****desperate for nighttime shooting help 8/11/09****

i have a sony dslr a100 and want to take pix of the meteor showers tonight. i have taken pix of lightning and stars with my previous sony cybershot on a tripod using the bulb setting. on my dslr a100, i set it on a tripod and try to press the button and the shutter doesnt respond at all. since im taking pix of the stars, i wouldnt use a flash obviously. can anyone tell me what i'm doing wrong? i can offer more info if asked. i wanted to get this posted as fast as possible.

thanks much
terri

:mad2:

Do you have it turned On? Sound like a stupid question, however you might have turned it off with out knowing it.
Try using a cable release.

I'm not a Sony user, so I can't help you there. But have you read the part of the manual pertaining to the bulb setting? I'm sure it'll give you step by step instructions on how to use the setting.

If you do get it figured out... careful pressing the shutter button. If you can, set the self timer for a few seconds so you don't get any camera shake, although using a cable release is the optimal solution.

Do you have your memory card installed?

Put the camera in Manual mode.

thanks for the responses. the camera is on, memory card is in and it is in manual mode on bulb setting. arrrghh! this shouldnt be such a pain...lol.

:cryin: :mad2:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MamaMonstr

thanks for the responses. the camera is on, memory card is in and it is in manual mode on bulb setting. arrrghh! this shouldnt be such a pain...lol.

:cryin: :mad2:

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It will probably also have to be in Manual Focus since, under Bulb-type conditions, it is not likely to be able to auto-focus. - TF

this also seams stupid, but are the batteries charged up?

Call Sony and see if they know what might be wrong.

+1 on the Manual Focus. If the camera is trying to focus and you have it the default setting, the won't take the picture.

Is your remote cable working (does it work if you press the shutter, but don't if you use the cable)?, does it work in 30" exposure?

I agree with the autofocus comments. I have a sony, and if the camera cant find an autofocus, it locks the shutter. You can overide this by switching to manual focus, or going to the menu and changing 'priority setup' from AF to release.