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Lunar eclipse - how did different cameras go

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Thanks John

The camera was the same as yours, E-500, just the different lens.

I agree, it truly is a wonder of the natural world and amazing to behold. I'm sure the people out and about here at 5 in the morning were staring at it as the people you heard about. But I was alone in photographing and viewing it. Getting myself out of bed at 430 was hard enough so I wasn't going farther than my balcony. :)
--
Paul
 
Thanks John

It was mostly trial and error. A couple weeks ago I had played with photographing the moon so I had that to go off of. But once totality hit I just tried what I read on the web mixed with trial and error.

I did play around with spot metering earlier but gave up on it. My good tripod was at my school apartment and the one I have here is really difficult to work with (near impossible to center on a small object).
--
Paul
 
I like how the totality ones turned out, Charlene. Blurry, of course, from the long exposure mixing our fast moving earth and moon. (So much in motion!) I like the color in that third one. Like a dark rusty Hollywood version of Mars.

I discovered that that 2 or 2.5 second exposure gave an accurate representation of what totality looked like while my longer ones, 4 seconds, allowed it to stand out beyond what the eye could see, but obviously with even more blur from the movement.
--
Paul
 
Nice job manual focusing. I tried it but it was just so small at 300mm that I gave up. Probably being half asleep and probably a little blurry eyed had something to do with it.
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Paul
 
in the 2s and 2.5s exposures. There are also red and blue one, and a white one sitting in the Moon.
Charlene_S said:
Here are a few of my images. I followed Mr. Eclipses advice. I turned
on the NR once the moon started to get dark. I also used the mirror
lock. Can't tell on some of the shots if I have hot pixels or stars.
You can help me decide. The images have very little pp. I zoomed in
on the moon then cropped the image.
Click to expand...
The problem is that the earliest NR kicks in 4s (at ISO above 100), so you don't get dark frame subtraction.

Nice shots for such a relatively short lens. With my 300mm the Moon is twice the size but there is also more motion blur at the shutter speeds needed for totality - 2s was what I was mainly using, as in this shot:



It's all compromise, I guess.

Cheers, John
 
This is not a comparison as each camera used a different optic and I don't think I gave either a fair shake at delivering a best result. I didn't get up early enough to establish good focus ahead of time. So between the lack of good verified focus and the movement due to long exposure times, the results are fairly poor IMO.

The first image is from the C7070 with the 1000mm f/10 Rubinar afocally coupled with a 32mm TeleVue Plossl. The camera lens focal length was 7.7mm resulting in an actual focal length of about 240mm at f/3.2. The equivalent FoV was comparable to an 1150mm lens on a 35mm camera.



The second image was with the E-330 using a 66mm William Optics Zenithstar scope at prime focus. This results in a 388mm f/5.9 lens at an equivalent FoV comparable to a 776mm lens on a 35mm camera.



--
Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com
 
I photographed the entire eclipse with my E-510 and the OM 500mm reflex lens plus the EC-14 for a total focal length of 700mm (1400mm equiv.). I bracketed all shots by + - 3 stops or 2 stops at half stop increments to make sure I'd get some good exposures despite changing lighting, so I've been processing lots of photos after spending an awesome all-nighter watching and photographic the eclipse from the Sierra Nevada foothills in California.

I'm using RAW developer, which I like a lot, but it has crashed twice while running batches so I lost all the processing I had done, and I'm too bloody tired to do more today. So here is just one image, of the advancing eclipse. The gorgeous red color didn't show until later.



I just got the OM 500mm reflex a few days ago and have much to learn about how to use it best. I'm pretty happy with what it produced during the eclipse.

--
Tony
http://flipperty.smugmug.com/
 
... the sense of dimensionality in the first image. Enough resolution (certainly more than most I've seen) to give a real sense of the spherical, if you know what I mean.

However, you must have flown down to the southern hemisphere to snap it - clearly our Moon, not yours :-)

I know what you mean about focus. Though I started early enough to acquire a good focus, I lost it while fiddly around with my gear - and it's a devil to get back once totality sets in, particularly through an e500 viewfinder, so I ended up doing it by "feel" rather than look.

But certainly "best of thread" image I've seen so far.

Cheers, John
 
I've never used a reflex lens, but the usual criticisms of them (particularly bad bokeh) clearly don't apply in this sort of photography. Already learned a lot from this thread - hope to learn more :-)

Cheers, John
 
John Cozijn said:
However, you must have flown down to the southern hemisphere to snap
it - clearly our Moon, not yours :-)
Click to expand...
He's just trying to be an Aussie, he forgot about the upsidedownness of using a telescope attached. We see it upside down naturally. Or is it USA sees it upside down?

Regards........... Guy
 
but i still got a few photos away, between letting the battery warm up in my pocket lol i'm in AUS and was lucky enough to have the eclipse occur between 7-9, with the best bits around 8.30pm. There was some light cloud cover that stuffed me up a little, but as the moon rose in it's orbit it became less of a problem.

IM using an E500 with the old 40-150 and these are crops with minor PP



I thought ahead as i saw the clouds set in so this one is 1hr before the action



some motion blur in this one...i forgot the 1/2 second rule and was just trying to snap before the battery went...

let's hope i will be better prepared for the 2011 eclipse! [hopefully the E-3 will be out then :P jk jk]
--
Cheers, Tom
If you can't be the best, then be different!
http://home.iprimus.com.au/yankoslogistics/
 
Charlene_S said:
I went to bed last night at 22:30 and had my daughter wake me up at
0130 so I could try and shoot the eclipse. I have been up ever since
(had to work)I used my E-500 and 40-150 kit lens. While doing
research on the NASA site for what time the eclipse would occur in my
area, I found a link to web site of a photographer who is pretty
experienced in photographing lunar eclipses. The site is:
http://www.mreclipse.com
Click to expand...
well done, I love the commitment - your effort definately shows in you're wonderful images! thanks for that link, it's interesting and will help next time around
Charlene_S said:
Click to expand...
that one is my favourite^ :)

possibly could be jelousy since i didnt get a shot like that ::P no no, well done they're great images

--
Cheers, Tom
If you can't be the best, then be different!
http://home.iprimus.com.au/yankoslogistics/
 
This is a montage of the eclipse.
E-500 and 50-200
It was hard to follow the eclipse and the E-3 pictures posting :):

 
Here's one from E510 and Bigma. The only decent shot I got due to clouds.



Focal Length 500 mm
Exposure Time 1/25 sec
Aperture f/6.3
ISO Equivalent 400
Metering Mode center weighted (2)
Exposure Program manual (1)

--
David
http://www.pbase.com/bluesfish

 
Haven't seen any Bigma moon shots before.

The shot I have that is closest to that is with the OMZ300mm with the 2X-A (ie 600mm) ISO100 1/125s, but I have no record of the aperture :-( but I suspect effective f/11 (I was fiddling around before totality).

I've rotated it to match a northern hemisphere view and increased the colour temperature a bit. Metering and focus manual.



cheers, john
 
Very nice series!!!

--
--Radu
http://www.gruian.com

'We are like caterpillars, contemplating pupation... No longer will I chew on the cabbage leaves, no longer will I spend my time moving around on the underside of foliage. Life must be a preparation for the transition to another dimension...' (Terence McKenna)

 
brucemc66 said:
Was trying out the 330 , and using B mode live view. NR on .
Ok I realise that I was using way too long exposures , but the
results were horrid, banding and noise everywhere at iso 100, with as
I said NR on.
The live view must have really heated up the sensor.
Click to expand...
I didn't have any such problem and I forgot to turn on long exposure noise reduction. My C7070 (which also keeps the sensor on all the time) didn't have a problem either. And I was shooting in southern Arizona where it was still quite warm at 3am.

--
Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com
 
I missed this lunar eclipse, but here is a version from the one earlier in the year from UK point of view

Oly E-1, old Nikon 300mm F2.8 AIS plus Oly E1.4tc, iso800, 1 second at F4, Gitzo 1328 tripod and Arca swiss B1 ballhead.

 
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