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Author Topic: Longer exposures possible?  (Read 3884 times)

Yoram from Berlin

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Longer exposures possible?
« on: July 07, 2008, 03:09:22 am »

Do the various digital MF cameras and various backs allow longer exposure times? Are there any that are limited?

Are there exposure time limits? Can I program exposure times like I can for my Canons? I am working on night shots lasting around 45 - 75 seconds on a 1Ds Mk III, I assume a digital MF would be about the same (both at ISO 100 around f/8).

I am NOT talking about 30 MINUTE exposures, but it would be interesting to know whether that is possible, too.
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Dustbak

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Longer exposures possible?
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2008, 03:30:26 am »

These are appr.

P1 1hour (not sure about this)
Hasselblad 32sec's (60sec's after firmware upgrade via Phocus which is not yet released)
Leaf appr. 30sec's
Sinar appr. 30sec's (not sure about this either but sure Thierry will chime in and correct me)

I have made exposures with both Leaf as well as Hasselblad of 32sec's. I found the Leaf's to be a bit problematic and the Hasselblad unexpectedly good. To be fair I took the Leaf files several years ago and I am sure they will have improved this by now but don't know by how much.
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rethmeier

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Longer exposures possible?
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2008, 05:15:37 am »

Film is the way to go!
Especially neg film.
Phase does long exposures,however the results aren't very flattering IMO.

A colleague of mine(Murray Fredericks) who also post here, does 7 hour exposures on 10x8 neg.

Cheers,
Willem.
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Willem Rethmeier
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ternst

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Longer exposures possible?
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2008, 07:35:41 am »

I"ve been doing a bunch of 15-25 minute exposures with the P-45+ back, and also shorter ones of several minutes - physically the back can do that no problem. The noise builds up quickly though, even at 50 ISO, which is the only speed I would ever attempt with these backs for long exposures - the company line about no noise in longer exposure is BS, of course. Also the cooler the temp is the less noise you are going to get, and the longer the exposures you can make. Making exposures of several minutes at 50 ISO with Phase is fine.
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clawery

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Longer exposures possible?
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2008, 09:55:20 am »

With Xpose+ on the new Phase One P+ series backs, you can do up to 1 hour exposures.  Take a look at this link to read more about it:

http://www.phaseone.com/Content/p1digitalb...ries/Pplus.aspx

We carry a product that allows you to do multi-pops and multiple exposures.  It plugs in any of the P series Phase One backs.

http://www.captureintegration.com/solutions/featuredproduct/

Chris Lawery
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877-217-9870 | National  Atlanta / Miami
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gjazzz

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Longer exposures possible?
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2008, 01:50:13 pm »

Chris,

I have seen both of these things, but have a few questions related to the PhaseOne Plus backs.
For multi-pops/multiple exposures, it looks like the shutter product you offer just holds the back "on" for long exposures, as the flashs pop.  Is that true?  
I have an old Fuji S2 which handles multiple exposures very well, in that it displays the cumulative image after each exposure.  It then allows the photog to keep the last exposure or delete it, and try again.  ONce you finally have all the exposures you want on one image, you tell the camera to save the image.  (There are some noise issues, but not serious.)  Is this feature set possible to do on the Plus phaseone backs?  Do they display in the middle of any multiple exposure scenario?

Greg
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Doug Peterson

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Longer exposures possible?
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2008, 10:42:59 am »

@ternst - Are you using Capture One or another program for your raw processing? While I use a variety of raw processors myself I *strongly* suggest that Capture One (specifically 4.1.1) be used for processing long exposures. I agree "no noise" or "noise free" is a marketing-only phrase. However, using ISO 50 on a reasonably cool night and processing in Capture One I find the long exposure capability of the P45+ to be truly astounding.

@gjazzz - the device separates the camera/lens from the sensor. You then activate the sensor and do whatever you'd like with the camera. This allows you to for instance shoot 10 exposures at 1/125 each with a strobe pop. Or you could mix multiple strobe pops with several long shutter-only exposures. Etc Etc. When you are done you turn off the sensor. Phase files won't start to accumulate noise for many minutes (or hours depending on temperature - see temp-to-time link in paragraphs above) which makes them uniquely able to do this sort of experimentation. I don't know that camera well, but the "multiple exposures" on the S2 is almost surely just digitally adding the exposures the same way you could do in Photoshop.

In general:

1) Long exposures in digital are highly dependent on ambient temperature and sensor design. The Phase One max exposure times are shown on our website here: http://www.captureintegration.com/phase-on...one-tech-specs/

2) I 100% disagree with the assertion that negative film is the way to go for long exposures. My thesis was on time-lapse photography. I spent many hours in the middle of the cold Ohio winter night doing long exposures. The end product only used 30 second exposures, but along the way I shot much longer exposures.

The reasons I put forth that digital is much better for long exposure are:
- No reciprocity failure. Star trails won't fade, and exposure calculations are strait forward.
- Easy/Accurate estimation of proper exposure even in very complex scenes. Scenes including both moonlight, artificial light, and areas of important shadows are next to impossible to analyze with a light meter. Instead of bracketing film at the cost of hours of exposures, a single digital underexposed-and-pushed image can give you an exact exposure which can be verified immediatly after.
- Easy path to HDR (whatever its form) for scenes with inherently extreme contrast.

However these arguments do fall apart if you're targeting an 8 hour exposure :-). So if that's your idea of a long exposure then by all means, film is the way to go!

Doug
Capture Integration, Phase One Dealer
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gjazzz

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Longer exposures possible?
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2008, 02:24:48 pm »

Doug,

Thanks for the clarification.  As I suspected concerning the operation of the back.

Seems all is pretty straightforward as long as the noise is easily handled.
I am going to look into how to handle this process a bit easier.

As you said, you could just shoot multiple images/flash pops, and then blend in Photoshop for the final.  I wonder if there is a relatively easy way, maybe with Lightroom or Photoshop actions, to download each image and combine/blend them quickly in Photoshop in almost real time.  (This is of course a tethered setup.)  THe workflow with multiple exposures is quick and easy with the old Fuji cameras.  It would be great to set that up with a high res back.

gjazzz
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NBP

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Longer exposures possible?
« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2008, 06:22:35 am »

Quote
Film is the way to go!

I tend to agree.
Past the 30sec mark, IMO, it's still really the option for quality results.

Although within the the limits of DB's, I've had some nice results.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2008, 06:27:16 am by NBP »
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