Total Lunar Eclipse February 20th

[Speed]

You are braver than I am my friend!

Good luck and bundle up.

[Speed]

"cloudy skies! Drat!"

Oh man! And here I was hoping for some Velvia shots from you!

If it clears, I want photo's!!!

[Speed]

It's raining in "Sunny" SoCal today and isn't supposed to clear up until Sat or Sun.. Looks like I'll likely miss this one. The real bummer is that I'll miss the one eclipse that happens early in the evening... The ONE that doesn't make me stay up until the wee hours to watch.. LOL

Thanks for the heads up Speed!

Maybe you'll get a break in the clouds buddy. It happens.

Always glad to give my photography buddies a heads up on interesting astronomy stuff.

[Speed]

"there's thick fog outside!" :cryin:

Don't give up! It could clear. Keep an eye on the weather and be prepared to go into action should you get the chance.

Good luck!

[Kokopeli]

Hey Speed.. Quick question.. If someone wanted to get a telescope and an adapter for a camera body, where would they begin their search?

Feel free to reply here or PM me.

Thanks Buddy!

[Speed]

its cloudy here.. :-( its supposed to be somewhat breaky in cloud coverage though. Hope I get some good shots.. I missed the last one..

Hopefully you'll get those breaks in the clouds. It's starting to cloud up here, but I'm still hoping for the best.

[Speed]

Hey Speed.. Quick question.. If someone wanted to get a telescope and an adapter for a camera body, where would they begin their search?

Feel free to reply here or PM me.

Thanks Buddy!

For buying gear, start with Orion Telescopes:

www.telescope.com

I bought my telescope off an internet action, but I knew what I wanted and what I was getting. I've bought several things from Orion (solar filters, T-Rings, Camera Adapters, etc) and I've been happy with the products and service.

Here's an article on buying your first telescope:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/equip.../12511616.html

Here's a Help Guide within the above article:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/equip...s/3303926.html

I own a Celestron, and I've been very happy with it. Orion carries several Celestron models. You can get more information about their telescopes at:

www.celestron.com

Meade also makes telescopes, and they are Celestron's only real competitor. Orion also carries Meades. Their website:

www.meade.com

Don't get overwhelmed. Start with the buying your first telescope article and take it from there. A few pointers:

One - Size matters. The bigger your objective lens or mirror, the more light the telescope will gather and the more objects you will be able to see. Weigh this against cost and overall size (think storage here).

Two - Get a sturdy (stable) tripod. Just like in photography, stability counts. A cheap, light tripod will frustrate you. While I'm on the stability point, I would recommend an equatorial mount over a fork mount. It is much more stable.

Three - If you want to do astrophotography, get a mount with a guide motor.

Four - Seriously consider getting a "Go To" telescope. It will make getting around the sky, (finding objects) much easier. Getting a slightly smaller telescope with this feature will be worth the tradeoff.

Feel free to ask me any questions you may have. You can email me, PM me, or give me a shout here on Viewfinder.

[SpeedingSphere]

this is what im looking at right now.. not one single break in the entire sky.. eesh.. i hope it clears!! :-(

[Kokopeli]

God bless you my child! Thanks for all the helpful 411!!!

[SpeedingSphere]

well great.. now its snowing.. enjoy the eclipse for me those of you who see it.. :-P

[racedraper]

Speed, for us novices who might like to try and gather some images of this lunar eclipse, do you have any insight/suggestions on the kinds of exposures, time, ISO, etc that one could use to get some reasonable images? What types of lens/lenses are good to use. I have a Canon 5D with a 100-400 L IS and a 24-105 L IS, plus a set of Kenko extension tubes. Any insight you would care to provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

WesternGuy

http://www.mreclipse.com/LEphoto/LEphoto.html

[mjs1973]

Still clear skies here, but I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open. I knew getting up at 3:45 this morning was going to make staying up for the eclipse a challenge. I'm going to stick it out though. Once I get outside, the cold should perk me up.

[SpeedingSphere]

the skies just opened up and i can see everything perfect.

and so it starts! heres a pic to get you guys excited!

[SmartWombat]

Just clouded over here
Got almost nothing
Tripod seemed terribly unstable with 600mm (300 & 2x TC) but was probably me.

[mjs1973]

Sky was clear as can be!! I sat outside with my camera and watched it for an hour and a half. The thermometer says that it is 2 F outside. I'm a bit chilled and tired so my pics will have to wait till tomorrow, after work.

[Dylan8i]

Yeah it cleared up here to.... unfortunantly i only have a 135 lense... so not great pics, esp since i didn't go somewhere away from lights and with a better foreground...

[SpeedingSphere]

well heres what I got.. I'm quite dissatisfied.. Could anyone provide some insight as to why they came out as they did? Before the moon went under shadow, I got plenty of detail, now that its under, no detail at all really.. :-( Help! The last pic was with the 70-200L 2.8L IS.. this one is with the 400 5.6L as the 2.8L didnt get anything worth posting..

[mn shutterbug]

Mike, I sure hope it was worth it for you.

I'm in Rochester, MN right now and my wiffe was looking out the window of our motel room. She told me there was someone across the street taking a picture of something. She assumed it was the moon, as I had cued her in on the eclipse. I went across the street and found a gal with a Canon and 300mm F4 lens on a tripod. We had a nice visit and then we both got too cold and said our good byes. It's 6 below zero here, and that's plenty cold, when you're not exactly dressed for it. I did find it pretty cool, though.

Good luck to everyone with the shots. I expect to get mooned plenty tomorrow.

[another view]

Since it's a balmy seven here with really clear skies, I gave it a "shot" with my 200, which is the longest lens I have at the moment. Heavily cropped, etc...

[Dylan8i]

Heres my attempt with a 135 lense, no crop, cause to crop it enough to make it interesting it gets all pixelated.




heres a crop of another pic later in night, with less blurr

[SpeedingSphere]

heres the HDR of it.. came out better than the first pic.. woot..

[Squidward]

Here's a picture that I took tonight at 7:05 PM. The weather did not cooperate at all. It was the most frustrating thing trying to take pictures with clouds drifting lazily by. I got a bunch of hazy shots after the initial few as the moon was ducking behind the Earth. Here's one shot from tonight.

Edited to add the second picture. The second picture is a crop of another picture down to640X640.

[masdog]

I found out about the eclipse today, and this was the best I could do without any practice. I also couldn't find my remote release when I went to get a couple of shots, so I had to trigger my camera by hand.

200mm, F16, 5 sec exposure, ISO 100 - best guess based on guide on NASA's website.

Does anyone know what the blue spec is near the moon? I don't think it is dust because it moves around in the other photos that I took.

[SpeedingSphere]

youre probably using a filter, yes? its reflections inside the lens from the filter and the moon light.

Also, when taking pics of the moon, since its pretty much 2D to us, you should use your widest aperture so you can shoot at higher shutter speeds or lower ISOs

[ChowChi-Ching]

I am not real happy with my pictures either... I have a 70-300 lens - Nikon D70s - Don't know offhand what settings this picture was at, I was playing around with settings as I was taking the pics...... I think I need a better zoom lens.....

This is pretty cropped.....