(meteorobs) Meteor photography and fisheye lens advice please

[Mike Hankey]

Thomas,

I'm not sure how up-to-date this information is, but I've spent some
time researching this and doing it and this is what I know about it.

Basic Requirements
 - camera with 'bulb' setting
 - cable release controller
 - tripod

- Set camera ISO to 800
- Set shutter speed to bulb
- set exposure time to 30 seconds (if you have darker skies you can
increase the exposure time). After 30 seconds on a tripod you will
start to see noticeable star trails.
- Using cable release program 99 sequential exposures
- Point camera in direction you 'think' might get meteors
- Press go, check back in 1 hour and then repeat.

Depending on where you live / the time of the year, you may need a
lens heater or dew shield to keep the moisture off of the lens. On the
east coast during the summer the lens will fog up after 5-10 minutes
if there is no dew protection in place.

With the tripod you will get some star trails on a 30 second exposure.

If you have a telescope with a tracking motor, get a piggy back
bracket and mount the camera on your telescope. Then repeat same
procedure as above. You won't get star trails if you use the the
telescope mount and the pictures will actually look nice even without
the meteors. The stars in the tripod shots will look bad in
comparison.

I also recently saw an add for a tracking tripod / mount in Sky &
Telescope magazine. I haven't gotten this yet, but am thinking about
picking it up. Basically its a tripod that has a clock drive on it, so
it will track the stars on long exposures. Lighter, cheaper and easier
setup than full blown telescope.

As far as the fish eye lens, the obvious advantage of using this is
you can cover more sky and improve your chances of catching something.
I don't think the procedure changes much based on the lens.

If you find out more info please lmk.

Thanks,

Mike Hankey
http://www.mikesastrophotos.com


On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 12:45 PM, Thomas Ashcraft
<ashcraft at heliotown.com> wrote:
> I am looking for a good *up to date* instruction primer on meteor
> photography using a DSLR camera that includes advice about fisheye
> lenses. I have searched for this information using google but am turning
> up mostly outdated information.
>
> I am thanking you in advance for any internet references.
>
> Thomas
>
>
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