I set out to catch some falling stars with the M9, but didn't end up with any in my shots. I did search online for some of the suggested settings for an event like this:
- wide angle lens (I brought the Zeiss 25mm Biogon)
- high ISO 1000 or above (I tried both 800 and 400 with the M9)
- fast aperture to let in the lights (I actually tried various apeture from f/2.8 to f/8)
- about 10-30 seconds of exposure time
I also found a hidden self-timer mode with the M9 which will allow me to expose it for as long as I want:
- in the menu, set the self-timer to 2 or 12 seconds and turn the camera power switch to the timer mode
- turn the shutter dial to "B" for bulb-mode
- press the shutter once to open the shutter, and in the viewfinder, you'll see a counter starts to count
- press the shutter lightly again to closer the shutter
What I've learned was that even for a 30 seconds exposure, you can easily see the stars' movement when viewing the files at 100%. But since the meteors disappear so quickly, you pretty much have to be lucky to capture any with a short exposure time. So... while I failed to catch any shooting stars... I still got a few nice captures of the night sky, and everyone had great fun :)