Shower under sky

I tried a lot in 2008 when there was a huge meteor shower and went with my friend Amitabh and my father in law GMP. We camped for few hours on Mt. Hamilton, took lots of pictures but couldn't capture any. We saw a lot but nothing for digital memory. This time Varun & Neha were around and went with whole gang on 12th August 2010 on Mt. Hamilton. Police stopped us to go further way up to Lick Observatory, took U turn and parked at a nice place, after few mins, police again kicked us, but we got smarter this time. we parked right outside a house. Piku slept and it was past mid night. I carried tripods and Nikon D300s with my fancy 14-24 F2.8. Opened it all wide and took some nice pictures and bingo. I got one (broken star) this time and i was done for the year :) Everyone including Anita saw these and we came back by 2 am. though it was not a huge success, it was still better than 2008 when out of 200 pictures none captured a broken star. :)

Camera Settings: 

Camera: Nikon D300s

ISO: 200

Shutter speed: Bulb mode with 60 sec recorded from watch.

Aperture: F2.8

Lens: Nikon 14-24 F2.8 FX.

Mount: Tripd and facing sky above.

Used remote cable and noise reduction off.

Note: More than 60 sec was giving lines because sky is moving continuously.

Review Gear Series: Nikon D300s

On popular demand, I am posting my reading of this new Nikon D300s. This is a excellent camera and better than D300. All reviews apply on D300 apply here (I would recommend www.bythom.com for D300 Review) with extra tweak in performance. Apart from the obvious review items of what has changed or what has been introduced (widely available on lots websites), my focus is on my readings. Video feature has some work pending, however over a course of time it should get corrected. I have nothing but 5 star for this hardware. But... 

Bad:
- No camera control software to connect with PC (optional), Canon has it free.
- It comes with ViewNX but that can't crop the pictures. hence you will have to convert RAW (NEF) pictures to JPEG to crop in third party software. This is pity feature which must have been in the software.
- In camera video editing is basic (poor than Canon).
- Nikon should have a Video for every new camera as option to read its thick manual.
- No cheap remote for this camera from Nikon.
- No screen brightness adjustment based on ambient light.
- No auto rotate in live view mode.
- No way to take picture while video is ON.
- No way to pause the video in recording mode.
- Charger still has an extra cable.
- No button for picture control.
- No Auto mode.
- Wireless trigger of flash is on in built flash only.
- ISO performance is not better than D90

Good:
- Sturdy, strong, weather sealed. (I have personally observed its advantages).
- Live view, movie mode, user friendly buttons, quiet mode and best of all, mirror delay mode which reduces vibrations.
- Amazing fast, 51 point focus, exposure accuracy and fine tuning of 48 parameters.
- Sticky handling, wireless flash trigger and dedicated button for Exposure mode is best for me.
- Good screen, 1 button zoom, picture control features and very nice menu system I like the most.
- Best of class battery life. I have tested this for 1100 pictures without recharge.

Ugly:
- Where is my Nikon D400????