Nikon D3200 , advice needed please!

techmaniac1991

Honorable
Oct 13, 2012
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Im getting my first dslr camera, the nikon D3200. Im really excited because i have always wanted a dslr camera. Im a student studying web design and development. So we require a decent camera for clients ect. But what i really want to do is astrophotography, i think those pictures looking gorgeous and leave me speechless everytime i see them. I know i might not get the really pro looking shots, but i hope to get close enough. What would i require to get those shots ? And doesnt the picture constantly move with the earth , so you just get streaks of light. How do you get that gorgeous picture with all those colors in it. I live in scotland, so i dont need to drive long to get to a really dark area where you see all the stars. Any advice on achieving what i was talking about would be grateful . Thanks.
 
One thing that comes to mind is a sturdy tripod. You also need to set timed exposure. Please read up on this and take trial shots with records of each shot, so that you can fine tune it later. Also, call up a local observatory and the folks there will be glad to share camera settings with you. If you do not get info about this, let me know and I shall call up our local Adler Planetarium and get you some info.

Good luck!
 

OrinK3

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Sep 20, 2014
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@techmaniac1991:

Hi, I am near Chicago, so my night skies are not the best. I don't have a tracking tripod, so I can't do exposures greater than about 2 seconds without getting the streaking you spoke of. I do have a Nikon D700 so I can do 25,600 ISO, and that allows me to get 4 sec exposures at f/4.5 and 120mm on my Sigma 120-400 zoom with only ellipsoid stars. I have recently tried to capture the Comet C/2014 E2 Jacques. It is a very dim comet with essentially no visible tail unless one can take longer exposures with, say a 630mm prime lens. I would think that the Nikon D3200 would allow similar results... if you use a batnikov screen for sharp focusing. Does the N3200 offer live view with magnification? My 4 sec results as mentioned above, and copious annotations, etc. can be seen here - http://flic.kr/ps/xUCPt