Lunar eclipse

Discuss photography techniques, equipment, etc. here.
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Postby BarbaraC » Thu Feb 21, 2008 6:54 am

It's not my fault that my eclipse photos are noisy and require a lot of work--it's my camera's fault, but this doesn't make me feel one bit better, particularly since a photographer friend of mine took a spectacular photo of the moon with his Canon. Made me snarl and drool, but honest, I was really gracious toward him, not telling him I'll hate him right on through eternity.

The pre-eclipse photos came out rather nicely, and I could always fake it by adding a graded orange tinge to them. But it's not the same, no, it's not the same at all. :(

Barbara

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Postby nannybear » Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:59 am

Well all in all it was just fabulous watching it!!! I did take lots of pics and experimented but only four came close to turning out. That said, they all have a blur patch as if I moved which I must have though I could swear I didn't! I couldn't believe the amount of people asking me "what are you looking at?" As I was combing through my manual I realized how much my camera can do that I haven't even scratched the surface on yet, so I brought it to work to study! :lol: Barbara I had a battery problem as well :o First ones gave out then the next two sets were in my charged pocket but deader than doornails. Finally had to go grab a new regular set til the others are charged.....anyway I have rambled way to long, have a great day everyone! Cheers Jan
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Postby sheldonk » Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:18 am

Hi Everyone!

Well the weather turned out great here in Connecticut! Looked real iffy for awhile.

Here is the best shot I was able to get

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/228 ... e6dd_o.jpg

I used a Nikon D70 with a Sigma 70-300mm zoom lens. The lens was their cheapest version of the 70-300 at the time so my results wern't as sharp as I would have liked. In this photo, I was not zoomed all the way. It was a six second exposure! I also captured two stars that were near the moon. You can see a little bit of streaking on the stars. Even a six second exposure is slightly affected by the movement of the earth! I found I had to reframe the shot every two or three minutes.

It was 17 degrees when I took this. Funny how I didn't feel the cold as much while concentrating on how to capture the best image possible.

Have a great day!

Sheldon

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Postby BarbaraC » Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:33 am

Sheldon, you gave me back my faith in my camera. Why didn't it occur to me that, for an 8-second exposure, the darned moon was going to be inevitably blurred? Stupid me.

Your shot looks very much like mine. We must be sharing the same moon. 8)

Barbara

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Postby rkligman » Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:39 am

BarbaraC wrote:Sheldon, you gave me back my faith in my camera. Why didn't it occur to me that, for an 8-second exposure, the darned moon was going to be inevitably blurred? Stupid me.

Your shot looks very much like mine. We must be sharing the same moon. 8)

Barbara


I learned that in August during the last eclipse. Don't take a multi second exposure because the moon actually moves in that short of time. We were clouded in last night so I never even saw it. But at least if I did I would have shot it at something like 1/5 second if possible. Live and learn. You have 2 years to practice now.
Rick Insane Diego...

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Postby sheldonk » Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:39 am

Hi,

Between the movement of the earth, the limitation of the optics and the noise produced by the camera, I'm almost surprised it was this good. Maybe the Canon person used really high quality optics and a really fast lense. Maybe he even used a telescope with a camera adapter. Many modern scopes have a computer and motor to adjust the telescope to the rotation of the earth. Heavy on the wallet but the results can be spectacular!

At least we all got to see it.

Sheldon

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Postby sheldonk » Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:41 am

I did shoot some at 1/5 second. Nothing but black!

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Postby BarbaraC » Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:46 am

Sheldon, all he has is a nice Canon 20D with a big fat lens. He almost sold it last year, and like an idiot I talked him out of it. I should have told him it was a good idea, and if he liked, I'd take it off his hands. So much for honesty.

[DELETED BECAUSE MONA DID IT FOR ME...THE RIGHT WAY.]

Gave up on using the IMG tags. Obviously I don't know what I'm doing. The URL will have to do.

Barbara
Last edited by BarbaraC on Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby cherub » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:04 am

Very nice pictures Barbara :D

Image
Image

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Postby BarbaraC » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:18 am

Okay, Mona, give it up! How on earth (or the moon) did you do it?

Barbara

EDIT: I just figured it out. When I tried the IMG tags, I forgot the HTTP part. :oops:

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Postby MG - Admin » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:46 am

Here's mine:

Image

Mike

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Postby BarbaraC » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:09 am

Mike, not only am I mad at my photographer friend, but now I'm mad at you too.

Super photo. 8)

Barbara

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Postby sheldonk » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:11 am

Nice shot Mike! What kind of setup did you use? How long was the exposure?

BTW, who was minding the forum while you were outside shooting??? :lol:

Sheldon

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Postby Hemo2 » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:20 am

Great shots folks! I'm extremely jealous. I had practiced a little different technique with my camera and everything, but then around 5PM a heavy bank of clouds moved in and come showtime later in the evening we had 5 degree temperatures and 100% cloud cover. It was so thick, I couldn't even tell where the moon was. :evil:

Oh well, in slightly less than 3 years, I will hopefully get another chance!

Keith

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Postby nannybear » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:20 am

Awesome shots you guys Cheers Jan
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