A Reddit user has shared how they “tricked” their camera into essentially becoming a star tracker, too, with the resulting image of the Milky Way turning out surprisingly well.
Reddit user Prestigious-Ad-5238 was shooting with an OM System OM-5 Micro Four Thirds (MFT) camera using the Handheld High-Res Shot (HHHR) mode. HHHR is a built-in OM-5 function that enables a user to shoot eight RAW or JPEG files, with the camera stitching them together automatically to create a single 50MP file.
As a handheld mode, the camera expects camera-body shake and, therefore, looks for contrast points in the frame – such as stars – to align all eight images across the sequence.
However, as Prestigious-Ad-5238 was photographing the Milky Way using a 30-second shutter speed, they mounted the camera on a tripod, meaning there was no camera shake, creating a perfectly aligned image of the galaxy. “It basically tricks the camera into tracking the stars for you!” said the astrophotographer.
While the OM-5 also features a Tripod High Res Shot (THR) mode, this wouldn't have created the same result. THR also captures eight frames and automatically stitches them together, albeit into an even higher-resolution 80MP final image.
But as the functionality expects the camera to be mounted on a tripod, it does not account for any camera shake and, therefore, does not anchor all images along a contrast point within the frame.
This is problematic for astrophotographers wanting clean images without star trails, because the rotation of the Earth would turn stars into streaks of light when using THR mode and a slow shutter speed.
“The whole process takes about five minutes of camera work, so actually handholding it is impossible,” said Prestigious-Ad-5238. “The trick is that you must use the Handheld Hi-Res mode while mounted on the tripod,” they reiterated.
Watch: astrophotographer explain how Handheld Hi-Res mode works on the OM-5
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