I'll have a search in the menus and see if I can turn it off, and look at the outcome. I realise 30 sec wouldn't give much of a trail, but I was just surprised that a 30sec manual exposure doesn't have the same issue as bulb exposure does.

Thanks for the quick reply. Sounds as if I need to factor in this extra time every time I use bulb mode then. It seems odd that a 30 sec manual exposure doesn't have the same issue. I think I'll try experimenting with a 30 sec bulb exposure and see what that does.

Hopefully I'll get a couple of clear nights this week to try again. There's too much light pollution at home, but I'm in Norfolk at the moment. There's still light pollution on the horizon, but I can find a spot in a field with no street lights in sight in any direction and get some good views of stars.

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, so if the mods want to move it I won't mind.

I've been trying out some long exposures attempting to get some good star trail shots. It's not something I've ever tried before, and I obviously need more practise. I had to give up tonight because it clouded over.

Anyway, the reason for the post is some advice on whether my camera is working correctly. If I take a 30sec exposure in manual mode then the camera will save and be ready for the next shot straight away. If I take a shot in bulb mode then it seems to take as long as the original exposure to save the image. Eg. A 60 sec exposure takes about 60 sec to save and displays a countdown timer and "nr" in the viewfinder. A 5 minute exposure takes 5 minutes to save. It's this correct?

I asked for some advice on photographing the Northern Lights, and promised to post some photos when I returned. Unfortunately the Northern Lights were very weak, and it was quite cloudy in the evenings when I was there.

I've attached a few photos of the visit though. Minimal processing apart from a few crops and a little lightening.

1. central Reykjavik



2. Sculpture on Reykjavik waterfront



3. Hot springs at Geysir



4. Landscape at Geysir



5. Golden Waterfall



6. 'No man's Land' - between the tectonic plates



7. Northern Lights - the best I could get - 30 sec exposure.



8. Sunlight on the Glacier




I don't really feel I've done it justice, but these are the best I managed to get. I'd love to go back and spend more time here, hiring a car to travel wherever and whenever I like, rather than being herded on and off coach.

Any comments welcome.

Thanks all.

I'll have the 18-135 with me so I think I'll start with that fitted, and probably take either the 28 F2.8 or 35 F2.4 in case I need something faster.

If I get any decent photos then I'll try to post a few when I get back.

Let's hope conditions are good. There's no moon when I'm there (it won't rise till about 4am), so that's a good start.

Thanks Gwyn.
I've got a tripod and remote. It was advice on what lenses would be best I was after really. I'm not sure how much of a wide angle I'm likely to need. I'm guessing the wider the better, but having never seen them I'm not sure how much of the sky they might cover.

I'll be using the lens wide open and focused at infinity so it'll be a trade off between ISO and exposure time. From what I've read online any more than 5 seconds or so can start to blur. That's why I was wondering if I need the widest angle (18mm f3.5) or fastest lens (50mm f2) or somewhere in between.

I'm off to Iceland for a long weekend in a couple of weeks' and was hoping for some advice on photographing the northern lights (weather/conditions permitting).

I will be using a K5iis and I have 3 batteries, so hopefully I should get enough life out of them. from what I've read it sounds as though an exposure time of 5-10 seconds is usually about right, but that is likely to require either a fast lens or high ISO. Obviously I'd like to keep the ISO as low as possible (1600 max?), so that means a fast lens.

I have a few lenses to choose from. I could take them all and swap as required, but I'd rather not be messing about in the dark swapping lenses. The choices I have are:

Pentax DA 18-135 = F3.5 at the wide end
Tokina 28mm F2.8 manual lens
Pentax DA-L 35 F2.4
Rikenon 50mm F2 manual lens.

As you can see, the wider angle the lens gets, the slower it is.

Does anyone have suggestions of what would be likely to be best, and what I should take with me. During the day I'll have the 18-135 on as a walkabout lens, so that will be with me anyway. Do I take any/all of the others?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I'm selling my DA 55-300 lens that I bought from a member on here about 18 months ago. It's in very good condition with no dust or fungus. It comes with original caps and hood but no box.

I'm only selling it because I bought a WR version to give me a full WR kit with my K5-iis and 18-135.

This is the DA version with metal mount and quickshift focus. This is invaluable for providing quick and relatively quiet focusing as you can manually get the focus close before fine tuning with AF.

I'm looking for £80 incl RMSD to UK. Payment by bank transfer or Paypal gift.

Peter,

I've had a quick play with it, and it works the way you suggested. I just need to spend a bit of time to get the adjustment correct now.

Thanks for the help.

Thanks Peter,

That makes sense. I don't think I'd have ever worked that out from the manual.