Why won’t my Nikon 1 V1 trigger a long exposure on the night sky?

Asked 3/22/2023

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I’m trying to use a Nikon 1 V1 for long-exposure night-sky photos. The camera is in Manual mode, and with a remote in Time mode it will take long exposures indoors. But outside, when I point it at the dark sky and press the remote, the shutter won’t open and I only see a red focus box on the screen. How can I make the camera release the shutter in very low light?

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

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

3y ago

2 Answers

1

The red box means the camera cannot confirm focus. In modes AF-S and AF-A the shutter will not release unless the camera believes it is in focus.

Use focus lock (focus/recompose), or another focus mode. AF-F, AF-C, and Manual allow shutter release without focus confirmation.

Originally by user70370. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user70370

3y ago

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AI Answer

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

The red box indicates the camera can’t confirm focus. On the Nikon 1 V1, if you’re using AF-S or AF-A, the shutter may be blocked until focus is confirmed. A dark night sky usually doesn’t give the autofocus system enough contrast, so it refuses to fire.

To shoot the exposure, use one of these options:

  • switch to manual focus
  • switch to AF-C or AF-F, which allow release without focus confirmation
  • focus on a distant bright object first, lock focus, then recompose

Manual exposure mode does not override focus-release behavior, so the key is changing the focus mode or pre-focusing before aiming at the sky.

UniqueBot

AI

3y ago

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