Oh no, that is a blow! I'm sorry for being at the root of this momentary lapse of common sense (or whatever one should call it).

My next competition theme will be "extremely short exposure of an image that has your filled camera bag in it" or something to that tune.

I hope that it was picked up by some honest person, whatever we read in the newspapers and get served on telly, the honest ones are still in the majority. If that is not true, please don't tell me!

Good luck,
Prieni

I did spell out that for the purpose of this competition it is greater than 1 s.

Surely not the Germans?

Prieni

Kris, it seems you have been found out!

Prieni

You don't just feel the part, you also look the part
That's real dedication!
Didn't know that you were half German (always having the towel with you, just in case you need to reserve a deckchair...)

Prieni

Martin,

of course I don't have to switch SR off. It shouldn't activate SR in any case (and as far as I can see from the EXIF data it doesn't). I suspected a programmers error and the SR being still activated for the dark frame. I just did another quick check with my ear to the camera: The noise is also present in the 2 seconds before exposure.

Very strange...

Prieni

Current is the keyword. It wouldn't matter otherwise but it is eating some of the battery energy (well, not eating it, energy is conserved - it is converted into kinetic energy and then on into thermal energy).

On my recent holiday trip (as I started the business of plugging other threads and got a price for it I might just continue) I forgot to bring the charger and had to do with two charged batteries. So I disabled auto focus, dust removal on power on etc.
For the long night exposures it might have made a difference...

Prieni

It's a serious question, though

When I shot my entry for the stairs competition I did notice something odd with my K20D.

I was lying beneath my camera on tripod which was adjusted to keep the camera a bit over the ground, pointing upwards. I took different exposures with mirror up (2 s delay) and shake reduction disabled (with the switch). The shake reduction setting shouldn't make a difference at the 2 s delay setting.

What caught my attention was that between the end of the exposure and the appearance of the image on the camera screen there was a distinct noise audible. And noise is the right word, i.e. there were no distinct frequencies that I could make out.

My suspicion is that during that time (i.e. during the 'exposure' of the dark frame) the shake reduction is active.

So the fortnightly competition is a good opportunity to check it out for yourself and see if your camera shows the same behaviour.

Prieni

Glad you like it, that's one entry in the bag

Prieni

This thread is for comments related to the Fortnightly Competition #34 - LONG EXPOSURE.

Once the first image is submitted to the competition I will not read any further additions to this thread until the competition is judged.

Prieni