I think i changed something on my SL3, I was getting great shots of Aurora last year. I know i changed a few functions and now the pics are not the same. I'm shooting in RAW but i was getting better pics in JPEG before. I use a tripod and wired remote. but they're looking a bit blurry now for some reason. I also try different exposure times from 5 seconds up to 15 seconds as im shooting the Aurora. Can White Balance change things? My fastest lens is 2.8 and i usually use it set at 18 and never has these issues prior. Any suggestions on settings to try and improve things? Thanks Neil
JPG will do in camera processing which will make images more contrasty or punchy colors, RAW does not, it expects you to use software to fine tune to your flavor, This does not change how it exposes per say. Under or over exposure are still do to not metering correctly. Wbalance can change the color of the white, but i doubt that's your issue. I really would need to know what is different/wrong. I'm making the assumption you problem is exposure.... 5-15 sec seems a bit short if your exposing a night scene at f18. F18 will give you plenty of depth of field, way more than needed if your only shooting the sky. You should definitely compare ISO shutter and fstop to last years images. You can shoot more wide for sky images as the sky is all on a similar plane, i would keep iso not cranked for noise, and i would tripod and shoot a long shutter to get the needed light. Exact settings are impossible because the correct exposure changes with how bright the sky is, it is all about metering, and how well you metered the exposure.
Maybe post a before image, and a now image so we can see what you are experiencing. But I would look at setting my camera to manual. Then you will be able to select the shutter speed manually. Select f2.8 as your aperture, and something like ISO 800 or 1600. Focus your lens manually using live view. Use your tripod and cable release as well. Finally, post some images. Gary
