Long exposures

[Bill L.]

Hi All,

I've got an H3D3II-39 with R262 Firmware.  Is there a release with a longer exposure time - I thought I recall someone posting a several minute exposure time in the forum.  In December I'm going to the desert southwest US - a chance to do star trails among other things.  I can (and will) use my canon 5D-II for this, but if I can use the Hassy for star trails too, I'd like to.  Is there a way to do longer exposure times than the minute or so in the current release?

Thanks!
Bill

[alexkent]

i think only the H4D40 currently allows longer than 64second exposure.

[jeff.grant@pobox.com]

The H4D 40 can do 256 seconds very nicely. This was one of the reasons I bought it over a 60.

[Dustbak]

It would be nice if the firmware with this long exposure capability would be released or at least made optional for 39MP users.

Having just made the commitment of upgrading towards the H4D60 I also hope Hasselblad will be able to get longer exposures from that Dalsa sensor. Honestly I don't think that will happen any time soon. Sofar there has never been a Dalsa sensor that could do more than 64 seconds and without exception all of them looked horrible beyond 32 seconds.

[Monty Rakusen]

I know it may not be quite the same but couldn't an eight minute exposure of stars be done with 16 30 second exposures, obviously the mirror would have to be up and it could be problematic and there may be short gaps at the end of each exposure but it should all drop together as lightening layers. It might not look the same but could also have quite a pleasing effect.

Monty Rakusen

Its raining!

[Bill L.]

Thanks for all the replies!

Derek - How did you manage to get 512 seconds on the H3DII39?

Monty - I have occasionally stacked repeated shots to smooth water, but haven't done it with star trails.  I have considered stacking them and then rotating the final copy a few degrees overlaid over the original to fill in the gaps, but of course if I can do it with one shot it would be much easier.

Cheers!
Bill

[Steve C]

I have been told that the H4D50 shares the same sensor manufacturing technology as the H4D40 sans micro-lenses.  Wouldn't it be nice to have a firmware update to increase the maximum exposure time from 32 seconds to 256 seconds?  Seems like the characterization work should be done already.  This would be a nice treat for those of us with this camera who continue to wait for over 15 months for our H4D60s!

[TareqPhoto]

I hope i can do longer exposure with my H4D-60, i don't know how did Derek do long exposure up to 512sec on H3DII39, i had that camera before, traded-in for H4D-60, missed it up but i have to get used to 60.

[Dick Roadnight]

I know it may not be quite the same but couldn't an eight minute exposure of stars be done with 16 30 second exposures, obviously the mirror would have to be up and it could be problematic and there may be short gaps at the end of each exposure but it should all drop together as lightening layers. It might not look the same but could also have quite a pleasing effect.

Monty Rakusen

Its raining!

That is what I was thinking... layer merge would work well for flash, where you would have occasional short exposures (to get multi-light studio effect with one light or to increase exposure)... but, if the problem is heat build up in the digiback, then several long exposures with minimal gaps in between would not help.

Wet ice in a plastic bag might help,,, ¿or perhaps dry ice or freezer spray (sold to treat burns)?

[Dick Roadnight]

Multiple exposures in a moving landscape (wind, sea, rain, clouds, water, etc...) would not look natural, although it may be creative.

Kind regards,
Derek

I have had to do some clever masking to sort moving branches, and get two versions of each moving branch... waves are more difficult/impossible, but the topic is about star trails.