FYI - Perseid Meteor Shower This Weekend
- Thread starter BruceLee
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Soldato
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- 6 Sep 2008
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- By the sea, West Sussex
The clouds parted briefly for me last night I drove out into the downs and using Google Sky maps to point in the correct direction I setup my camera.
Canon 450D with a 24-70 f2.8 L. I set manual focus set to infinity, initiallly at 30s, f2.8 and ISO 1600, but exposure was a fair bit over.
I dropped to ISO 800, still a fair bit too bright and I settled on 15s @ ISO 800.
I set the camera to 10 continuous shot and just kept re-triggering the shutter remotely. I spent approx 90 minutes doing this and in that time I saw 1 meteor at about 90 degree to where I was shooting, and I saw none where I was shooting. Despite being in the middle of the South Downs, the clouds seemed to pick up massive amounts of light from what I can only guess is the general area. I ended up getting bored and I was falling asleep on the bonnet of the car so I came home (was about 2am by this time)
I had a look through them today and I found 1 with a meteor!!
http://www.the-crib.co.uk/images/stars.jpg
Canon 450D with a 24-70 f2.8 L. I set manual focus set to infinity, initiallly at 30s, f2.8 and ISO 1600, but exposure was a fair bit over.
I dropped to ISO 800, still a fair bit too bright and I settled on 15s @ ISO 800.
I set the camera to 10 continuous shot and just kept re-triggering the shutter remotely. I spent approx 90 minutes doing this and in that time I saw 1 meteor at about 90 degree to where I was shooting, and I saw none where I was shooting. Despite being in the middle of the South Downs, the clouds seemed to pick up massive amounts of light from what I can only guess is the general area. I ended up getting bored and I was falling asleep on the bonnet of the car so I came home (was about 2am by this time)
I had a look through them today and I found 1 with a meteor!!
http://www.the-crib.co.uk/images/stars.jpg
Soldato
- Joined
- 6 Sep 2008
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- By the sea, West Sussex
I would have had no hope from my back garden as the A27 runs about 1 mile away and I can see the orange haze from them. I can see the stars fine from my garden, but a long exposure would be ruined.
Not sure if it's the best way but for me when I process the shots in Lightroom I usually adjust contrast higher and also increase highlights and lighter tones to get the stars to pop out more. I use higher ISOs to get more stars as I don't have a faster wide lens than f/4 but noise reduction in Lightroom is pretty good at sorting it out. Not saying its the best way, just what I usually do.
Soldato
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- 5 Jun 2003
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- sawley/ long eaton
been cloudy here at night since friday
well it been cloudly here too but their been odded clear patch here and there so i got my 600d with kenko 1.4x and canon 70-200 L on standby incase there clear skies. trying to get a shot of the moon with venus or is it juptier possible some stars too. but as it gap in clouds haven't lasted long enough, i can't really setup the telescope to try and take good shot of them. 
update 4:21am : well there were gap's in clouds but only in the low clouds level, middle and upper had no gap. their was a point where the low and upper area were clear but middle wasn't as you could is the moon light as it lite the middle clouds up.
update 4:21am : well there were gap's in clouds but only in the low clouds level, middle and upper had no gap. their was a point where the low and upper area were clear but middle wasn't as you could is the moon light as it lite the middle clouds up.
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I went out for about an hour to take some shots while the clouds cleared, after seeing a quick flash across the sky. Not a single one came after that for the next hour and then the clouds returned. Also the new street lights have vastly more light pollution on my cul-de-sac than the previous ones, so I can only take a shot from specific positions, which is annoying. Also the shots I did take I messed up as I orgot about camera shake on the tripod, and didn't use the timer! All in all I felt a bit speshul
I went out for about an hour to take some shots while the clouds cleared, after seeing a quick flash across the sky. Not a single one came after that for the next hour and then the clouds returned. Also the new street lights have vastly more light pollution on my cul-de-sac than the previous ones, so I can only take a shot from specific positions, which is annoying. Also the shots I did take I messed up as I orgot about camera shake on the tripod, and didn't use the timer! All in all I felt a bit speshul
That sucks :/ couldnt you use a shutter release cable?