Astrophotography with film

[cometcatcher]

Not quite sure which section to put this, but I'm sure a kind mod can move it if it's in the wrong forum. :)

Anyway, to be honest I feel a little jealous with so many of you taking fantastic pictures with these new fangled Digital SLR cameras these days. I'm going to have to wait a while before I get one. They are getting cheaper all the time though.

I'm of the old film school, or at least used to be before all of my film cameras developed light leaks.

I started taking astro photos in the late 70's, first with the moon, then piggy back deep sky and eventually "through the scope". My equipment is modest drive wise. I'm still using old tape recorder and geared toy motors for drives! So the tracking isn't always good.

Just going through my old album and it would be a shame if no one else but me ever saw them.

So anyone want to see some old astro photos?

Halley's Comet March 1986, 400mm f5.6 lens on ektachrome 400 slide film.
Halley's Comet April 1986, 200mm f3.5 lens (in Scorpius).
Comet Hyakutake March 1996 200mm f3.5 lens, Fuji 800 film.
Comet Hyakutake March 1996 400mm f5.6 lens, Fuji 800 film.
M17 early 90's? 6 inch f5 Newtonian Fuji 800 film.
M8-M20 early 90's 6 inch f5 Newtonian Fuji 800 film.

Plenty more waiting to be scanned if anyone is interested?

[avandonk]

Great pictures I was there but not as clear as that!

Bert

[fringe_dweller]

excellent Kevin - good idea to show 'em on here - i like seeing them for one :) wow i remember Comet Hyakutake with those huge naked eye streamers just like that - but stretching to 80º naked eye (100º in little binos)- man we will never see nything like that again methinks - i read once in an US S&T a guys article an excellent description that described it like a chinese dragon to the eye - that description is brilliant
Kearn

[asimov]

Hell yes Kevin! Please DO show ALL your pictures! (film nut here):thumbsup:

And you Kearn! Show us, show ussssss! :D

[cometcatcher]

Well maybe not all. I've got hundreds.

I'll get back to comets in a little while. I like comets, and yes Hyakutake I think was the best one I've ever seen. Hale Bopp was probably the brightest and Halley was my first.

IC2944 running chicken nebula, 6 inch f5 Newtonian + Lumicon deep sky filter, 27 minutes exposure on Fuji 800. 21-01-96.

IC4628 in Scorpius, 4 inch refractor 20 minutes Fuji 800. 28-07-2000.

Same thing with a 6 inch f6 home made Newtonian.

M42 through one of my 6 inch scopes. Can't remember which one now.

M7, 4 inch refractor, 15 minutes on Fuji 800. 28-07-2000.

Area of NGC3372, 135mm f2.8 + Lumicon deep sky filter, 20 minutes Fuji 800. 19-01-96.

NGC3372, 300mm f5 no filter, 20 minutes on Fuji 1600. 16-01-96.

Orion, 50mm f2 + Lumicon DSF, 12 minutes Fuji 1600. 11-01-96.

[Itchy]

Kevin


Thanks for sharing. I love your Barnard's loop. :love:

You know, someone with your experience really should be going digital!!!:poke:

Cheers:cheers:

[cometcatcher]

Soon Itchy (I hope).

Gotta take a trip down memory lane before I go further. I remember the very first time I saw Comet Halley. It was in November 1985 through my 8 inch f7.5 Newtonian. This was the first comet I ever saw and remember waking up my parents to come take a look. Mum thought it was great, but I think dad wanted his sleep!

A couple of nights later on November 12 I took my very first photo of a comet. It was only a 12 minute exposure with a 200mm f3.5 lens on Ilford HP5 but it was enough. By today's standards the photo is pretty poor but there was so much hype obout Halley at this time that this first photo was published in the local paper, as was the second one where a meteor went through the frame.

I never saw it naked eye until just after perihelion in February 1986. I remember waking up one morning just before light racing to beat the sun to get a photo. I wasn't prepared so all I had was a 135mm f2.8 lens, camera and tripod. Loaded the camera with Fuji 1600 I think it was and took a shot only about half a minute long. An aircraft was just passing through the frame at the time.

Many of my best shots came in March very early in the morning when the tail was side on to Earth. This last shot was taken on Fuji 1600 with a 400mm f5.6 Tokina lens piggy back, 15 minutes exposure. The plasma tail and dust tail can be seen.

Unfortunately the tail was not positioned well for close approach in April. I remember the general public was so hyped up expecting to see something like a bright fog light in the sky they all cried fizzer! But I didn't care! I was having a ball! (I just lurv comets) :P

[Astroman]

Ahhhh Comet Hyakutake, I remember seeing this for the first time with my 4" reflector in a light polluted suburb of Adelaide, 8 days after it's discovery. Sure brings back memories, also remember my camera stuffing up 2 rolls of 36exp film so none of my images of it came out. The joys of film.

[acropolite]

Amazing shots Kevin, those who haven't dabbled seriously in film probably wouldn't realise the difficulty in obtaining those images. You really should get a dslr....:D

[Mick]

Gee Kevin I'm glad to see you have posted your film photos because they are amazing. It was a thrill for me to see them the first time, I hope you get that DSLR soon. :)

[h0ughy]

Great shots there Kevin, they are absolutely fantastic, They are on film!!!!

Love to see what you do with a 20Da!

What else have you got?

[atalas]

Very nice shots Kevin ! thanks for sharing with us .

Louie :thumbsup:

[RB]

Really enjoyed those Kevin,

Thank you for sharing and bringing back memories of Halley's.
Well done to capture those on film.


:thumbsup:

[asimov]

Great images Kevin! Thanks for putting them up. If you have time & the inclination, please keep adding more.

[beren]

:cool: Wow fantastic shots, love to see more

[cometcatcher]

Thanks for all the comments. :)

Yes there's plenty more.

It's a bit dry on the comet front lately isn't it? But we have had a few good ones since Halley that's for sure.

Q4 Neat and T7 Linear may be my last taken with film. T7 Linear I will always remember having a most beautiful and very long slender tail. My best view visually came with an 88mm refractror, or 400mm f4.5 lens I got on ebay fairly cheap, because it had an old Pentax screw mount. This lens performs very badly with my CCD video camera as does the 4 inch refractor. But with film the results are fine. :confused:

T7 Linear in April 2004 with a 400mm f4.5 lens Fuji 800.
Q4 Neat May 2004 with a 4 inch f6 refractor Fuji 800.

This is where I gave up on film and switched to a Mintron video camera. The Mintron is actually pretty good, but to get colour I need to do tri-colour with filters. However I found I can get pictures just as good from the Mintron and a simple 135mm lens as I can with a 4 inch refractor using film.

However in the late 80's and 90's my favourite choice of film was Hypered Kodak TP-2415 Tech Pan film. Kodak have stopped making it now. RIP the best B+W film for astrophotography ever. :(

Last pic of Q4 Neat with the Mintron and 135mm lens.
Edit, may as well add T7 Linear with the Mintron - 135mm lens.

[rumples riot]

Excellent shots, I started film in 1985 and witnessed Halley's at Caboolcha (spelling?) race course with my scope, 8 other guys and 2000 people wanting a look. Many people were disappointed in the view. Just the wrong angle, won't see it again, but am happy I was there.

I remember seeing I think Comet West during the early 70's which was really bright and had a very long tail. But have not see a good comet since the Jovian impacts.

I like using film and still have my film Nikon which works quite well, and seeing some of your body of work reminds me how people once struggled to obtain great shots. Thank you for posting the shots, a lovely trip down memory lane. Once again excellent shots.

[cometcatcher]

If your wondering what was so good about Kodak Tech Pan film I think this shot explains it. No other film on the market colour or B+W could touch it. Neither will my Mintron camera.

IC434, 45 minutes through a home ground 11 inch f5.2 Newtonian driven by a $14 toy motor.

[cometcatcher]

Hi Paul, I never saw Comet West but going by all the photos I've seen of it I really wish I could have. Must have been quite a sight.

[cometcatcher]

Not the biggest but definitely the brightest comet was Hale-Bopp in 1997. What other comet could compete with daylight, the Moon and cars! And we in the southern hemisphere didn't even see the best of it! What a sight it must have been in the north.

The average person on the street could just go out and see it with no optical aid at all. They would comment that there would be this "thing" hanging in the sky.

200mm f3.5 Fuji 400, 25-04-97.
135mm f2.8 Fuji 400, 03-05-97.
400mm f5.6 Fuji 400, 12 minutes exposure, 04-05-97.
50mm f2 lens Fuji 400 on a tripod about 15 seconds exposure 09-05-97.
135mm f2.8 Fuji 400 09-05-97.

[TidaLpHasE]

:thumbsup:Great pics, just goes to show how much harder it was for you old folk:poke: to capture images as good as these.

It would take alot more dedication with film than what it does with digital's instant view.

[cometcatcher]

Your not wrong. Instant view speeds up the learning process 1000x. Sometimes it would be days or weeks before we knew there was anything on the film! I cheated a bit and have my own darkroom so for me most of the time it was just a matter of hours.

Age is relative. Besides I started young, hehheh. :P

[TidaLpHasE]

Must have had some exciting moments in the darkroom seeing images like these emerge from the paper:cool:

[cometcatcher]

I guess most of the excitement was when the film was removed from the developing tank. A lot of the time I couldn't get it out of the fix bath fast enough. Even though it was negative I'd always have a magnifier on hand and knew if I had the shot or not.

Ah, water, chemicals, paper, red light. Spend many an hour-days-weeks-months in the darkroom.

[seeker372011]

great images, kevin

Did you use to hyper film as well?and all the associated paraphernalia?

[cometcatcher]

No I used to buy it ready hypered, express post from NSW to me in QLD. Then had to store it in the freezer otherwise it only lasted a week.

[fringe_dweller]

Awesome Awesome Awesome!!! love the M42 :love: - they dont make reds like that anymore ;) and love the HB's!!!! you guys got it a wee bit better than us down here. Thats quite a portfolio dude :) well you definitely have already have half the gear - just a small step to dslr for you - go directly to digital kickass - (in monopoly board speak).
Kearn :love:

[fringe_dweller]

Kevin, we had similiar problems with a couple of the five or more 80's models 100 dollar camera pentax 35mm camera bodies we have - it was just the felt light baffles that seal the back - they had perished from all the mean treatment we gave them (dew, freezing, age ect.) - cost like 20 bucks to get replaced - good as new! :)
Kearn

[cometcatcher]

I guess that's probably what's causing the light leaks. The felt does look perished. After all these cameras are old now. Yet another advantage of digital - no felt. :)

There's more to scan yet, a lot more.. when I get a round tooit. Another digital advantage. No scanning!