Back to the Stars

Back in June of 2020, I captured the Milky Way out in Montauk during what was essentially, still lockdown for a lot of the country. To this day , the pictures I took that year were the clearest I’ve ever been able to capture. I’ve shot numerous celestial objects and events since but none have compared to the clarity of June of 2020. This year, I bought myself a used Canon 6D and decided to try again because last time, I neglected to use an external battery and the camera died only 1 hour into timelapse. I have to say I was impressed with results however, I noticed a ton of air traffic, satellites, and overall haze — something I didn’t think of when shooting in 2020.
During lockdown, flights were limited, businesses were shutdown or operating partially which overall, led to a decline of air and light pollution. Something that on a global scale, we may never experience again in our lifetimes. In essence, it was a time for Earth to briefly heal from humanities constant development and destruction

Installing Magic Lantern on supported Canon models unlocks a ton of features that really should have been included to begin with. An example would be a built in intervalometer which Canon offers on only a few models; and even so, lacks the customization needed for something like astrophotography. This is where Magic Lantern really comes in handy, by providing soup to nuts capability to the user to maximize the camera’s sensor to it’s full potential. I suspect Canon still rides a dated UI in order to prevent damage to it’s products, when realistically; it’s causing a lot of creators to switch to other brands more akin to their user base.

I hope one day we can have skies as clear as the days during lockdown in 2020. In retrospect, I’m glad I made the effort to capture it that year because realistically, it may never be that clear again.