ and do great astro vs using a P&S.

Later you can just resell it, or pick up a cheap kit lens with which to learn to do general photography.

Laramie Loc: Tempe

Can the P520 shoot multiple exposures?