How to do Star Trail Photography with a Nikon D5200?
Is it possible to do that with a Nikon D5200 camera? (and get nice pictures)
I don't want sites given to me on how to do it or the Nikon 5200 website with info on the camera.
I just want to know if the exposure can be set long enough on it to be able it do it and I know there isn't a Bulb mode on this particular camera.
"You'll need a camera that can take very long exposure photos. An SLR or digital SLR with Bulb Mode is perfect".
Since it doesn't have a "Bulb Mode" on it which other settings would be a good substitute?
I know it needs the lowest ISO setting and wide aperture.
So for the love of god please do not comment if its not helpful just so you get your dumb points for answering questions.
Those web sites that tell you how to do star trails are packed with good info. Since you don't want a link to those sites, you can search them out yourself. Shooting the lunar eclipse last month, using a guide on shooting lunar eclipses (years of experience all laid out in a nice format) and various techniques on image stacking gave me lots of information that allowed me to do a reasonable job using a stacking technique.
Your camera has a bulb mode. Download the PDF version of your manual and do a search for "bulb". You can also look in the index of your manual for "bulb".
Another thing you can search for is "image stacking". Many people take many images and then stack them to get nice star trails. A simple program for stacking images is StarStaX. If you get serious about stacking, there are better programs out there.
Also learn about using interval timed shooting. See page 51 in your manual. This is a technique many use to do star trails.
Don't you trust the sites that will tell you how to expose for star trails?
They are really a much better resource because 1) they can go into fine detail (something not possible here) and show many different examples of the photos accompanied by the cameras settings.
I teach photography and my primary goal is to teach my students to think for themselves after understanding the fundamentals of photography and how their cameras are part and parcel of making those concepts viable.
Rather than being spoon fed checklists or "perfect settings" lists, you need to use your intelligence to make your fine tool, the D5200, into an extension of your vision
I do NOT know why you think your D5200 does not have a "bulb" mode.
Look on pages 48,52,55,59,60,61,226,229 and 232 in the user manual
It seems that you have yet to look at your user manual.
There's a wealth of information there and if you have a hope of enjoying your fine camera, you need to become one with your user manual
First, your camera DOES have a "Bulb" mode on the shutter speed selector.
Second, you really need to take time to read and study the Owner's Manual for your camera. Had you done so before you'd know that your camera has a "Bulb" mode.
http://www.nikondigitutor.com/eng/d5200/index.html A video tutorial by Nikon about your Nikon D5200 will always be worth watching.
Third, taking advantage of what people have already done and then committed to a web site is the smart way of accomplishing anything.
http://www.danheller.com/star-trails
Fourth, in the future try to be a little nicer and use "please" and "thank you" and lose the antagonism and attitude.
All DSLRs have a bulb mode for long exposures.
The best way is not to take one very long exposure, but to take many shorter exposures of around a few minutes or more, over a long period of time. Then use software to combine the images.
Here's some software you can use: http://www.startrails.de/html/software.html - it's free.