Night shot movements!

[Ricco]

For the past few nights, I trekked to the coast to take some night shots to test the capabilities of my camera for night scenes in darker areas.

When I took some shots a few days ago, took your typical settings with exposures as long as 30 seconds with 6.3, but I played around a bit with adjusting the various balances, times, stops, etc.

I was happy with the shots until I got look at them on the system and I was shocked to see the amount of blurring (the boat moving wasn't a surprise). Initially I thought it was because it was windy and didn't secure the tripod as much.

Went back the next night and did the same thing and make sure I stopped all movement (i.e. loose strap) connected to the camera.

no luck.

I'm going to head back sometime this weekend to give it another shot, but THIS time, I'm taking my remote and using that.

Do you think this might resolve the issue?
I don't think I've ever had this problem before shooting my other scenes before and didn't think the wind would affect my photos as such, but I figure that it was the act of my simply pressing the shutter that made the movement.

The following are examples, pardon the composition and such, again, this is just testing out the capabilities before I take a dab into astrophotography.

[Snarfy]

Do you have your Steady Shot set to "off" or "tripod" mode?

[Ricco]

I had to look back and take a peek, it currently is on. Should I have it off when on a tripod?

I guess that makes a good amount of sense.

[z-monster]

A vast majority of image stabilization devices act erratic when mounted on a tripod.

Image Stabilization on Tripods

More research can be found using Google

[Ricco]

Thanks for the link. It pretty much confirmed what I was thinking when Snarfy made his comment.
As in life, all things are a "live and learn" thing.

I've been hoping to get some night shots before it (eventually) gets cold here in Houston.

[Snarfy]

Originally Posted by Ricco

Thanks for the link. It pretty much confirmed what I was thinking when Snarfy made his comment.
As in life, all things are a "live and learn" thing.

I've been hoping to get some night shots before it (eventually) gets cold here in Houston.

Hey, that's why we're here! Good luck on your next shoot.

[Stargazer77517]

Try these
sturdy tripod
secure all moving objects (strap ect)
remote release
mirror lockup
IS off.
f16
manual focus, focus about midway into the frame (hyperfocus)
This is what I use and it seems to work.

[Ricco]

"Hyper focus" is something I don't quite understand. It seems particularly challenging to get it right when there I'm trying to focus something that is a bit off center. I usually have to set the AF a bit differently to work. Is this something better/easier?

Here is the latest from last night. I think it worked out quite well.