Canon M5 Startrail Long Exposure issue

[noravingler]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for some advice and I'd really appreciate any help, tips, and tricks on how to overcome this problem next time.

So I’ve bought a Canon M5 a few months ago and so far I’m loving it and I’m really satisfied with the images. Last weekend I had a chance to take it on a camping trip where I was experimenting with long exposure star trail photos. As you can see the image didn't turn out that great (thanks to a car that also ruined it but that isn't really important now). In post-processing, I realized that trails are not connecting (even with using the gap filling option in StarStax) and seem like the camera was lagging after each expo. I turned off the auto long exposure noise reduction and the image stabilization in the menu. Also covered the viewfinder so the screen didn’t light up after each photo. However, I didn’t turn off the automatic lens correction. I'm wondering if this caused the delay between the images or it would be something else? Have anyone encountered this issue on a mirrorless system for long exposure like this? I'd really appreciate any help, tips, and tricks on how to overcome this problem next time. I'm still getting used to the mirrorless cameras.

I also took the same image with my Canon 5D Mark II which turned out fine. I'm hoping to master this technique on my M5 as well.
Thank you so much for the help!

Image details: Taken with EF-M 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM, ISO 3200, f3.5, 30s, Manual focus,157 frames blended in StarStax all together took 1,5 hours.

[Tim]

Hello noravingler, 

I see the effect that you are referring to.  It's hard to pin this type of issue to the camera specifically because of the stacked nature of the image.  Since you're essentially stacking exposures in post production, any effect you see is produced by that process- not the camera.  

You might try lowering the ISO in camera, taking less exposures at a longer time interval.  I think the gaps you see represent each of the 157 photos you combined, which is why perhaps taking longer exposures and less of them will yield better results for next time.  Just realize that anytime you talk about combining images or stacking, that it's taking the final image out of control of the camera and putting it in the hands of the software. 

[noravingler]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your comment. This is definitely a great point, however, I don't think the issue is in the software. It is more of a camera option that I am trying to figure out. I check the timestamp of the images and I see a 2 seconds delay between images. So the camera is processing something after each picture. I will try this again in my backyard one night. Hopefully, I can figure it out. As I mentioned the same image, with the same setting turned out totally fine on my other camera. The M5 still new to me.

[noravingler · Accepted solution]

I think I actually found the answer to this. So the image review option was set to 2s. Since I covered the sensor on the viewfinder the images were not shown on the LCD screen but they popped up in the digital viewfinder every time the camera took the shot. I really think this was the issue here so next time it is good to pay attention to this setting. This was a great learning experience.