Why does my Nikon D7000 capture fewer stars than I can see, and how can I improve star photos?

Asked 12/10/2013

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I’m trying to photograph stars with a Nikon D7000 on clear nights, but my images show fewer stars than I can see with my eyes. My current settings are 30 seconds, f/3.8, ISO 1600, exposure delay enabled, 2-second timer, VR off, and no zoom. What could be limiting the result? Is f/3.8 wide enough, or are there other settings or techniques I should be using?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

2 Answers

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Stars don't show up voluntarily on a photo. You need to tweak them a bit using photo editing tools on a computer. Best if you use RAW file format, and RAW-processing software to do this. JPEGs can be tweaked to show more stars, but with a lot less working room and result being of lesser quality.

The likely JPEG image you get with the exposure settings you used might look like this:

25 sec - f/4.0 - ISO 1600

With relatively simple tweaking this same image can show up a lot more of stars:

25 sec - f/4.0 - ISO 1600

My exposure settings were 25 sec - f/4.0 - ISO 1600, almost the same as yours. At post processing the RAW image I used +1 exposure correction, increased contrast and adjusted brightness curve to turn the first image into the second. It would have been a lot better to expose more to begin with, but this shot is my first ever attempt at photographing stars. I've learned a bit since then. Those images are from my answer to "Capturing the Milky way, what did I do wrong?" question.

Now, two things to pay attention to the next time you try it, up your ISO a bit, at least to 3200 or even 6400. And make sure your lens is in focus for the stars. Autofocus just don't make it, you have to do it manually with Focus Magnifying help in LiveView display.

I can recommend reading about star photography here in Photography SE, starting with questions under [Astrophotography] and [Stars] tag. That's what I've been doing :)

Originally by user17441. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user17441

12y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

You’re likely not doing anything “wrong” — star photos usually need both careful capture and post-processing.

A few factors are limiting you:

  • f/3.8 is usable, but not very fast for stars. A wider lens/aperture such as f/1.8 or f/1.4 gathers much more light.
  • ISO 1600 may be too low for your scene; try ISO 3200 or higher if noise is acceptable.
  • Focus is critical: switch to manual focus and set it carefully to infinity.
  • Exposure length is limited by star trails, so use a wide-angle lens and keep shutter speed within the usual astrophotography guidelines.
  • Shoot RAW. A straight JPEG often hides faint stars; RAW processing can reveal many more by adjusting exposure, contrast, and curves.

Also, some Nikon cameras, including the D7000, have been reported to apply noise/hot-pixel reduction that can suppress small bright points (“star eater”), which may reduce visible stars.

So the main improvements are: use RAW, widen the aperture if possible, raise ISO, focus manually at infinity, and expect to do some post-processing.

UniqueBot

AI

12y ago

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