The Geminids Are Coming

[Speed]

Get out the cameras and tripods!

Thursday night is going to be the peak, but they are building to a peak now, so tonight will be good as well.

Wide angle lens, wide apeture, ISO 400 or so, and long exposures (think 30 seconds or more).

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/obser.../12207486.html

[I_Fly]

*Sigh* Still overcast. And the side roads are dangerously icy. Although if it was clear I might still have to try to find a dark country road to take some shots.

On a side note, got a recommendation for a decent starter telescope?

[mn shutterbug]

What in the world are geminids? Something like extra terrestials? Martians?

[Speed]

The Geminids are the second best meteor shower of the year.

The Perseids are the best.

[Speed]

"And the side roads are dangerously icy. Although if it was clear I might still have to try to find a dark country road to take some shots."

It's definitely not worth getting into an accident for. You can always catch the next meteor shower.

"On a side note, got a recommendation for a decent starter telescope?"

I'll PM you on that one buddy. Got a few questions to ask before I give you an answer.

[Mule]

Speed, thanks for the clarification. I thought I had a friend in college who had a bad case of the germinids.

[I_Fly]

Woohoo, the forecast has changed. It's supposed to be partly cloudy now. Just cold. Supposed to drop to 22F.

PM me anytime Speed. I'm trying to check PR more often.

[Speed]

Speed, thanks for the clarification. I thought I had a friend in college who had a bad case of the germinids.

Hehehe! That is too funny Mule!

[Speed]

Woohoo, the forecast has changed. It's supposed to be partly cloudy now. Just cold. Supposed to drop to 22F.

PM me anytime Speed. I'm trying to check PR more often.

That's a warm winter day in Minot.

;-)

[Mule]

My roommates girlfriend didn't think so.

But hey, I digress. Thanks for the heads up. If the cloud cover breaks up I'll be watching. Meanwhile, I hope some of you will post some pictures.

[Speed]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22149504/?GT1=10645

Proof that you guys are on the cutting edge thanks to you old pal Speed!

[I_Fly]

That's a warm winter day in Minot.

;-)

That's why I don't want to live in Minot too!

I can stand a day or two. Maybe even a week but when you start looking at months....no thanks!

[walterick]

The clouds finally broke in the southwest skies Looking forward to some bright, streakey things this Thursday night!

[Speed]

For about 30 minutes (9:45 to 10:15) and shot 36 frames. I killed the battery in my D200, which had less than half a charge. Before you ask, I do have a second battery, but the wife was ready for bed, so I called it a night.

I saw four Geminid's, which were spectacular. There were undoubtedly more, but I was concentrating on my camera and taking photo's, not watching the sky per se. They are slow moving for meteors, and very bright as well. I didn't capture any with the camera, so I'll be back out tonight.

As a bonus, Mars is just above Gemini (the radiant), and Comet Holmes is still visible, along with M42 - the Orion Nebula, M31 - the Andromeda Galaxy, the Double Cluster between Pegasus and Cassiopea, along with several other Messier objects. Any decent star exposure should catch one of these bonus objects if you point the camera in the right direction. Last night I pointed my camera to catch Comet Holmes and The Andromeda Galaxy.

FYI, film still rules for this kind of work!!! This from a man who loves his D200 and has shot over 18,000 images since May 2006. I may take out the K1000 with Sensia 100 tonight as well.

[Speed]

Looking forward to some bright, streakey things this Thursday night!

Good luck with your photo's! Wide angles, wide apetures, fast ISO film. I envy you. I lived in Arizona for 11 months, and they have some bright, clear, dry skies. You should be sitting pretty tonight.

[Speed]

I can stand a day or two. Maybe even a week but when you start looking at months....no thanks!

Where's your sense of adventure?!

I lived in Minot for six years and loved it.

FYI, my boy is in tech training. He tentatively has Missiles in Minot. The same place I served in Missiles!

[I_Fly]

Where's your sense of adventure?!

I lived in Minot for six years and loved it.

FYI, my boy is in tech training. He tentatively has Missiles in Minot. The same place I served in Missiles!

I'm more picky about my adventures as I get older.

Aerobatics w/high g maneuvers and inverted flight: fun. Riding in a jet car at 300+mph: fun. Ice: not fun (unless you're where you can get good photos). Lots of snow:not fun (unless you're at a ski resort). Cold: ok if you're at a ski resort, not ok if you live in it.

And of course, the list could go on for awhile.

Send your boy good luck from me. Missiles & Minot like the old man. That'll be cool when you get together.

[I_Fly]

FYI, film still rules for this kind of work!!! This from a man who loves his D200 and has shot over 18,000 images since May 2006. I may take out the K1000 with Sensia 100 tonight as well.

I'm sure you've posted them before but I'm going to be lazy and ask you what kind of settings you used. The reason being, my sister-in-law finally returned my film camera with several rolls of Fuji Reala. I'm tempted to take it out and try to get some shots with it. I haven't shot film in well over two years! Hopefully I'll remember how to load film into the camera!

[walterick]

As a now D70 user I was going to ask how these DSLR things do at shooting long exposures at night. Guess there's only one way to find out ;)

[Speed]

how these DSLR things do at shooting long exposures at night. Guess there's only one way to find out ;)

Rickster,

I can tell you from first hand experience, that digital doesn't compare with film for long exposures. And by long exposures, I mean more than a few seconds (think 5 to 10). I shoot with Noise Reduction on, and with the D200 you can select low, medium or high Noise Reduction. My D200 is set to high, and at 30 seconds, I still get a LOT more noise than I got with film. I'm guessing the D3 and the D300 are better at long expousres, but I don't have $5000 for a D3!

Hope you had better luck than I did last night! I got skunked.

[Speed]

A pilot expression meaning you don't see anything.

I went out again last night, took a few test shots to set the focus, then set my D200 on Interval Timer Shooting. 30 second exposures (which I've timed to be 33 seconds), and it takes 20 seconds for Noise Reduction to do it's thing (also timed) so I set the camera up to take a photo every minute. It took 78 frames before the battery died, and I didn't catch a single Geminid! I did catch two aircraft flying through my frames.

Hope you guys had better luck than I did.

[I_Fly]

No luck here either although it was clear.

[walterick]

I went out last night to clear skies! I saw several meteors while sitting on the hood of my truck. One was a fantastic, bright green one that sailed slowly across the sky and went behind a hill before it had even burned out. I waited a little too long to get there however, and about an hour after I arrived so did a big bank of clouds.

Before it clouded up however I ran the Mamiya with Portra 400 we'll see if he captured anything. I also pulled out this new-fangled DSLR and popped off a few exposures of the constellations before the clouds took over. The first one is Orion with the clouds creeping in on the bottom right. The second one is Gemini with Mars but this one didn't show as well. I have to say, this little DSLR did pretty well at capturing stars. 20 second exposure each, with a 6 point star filter on to increase the size of the stars.

[I_Fly]

Those shots look pretty good for a digital camera, especially for 20 second exposures. Orion really jumps out of the first one!!

[Speed]

I'm sure you've posted them before but I'm going to be lazy and ask you what kind of settings you used. The reason being, my sister-in-law finally returned my film camera with several rolls of Fuji Reala. I'm tempted to take it out and try to get some shots with it. I haven't shot film in well over two years! Hopefully I'll remember how to load film into the camera!

With a film camera, use a 50mm or wider lens. (I always used my 50mm with my film camera's for meteors.) I'd recommend 400 speed film, but Reala will work if you have a fast enough lens. My 50mm is a f 1.4, but a f 1.8 or even a f 2.0 should work fine. With Reala, use one of the above apetures. With 400 speed, you can use f 2.8 and even f 4.0, but f 4.0 is the slowest apeture I'd consider using.

With a 50mm or wider lens, use a 30 second exposure (or longer). You'll get some star trails with 30 seconds at 50mm, but they're relatively short. With a 28mm or so, you can take 3, 4 or 5 minute exposures without excessive star trails.