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Milky Way Quite Clear At Home Last Night

Last night I had a comical failure of capturing the International Space Station trail across the night sky.

I knew that the ISS would be eclipsed before it got overhead, but set the shot up to capture the trail between some trees in the garden in the hope I’d get it before it went dark. So I set the camera up and watched the ISS approach with my finger on my (less than £3) remote. Just as the ISS came into the frame, yes, it eclipsed and went dark!

It was a very clear night and I could just about make out the Milky Way over head and wondered how well it would be captured as I’ve never really tried a long exposure from the garden. I live in a quite dark location but the horizons all around have light pollution from the neighbouring towns and cities, however, straight up it’s quite a clean sky. So I pointed the camera straight up between the trees and fired off a few very high ISO shots so that I could get the framing as I liked and then set the camera up for a long exposure and this image is the result.

Not a great shot, but still great considering it’s from the garden.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
Milky Way from the Back Garden
Milky Way – D810, AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, f/2.8, ISO3200, 20sec – {Flickr Link}

The Forgotten Fallen

I found this Apple that I’d missed when I picked one of the trees in the garden and thought it would make a nice Autumnal photo with all the colours of the leaves.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
The Forgotten Fallen
The Forgotten Fallen – D810, AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24mm, f/8, ISO64, 1/80sec – {Flickr Link}

Autumn Colours

I was looking for some Autumn colours (with red as well as gold) today and struggled at Branston Water Park (Staffordshire) but I did see the sun shining through these trees that had a little red colour and thought it would capture well.

The shot is made up from 5 Bracketed shots of 1/13, 1/15, 1/20, 1/25 and 1/30sec (0.3EV) and then merged as a HDR in Lightroom

The warm weather might be disappearing after today, but at least we have the colours to look forward to.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
Autumn Colours
Autumn Colours – D810, AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, f/11, ISO64, 5 Bracketed Shots – {Flickr Link}

FOR SALE: Manfrotto Carbon Fibre Tripod and Grip Ball Head (NOW SOLD)

Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 (Image from the Manfrotto Website)
Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 (Image from the Manfrotto Website)

THIS HAS NOW SOLD

This tripod is great, it’s super light at only 1.350kg and it’s Carbon Fibre tubes and Magnesium castings make it very stable. The only reason I’m selling it is because it’s payload capacity of 5kg (which is perfectly adequate for most medium to long lenses and DSLR) is no longer high enough for my new equipment.

I’m also including a Manfrotto 342RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Head to fit the tripod along with a quick release plate to fit.

Full specifications can be seen on the Manfrotto website for the Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 and the Manfrotto 324RC2.

As you can see on the website, the RRP when new is just shy of £450. Both are in full working condition with no damage and hardly any signs of use.

I’m only asking £150 for it. I can also ship in the UK for an extra £6 or you are able to collect from near Uttoxeter (evenings and weekend) or Burton upon Trent (during the working day).


Manfrotto 324RC2 (Image from the Manfrotto Website)
Manfrotto 324RC2 (Image from the Manfrotto Website)
Either Paypal or Cash on Collection is fine.

I will post some actual photos later this evening.

Please get in touch either via Email or Facebook.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below.

Cheap As Chips Remote

MC-30? (Tiny lens? Yes, it was a quick shot and the camera hasn't a lens fitted)
MC-30? (Tiny lens? Yes, it was a quick shot and the camera hasn’t a lens fitted)

For a while I’ve been meaning to get a cable remote for my D810, something simple that I just connect to the 10-pin socket on the front and just has a shutter button. I already have a Hahnel Giga T Pro II Wireless Remote that can also be used as a wired remote but not only does it need a battery but also switches off after 1 minute of not being used, hence the need for something simple.

Just a cable and a button.

Nikon offer the MC-30A which is exactly that, a 10-pin socket, 80cm of cable and a button. Perfect you might think? Well, not at almost £70 it isn’t.

There was no way I was going to pay £70 for something I could probably make myself for a few quid.

Then I stumbled on Ebay and come across something called the “Shoot Remote Switch MC-30”, yep, the Chinese didn’t even come up with their own model number. Guess what, although it actual unit is a different design, it’s essentially a 10-pin socket, 80cm of cable and a button. It even has a trigger lock just like the original.

Half the price you might think? Try less than £3!!!! Yes, £2.97 with free postage. It was in the UK too and took 2 days to be delivered.

I’ve only had a quick test and it’s actually nice, the button is two stage (half press focus) and has quite nice feedback with a firm spring.

Could it let you down? Who knows, only time will tell and I’m not expecting it to still be working after 30 years (or even 30 months). I’ll only be using it when I need to have the camera very steady on a tripod, night sky shots for instance, so if it mis-fires, it’s not the end of the world. To be honest, at the price, I could always carry 20 spares and it would still cost less than the Nikon trigger.

Another Sparrow Shot from the Reflection Pool

Here’s another shot from my DIY Reflection Pool.

As it was just a test setup, I’ve dismantled it again now, but will be rebuilding it again soon in a slightly different layout and hopefully a different location to try and get a better background.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
House Sparrow Reflection
Mirror Image – D810, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 @ 300mm, f/9, ISO800, 1/200sec – {Flickr Link}
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