What capture parameters should I set on my camera for a meteor shower session?

What capture parameters should I set on my camera for a meteor shower session?

Keep in mind that the meteors shine for a very short time (about 1 second) so it is important not to use too long exposure times in order to capture as many meteors as possible (even the faintest).

In addition, light pollution is a factor to be taken into account in meteor showers, since during the capture time the sky becomes lighter the more light pollution there is, which makes the meteors stand out much less and may even not be appreciated if they are too faint.

Thus, in the case of being in a fairly dark sky my recommendation is to set capture settings similar to Milky Way photography: between 15-20 seconds of exposure (so that the stars are pointed), an ISO around 3200 (or even more depending on the noise level of the camera) and close the diaphragm about ⅔ of a step.

However, in environments with a lot of light pollution it is interesting to lower the exposure time quite a bit more (about 8 seconds or even up to 6 seconds), raise the ISO a lot (depending on the camera) and also close ⅔ of step the diaphragm.

The idea of these adjustments is to maximize the signal of the meteors against the constant light offset of the sky.




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