Long exposure on Canon 60D

Question

I want to take some night shots of the sky and landscape showing up stars and cars on a distant road.

I have the option to set the shutter speed to 30s, but I want to take a 2 min (or more) exposure, so capture more movement.

I've seen that you can set it to bulb mode, and hold the shutter down, which isn't practical, as I ned the camera to be completely still.

I could buy a remote, and keep my finger on this I guess, but it still seems a bit fiddly.

Am I missing a trick ? or is the solution to buy a remote?

Thanks Rich.

Asked by Rich S

Answer

You have a couple of options, you could shoot four 30 second frames and then average them in software. This solution doesn't require any extra gear, however it requires you to reopen the shutter quickly for each exposure (which could rock the camera) and introduces the possibility of having gaps in your light trials.

Alternatively, most wired remotes offer the ability to lock the shutter button down so you can let go of the remote until you need to reopen the shutter. Combine this with bulb mode and you can get 2 minute exposures easily without rocking the camera.

Answered by Matt Grum

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