Ways to Capture Crude Images of Space Mountain Star Projections?

WDITrent

WDITrent

Member
Hello, everyone- I've always been obsessed with capturing Space Mountain's star projections on video. I've noticed that some nightvision recordings show a few stars. Is there any possible way to really crank up the nightvision and capture all the stars, even if it means a very poor quality picture? I'm starting to think if that was possible I could work some wonders in photoshop and get an accurate picture. What do you think?
 
You can either:
A. Suffer high contrast and noise

or..

B. Somehow get still enough for a long-exposure shot

I say this if you want images, but I can't help you with video.
 
Nightvision usually uses an infra-red beam from the video camera to illuminate the items.
It doesn't travel that far (usually only a matter of feet). That won't work for anything in the distance or anything that's a light source (like a projection - think photos of night parades - you don't use a flash for those as it cancels out the lights from the bulbs). You need something that increases the sensitivity and light grasp (like opening up the aperture on a camera). Possibly a high-end video camera would work or maybe an old analogue video camera with a good low lux capability would do the trick.
As 772pilot says, increasing the contrast may work but, with digital camcorders, I'm out of my depth now  ;)
 
You`ll need something that shoots true video too; I`ve found using general still cameras to shoot video yields nothing when you mess with contrast and gamma filters. There is nothing there to begin with.

Using true video (DV, HD) I`ve had varying results. The best I managed with my old DV camera is what is my SM 2008 edit. I`ve yet to try with my more sensitive TM300 (and won`t be able to now from load!) but you may also consider an SLR that shoots HD. As seen in my HM HD video, Dan Warren managed to get remarkable low light footage with a combination of fast lenses and ultra hi ISO settings using his Canon 5D MKII.
 
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