Anyone tried the K5 for long exposures?

[calsan]

Any of you lucky K5 owners used it for long nighttime exposures, such as star-trails yet?
Or even 5 second shots above ISO800? 
How's the noise / dynamic range?
Even better - anyone taken shots using a telescope or a tracking mount???
 

[blackcloudbrew]

OMG something else to try...

Not me, not yet, not now, not another K-5 test...

[calsan]

Oh OK then, you're excused from the class.

[terrytootall]

Hello

These pictures were taken on July 1 at the Canada Day celebrations in Coquitlam, BC. Picture IMGP0305A exposure was 1/30th second, f4.5, ISO-2500, the other 2 were ISO3200. Not exactly as asked, but grand nonetheless.

I shot off ~200 firework pictures. Some rotten, some good, others excellent. ISO ranges: 800 to 3200

TTT

[blackcloudbrew]

TTT - Nice fireworks shots. In looking at your shots and your range of exposure data, let me provide the following guidelines I use with my cameras in shooting fireworks. Consider this next time:


ISO - 100
WB - daylight
Tripod - necessary
Cable release - necessary

Depending on your location, a lens around 55-70mm works best for me.
f-stop f8 - f11 (use a bit of trial and error to adjust this, I start at f8 and use the histogram).

Turn off noise reduction!

Shoot in blub

Process.

Keep this in mind - You will not get every firework, but you can get almost every other one.

Watch the first few bursts to see about where you want to focus your camera on the sky.

Listen for the launch of a shell and open the shutter towards as it rises near the burst point, keep the shutter open through the burst, and then close it. This should be between 2-5 seconds max. If it's windy you may need to reduce this time period.

Evaluate the initial images for focus/exposure and adjust them until you are happy with them. Understand that they are very bright - almost daylight to the camera. Also the brightness depends on whether there is one isolated burst, multiple, or lots at the same time (this is very hard to get right).

I find that underexposing the images is generally better.

Oh, and enjoy them too!