(Jerry L.) wrote in message om...
Ehhhhhhhh!


30 seconds and longer? If you had a telescope mount that rotates
along with the Earth, you will have a nice streak in the sky (when
your film returns....)


The moon is reflected sunlight: most exposures on a tripod longer
than 1/15th of a second generally make for a moving moon.


Yes, I am aware of the reflected sunlight, and the vast majority of my
shoot was at much faster speeds, but for detail in the totality stage,
it does call for slower speeds, and ther light is filtered, not
directly reflected. So, for 800 speed film and f/16 (the best I could
do with 1400mm) and an L-2 for totality, the chart suggested 30
seconds. For L-1, it suggested 2 min. My view of the moon ranged
between these two levels at totality. In fact, it was so dark grey at
one point that it took me several minutes to find the moon in my
viewer again. I don't have a finder scope, and it was just too dark to
see easily.


I saw some very cool shots taken with the star trail method, though
most of those were done over more than an hour.

I had a few shots where a plane flew by. In one case, the plane flew
across the center of the moon. I'm hoping it makes a nice streak
across the orange moon.

Personally, I would rather experiment and have a variety of shots,
even some that may not be so great. Better to play around and get some
interesting images than wait til March of 2007, wishing I had tried
more.

I did a lot of variety. I also took shots with 1/500 at the same time
in the eclipse, and in between. But I really don't know what would
work best. My digital pics were pretty interesting. It was much harder
to shoot since my digital couldn't find the moon at all in the
viewfinder (way too dark). So I had to aim in the general direction
and take the shot, then wait to see if the moon was actually within
that field of view. At complete totality, it was impossible to get
anything with less than 2 seconds. Obviously, my film camera would do
better since I was usig 800 speed film, but for the digital, that was
the best I could do. I did get a cool shot with it at 16 seconds. Not
sharp, but a bright orange glow. My favorite digital shots were at
1/250 at about 1/4 coverage, 1/2 second at about half coverage, and 1
second at almost 0 coverage at the end (I got a really glowing moon
with a reflection).

Anyway, I had a great time, loved my digital results, and I'm looking
forward to getting my film back. If half it is garbage, I really don't
care. I'd rather "waste" some film than sit around wishing I had tried
more.