Night time Interval Photography

Noarth

Hi there. I'm trying to use interval photography with shots of the moon or stars. When I use the manual setting it says interval photography option is unavailable. I've tried the A and S setting also but no go. I can use auto with no flash, but I'm not getting every shot as it says the subject too dark every couple of shots. Any suggestions?

ohyeahar

That’s very odd. On my D5100, I’m able to go into Interval Timer Shooting regardless of shooting mode.
Anyway, as with most electronics, it’s best to try turning it off and turning it back on to see if that works. Pull the battery and wait a few secs before turning it back on.
If that doesn’t work, maybe you made some change in your settings that is effecting this feature. If so, try resetting your camera settings to default. You can do this by pressing and holding the menu and info button at the same time.

Noarth

I tried that and it still doesn't work. I'm still very new at some of the features, but can't for the life of me figure out why. In manual it should take pictures of even a totally black sky shouldn't it?

ohyeahar

There appears to be 2 separate issues here.
First, are you able to turn on “Interval Timer Shooting” or is the option still grayed out in the menus?

Second is the question you just asked: “In manual it should take pictures of even a totally black sky shouldn't it?”.
If you try to take a picture of something that is uniform in color your camera’s autofocus won’t work; for example, a plain wall or a totally black sky. If the camera can’t achieve focus, the shutter won’t fire. To get around this use manual focus.

Noarth

I need to start over for night photos and star tracking; it seems as if I don't remember settings now. Hope you don't mind the questions but I'll narrow it down once I've tried it again. Which lens would you use to start? I have a 35mm (which I believe is a portrait lens), an 18-55mm standard, 55-300mm and an 18-250mm. I believe I was trying to use the 18-250mm when I first started. I will ensure I turn all the settings to manual, use a tripod and see what I get so I have a record of what is set to what. BTW I have reset my camera using your method so that should help. I also have your cheat cards now so that might shed some light.
Thanks again,
Noarth

ohyeahar

Photographing the stars and sky is not my forte, but your obvious lens choice is the 35mm because of the large max aperture. To the best of my knowledge, what you need for this type of photography is large aperture, long shutter, and high ISO.