Vent: That wide-angle shot I messed up taught me a lesson

Was up at Mount Rainier last month trying to capture the Milky Way. Had my tripod set up but I was rushing. Forgot to lock the mirror up on my DSLR. Got home and every single 30-second exposure was blurry. Six hours of shooting down the drain. Ever had a simple mistake ruin a whole night of astrophotography?

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wade43817h ago

I had the exact same thing happen at Arches National Park two years ago. Spent 4 hours shooting the Milky Way over Delicate Arch, got home and realized my intervalometer was set to take 20 second exposures but I forgot to change the delay between shots. So every image had a 5 second gap and the stars trailed between frames. Tried stacking them anyway and it was a total mess. Now I keep a laminated checklist in my camera bag that I run through before every night session. Mirror lockup, intervalometer settings, focus, battery level, all of it. Takes 30 seconds to check but saves you hours of regret.