Is film better than digital for astrophotography long exposures?
Asked 7/10/2016
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I tried long sky exposures with an entry-level DSLR and noticed hot/dead pixels. Would using an older film SLR work better for astrophotography because film doesn’t have hot pixels? What disadvantages does film have for long exposures of the night sky?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
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The problem with film is that it's sensitivity reduces with the reduction of power of light source. This means that if you need exposure time x to get a satisfactory photograph, the light source with small power (i.e., magnitudes dimmer than day sky) y, you will need much more than N*x exposure time if you decide to photograph the same light source with power y/N. This is called reciprocity failure and its magnitude varies between film models. It is described in datasheets.
So, even a digital camera with a smaller sensor may be better than a film camera for astrography. There are special films sensitive in the IR range which may indeed be better but I do not know whether any such film is still produced and I am not very competent in this sphere.
Various defects of digital images may be sorted out with different tricks which astrophotographers use: black frame subtraction, exposure stacking, multiple exposures noise reduction.
Originally by user49477. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user49477
10y ago
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Usually no—digital is generally better for astrophotography, even if your DSLR shows hot pixels on long exposures.
Film avoids hot/dead pixels, but it has major drawbacks for night sky work:
- Reciprocity failure: film becomes less efficient during very long, low-light exposures, so exposure times often need to be much longer than expected.
- Lower practical sensitivity: commonly available film is usually less flexible than digital at high ISO.
- Grain: faster film tends to be grainier.
Digital hot pixels are usually manageable. In astrophotography, images are commonly made by taking many shorter exposures and stacking them in processing, which helps reduce noise and makes hot pixels much less of a problem. This approach is usually better than one very long exposure on film.
Also, without a tracking mount, both film and digital are limited in exposure length before stars begin to trail—unless star trails are the goal.
So, film can be used for artistic or specialty projects, but for most astrophotography, digital is the more practical and capable choice.
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