lwhitlow

On my first attempt of star trails - they turned out to be dashes and not trails. Wondering where I went wrong. I used a Pluto device and had it set at 200 shots at 30 seconds with 0 gap and 0 delay. My camera used is a Canon EOS 5D Mark III and the lens is a Rokinon wide angle 2.8/14mm. I did have dew come in and so could only use a small amount of the photos. Looking for suggestions and reasons why there are gaps in the trails. Thank you for any and all help.

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Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

What is the download time for saving the pix? Did you have noise reduction on? It also looks like the camera /tripod was bumped, as the dashes are not completely aligned.

I’m not sure what a Pluto device is, nor what software you used to combine the photos. Some software (free) will give you the option to smooth out the trails. I’m sure others will mention the software, but I believe StarTrails is one of them.

Keep playing and Clear Skies!

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

I think I see where you need to change things.
You need to use longer exposures. Generally 30 seconds, with as short an interval as you can record.
I found when I first began shooting Star Trails that my card was woefully slow at storing my images. So I upped my card to the fastest, and biggest my particular camera could work with. (It also helped with soccer game shooting as well.)
You can still get dashes, but your dots will elongate making better trails.
I use a program called StarTrails to stitch my images together. But from Star Trails, I found a love for time lapse as well.

One of mine...https://youtu.be/fWlD_acJKVg

lwhitlow

The time was one hour and 40 minutes. I checked my camera and the noise reduction was not on. I used Photoshop for stacking them. I’m pretty sure the tripod wasn’t bumped- as we live on 315 + acres and no one else was here but my husband and I. I set it to begin and then went into the house while it ran. I would check through the window every so often to make sure it was still going. The Pluto attachment is like the Arsenal attachment- it is used for different captures and star trails is one of them.

lwhitlow

The time was one hour and 40 minutes. I checked my camera and the noise reduction was not on. I used Photoshop for stacking them. I’m pretty sure the tripod wasn’t bumped- as we live on 315 + acres and no one else was here but my husband and I. I set it to begin and then went into the house while it ran. I would check through the window every so often to make sure it was still going. The Pluto attachment is like the Arsenal attachment- it is used for different captures and star trails is one of them.

lwhitlow

I used 30 second shots with 0 seconds intervals. My card is a 128GB. That is why I am puzzled with this one.

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

Possibly an animal or wind jarred the tripod. The trail should not deviate. If you think of 1 star segment being 30 seconds and the space between the star segments, it means you have a substantial amount of downtime between images. Possibly PLutos setting for startrails has a large delay? Set it and watch how much time it takes for the camera to fire again after the end of the previous capture.

The attached had a few seconds delay between captures. (Long enough to save images)

Attached file:
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SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

I found that the size of the card was not my issue, so much.
It was the speed at which the card could store the data.
So now I only shop for the Ultra high speed storage. I think mine store at 90-95 Mbs.
My first storage cards were down around 40 Mbs. I noticed I'd shoot, then have to wait while the image stored.
Finally, I figured out the card itself was the bottle neck. For both action at the Grand Kids' soccer games, and for star work.
Faster storage means faster recovery for the next shot.

Your stars certainly do not appear to be 30 second exposures. The stars and the voids between them appear nearly equal.

Just keep trying. Here is a primer on it as well:
https://petapixel.com/2013/03/18/how-to-photograph-star-trails-from-start-to-finish/#targetText=First%2C%20you%20will%20want%20to,lens%20you%20are%20shooting%20with.

A piece of equipment I found very valuable is an Intervalometer. My first was a wired type. I misplaced it, and got a remote controlled Intervalometer. MUCH more fun!
Here is a good article about it, and it also covers Canon. https://expertphotography.com/intervalometer-photography/

I also like to dabble in time lapse. So sometimes my camera is running the entire night, and using a battery eliminator.

If you find Polaris, you can do the circle Star Trails. Aim North, and 30° to 40° elevation.
Be sure you are in Manual mode.

You'll get it, it's just a matter of working at it until you figure it out with your camera. And it's a lot of fun. I use a free program called StarTrails to process my images into trails.
https://www.startrails.de/

juan_uy Loc: Uruguay

Not sure how the Pluto device works as intervalometer, but the issue might be with the settings you used.
With the included intervalometer in my Nikon D7200, to take 20s exposures separated by 4s, I have to set the intervalometer with 24s delay.
Maybe in your case something similar applies, check the manual of the Pluto device and make some short tests to verify.

Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky

When I'm not using Photoshop, I use this program to blend my shots. StarStax. It has a gap filling feature. It's free. Note: Only uses JPEGS. https://www.markus-enzweiler.de/software/software.html

Triplets Loc: Reading, MA

I used a longer exposure and less images -- 15 images at 5 min 20 sec each. 14mm lens, f/2.8 and ISO 200. Images stacked using StarTrails. This was taken on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

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lwhitlow

Thank you - skies are cloudy right now and moon is bright- so will wait a few days and try again.

lwhitlow

Thank you- will try again in a few days.

lwhitlow

Thank you- I have reset the Pluto to original settings and will try again. Right now the sky is cloudy and the moon getting brighter every day so will wait a few days and try again.

lwhitlow

Good info - thank you.