Eclipse

"R.Schenck" wrote in message ...
I'm planning on taking some pics of the eclipse thats occuring tonight. I
have a tripod and a pentax k1000 with a 50mm 1:2 lens. I 've never taken a
photo of the sky at night at all. I think I will be able to get some
decent pics of it. I have 800 spd kodak film in my camera right now, I was
thinking of getting some 100 speed kodak film too prior to doing this,
however I've heard that positive film is good for night sky photos too,
anyone think it'd be worth the effort of picking it up instead or color
negative film? I think that I've seen something called 'superchrome' or
something like that, never shot with any postive film before. I guess I'll
only be getting slides from that tho, no light table maybe there's an old
projector around here somewhere, so maybe thats not really worth it.


I hope you were able to get something good. Unfortunately, it doesn't
look like anybody responded before the eclipse.

The lens would probably be your biggest frustration since it would
mean serious enlarging to get a nice image. If you went for some nice
foreground/context shots; that would be really nice. In my location,
that was impossible. We were looking over a valley, so nothing
anywhere near the moon.

I shot with both print and slide film. Also my digital point and
shoot. Next eclipse is 2007, so I figured i would try everything I
could

I can't wait to get my film back. My digital photos are pretty cool,
though with a shorter lens (380mm vs 1120mm and 1400mm with my long
lenses and teleconverters). It did help to see the results via the
digital camera and see what worked best. I also had a chart from a
website mentioned here that gave setting suggestions for the various
stages of the eclipse.


I don't have a 'remote trigger' or whatever for my camera either.

So this might prove interesting, anyone can think of a particular tip? I'm
planning on dropping the shutter speed down pretty low and, as i've heard,
'bracketing the hell out of it'. Whats the deal with the 'B' setting tho?

The remote/cable release is the easiest way. I did some longer shutter
speeds during the totality phase, between 30 seconds and a minute. My
digital could only go up to 30 seconds with no bulb feature, so I
couldn't do it longer with that camera.

Bracketing is a great idea. I bracketed each time I did photos.
Usually 5 or 6 photos in the series. One, to make sure I got something
good, but also to get different effects. When I was shooting with the
digital, I could change the settings and get completely different
results. A faster shutter speed resulted in the moon crescent that was
bright, while a slower shutter speed showed the rest of the moon as
well, in shadow, and with the orange and red colors.

B is the bulb setting that allows you to do whatever time you want.
You really need a cable or remote release for that one since you need
to start and stop the exposure, and you really don't want to bump the
camera. Most releases will have a lock that allows you to let go until
you want to stop it. Much easier than standing there holding it. Most
cameras do not have programmed times longer than 30 seconds, so if you
want to do a setting longer than your camera has on the dial, then you
will need a release. And really, if you plan to do anything longer
1/30, you really should be using a cable release. It will help you
press the shutter without producing camera motion. Even a tiny bump
can cause a blurry image.