AZ652 Astrophotography with the

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walderpeaky
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2022 7:31 am

AZ652 Astrophotography with the

Post by walderpeaky »

Hello,
Some of the zoom photos I've taken of the moon are really nice. Nevertheless, I am unable to take good pictures of stars, meteors, or the Milky Way -- the stars are fuzzy dots rather than sharp points of light. The settings are manual, lens at default minimum length (not zoomed), focused to infinity, tripod with timer delay after shutter release, F/2.9, ISO1600 or 3200. The camera is unable to focus on stars. Why is that?

By using manual settings and focusing to infinity, I was able to get some great shots of stars and meteor showers with the Kodak EasyShare Z990. I don't understand why the AZ652 won't allow me to do the same.

I would appreciate any tips you can provide for specific manual settings.
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CC@KODAKPIXPRO
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2022 7:01 pm

Re: AZ652 Astrophotography with the

Post by CC@KODAKPIXPRO »

Hi @walderpeaky,

Here's some tips from one of our power AZ652 Owners with experience in shooting moon and star photography with not only his AZ652, but other mega zoom cameras, both Bridge and DSLR:

My best moon shots have been taken as follows: Program mode, ISO set to 100 or 200, Spot Focus and try Multi-AF (auto focus). Since the moon is so bright, one has to set the EV as low as it will go which is -3.0. Also go into the Menu and scroll down to Digital Zoom and set to ON. This will take one from 65x optical zoom to 200x digital zoom. However the digital zoom is of lesser quality than optical zoom so test in increments of 10x: 65x to 75x, 85x, etc. With these extreme distances it's important to "clean up" the photos with post processing software. A few of the best free programs are Picasa (although not supported by Google, it still works fine). Usually sharpening helps to show better detail. My other two favorites are Gimp and Photor.
Shooting the Milky Way: one MUST be in an area of very little pollution and by this I mean get out in the country where it's dark to help see the contrast of black sky and the Milky way better. I would set the AF to Multi-AF so there are multiple focus points.

And finally, it's a MUST to use a tripod to hold the camera steady. Even pressing the shutter can cause movement so use the timer shutter release. It's located on the Center Control ring on the bottom. It goes like this: set timer to 2 seconds delay, press to focus and get the green box and beep, take off your finger and the camera snaps the shot 2 seconds later without movement. Final thought: since shooting such long distances, atmospheric pollution like haze, fog, moisture, dust, etc. can come into play so clear skies are a must and additionally, if one shoots at higher elevations, that really helps with clarity.

We most certainly hope this helps you with your nighttime shooting. We'd love to see what you're able to capture. Please share your photos with us on social media: IG @kodakpixpro or Facebook: kodakpixprous and we will be on the look out. Thanks so much for posting your question here - we hope these detailed tips help you and you're on your way!
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