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Is it possible to adjust the Canon Rebel T5's exposure length beyond 30 seconds, and if so how? Thanks in advance.

user58369
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2 Answers2

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You want to use Bulb mode. With the EOS Rebel T5/1200D you can access Bulb mode by selecting Manual exposure mode and turning the control dial all the way to the left.

In Bulb mode the shutter opens when you press the shutter button and stays open until the shutter button is released. In order to avoid camera movement when using bulb mode many people use a wired remote shutter release. Many of them allow the shutter button to be locked down so the shutter stays open without having to continually press the button. Others even have a built in timer that can be set to take a series of pictures with a specific shutter time and at a specific interval.

Michael C
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  • Many others use a wireless IR trigger :) – Robin Nov 15 '16 at 20:31
  • @Robin Those can be problematic for several reasons: Say you want to use burst mode: http://photo.stackexchange.com/a/45909/15871 Or you don't want to have to reach around to the front of the camera: http://photo.stackexchange.com/a/40251/15871 – Michael C Nov 16 '16 at 01:42
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Take as many successive images at 30 seconds (or less) as needed to reach the wanted exposure time, and sum the images in post-processing.

bogl
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  • Believe it or not, there are reasons where one would want a long exposure in one shot: https://i.stack.imgur.com/mOYCp.jpg. Capturing the movement of nature cannot be summed in post. – OnBreak. Jan 14 '19 at 20:06
  • @Hueco - Why do you think I wouldn't believe that? I just contributed one possibility, but I never claimed it would be the best or the only one. About your example, what makes you believe it cannot be taken in the way I described? – bogl Jan 17 '19 at 10:01
  • Example here (https://i0.wp.com/digital-photography-school.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/IMG_8076.jpg?resize=750%2C500&ssl=1) notice the repetitive pattern of the clouds. That movement would have been smoothed away into a beautiful color blur had the shooter gone with a long exposure over stacking. I'm not saying that stacking is always out, just that there are some fairly large downsides. The best stacks I've seen still use exposures into the minutes, necessitating the use of ND's anyway and solving for OP's question anyway as well. – OnBreak. Jan 17 '19 at 16:48
  • My point is, when OP specifically asks for a solution to shoot longer than 30s, and you assume to guess their intent and then answer to the effect of "don't, just use 30s" - you're displaying a stubbornness to actually helping OP. My personal take on reading your answer was that you didn't actually understand the pros and cons of stacking vs LE well enough, having written neither the pro nor the con of your method into your answer. – OnBreak. Jan 17 '19 at 16:51
  • @Hueco - The gaps are too long in this example. Any technique can be applied badly, that is true. – bogl Jan 17 '19 at 17:03
  • @Hueco - You should never make assumptions about someone's intentions or level of understanding. The risk of getting it wrong is way too high. – bogl Jan 17 '19 at 17:04
  • Where a cloud has defined edges due to type or lighting, those edges will exist once and then blur with a LE, and appear again and again at interval of a blending technique. A better blend will use the longest exposure possible to space these out, but at some point, one has to ask, why not just do a LE? If the cloud is whispy enough to begin, any blending on shorter exposure should not be cause for concern. I don't think that example was of bad blending but instead of choosing too short an exposure time. – OnBreak. Jan 17 '19 at 17:34
  • I don't seek to assume your understanding and that phrasing was callous. I apologize. Let me rephrase: Your answer feels incomplete and would have stronger legs on which to stand if it called out specifically the pros of your method in addition to the cons to be aware of. – OnBreak. Jan 17 '19 at 17:36