Well it was practice night for me as well tonight. Trialling a number of different setups. I wanted to go with the ED80, 2.5X powermate and 300D but got a bit much vignetting, so settled for the ED80 and 300D on their own. Knew I should have bought that 2" barlow out at Duckadang
Tried various exposures and ISO and finally settled on 1/1250 sec and ISO400. As the night goes on I can then adjust my exposure down, rather than increase my ISO.
I ran off 5 shots and pumped them through Registax. Very light wavelets (nothing over 3.8 at it's harshest), no other processing just a crop in PS.
A few things to think about on the night if you are planning on giving it a go and haven't done anything like this before.
1. I found DSLR Focus a boon when trying to get critical focus. I'm even going to use it to control the whole imaging session. I'll just check it after each capture burst and that way I can still enjoy the rest of the evening looking at other things
2. I know it may be alot of work, but consider taking 10 images closely spaced together to be combined into 1 shot with registax.
3. Watch your batteries, make sure they (plural) are fully charged. (not like me tonight and had to go to AC half way through )
4. Make sure your memory card is EMPTY! at the start. You don't want to be having to delete images halfway through the evening. Especially if they are images you haven't already downloaded to your computer
6. Check your camera histogram after a run of images. Check what it is at the start of the session and try not to let it drop too low below that. It makes your final processing so much harder if you let the exposure drop too low. I'm planning on having mine at about 50% to start with and allow it to drop down to 25% -30% before I start to increase my exposure time.
5. If you haven't tried your hand at a long imaging session before, wear warm clothes.
nice one Paul. I tried my meade for the first time tonight too Paul on the losmandy - fixed my motor stall problem too. loaded it likes 14.7 volts instead of 13.8, so i am running it at 15V. charging the pentax and 400D batteries as i type. probably have 1 battery change for the pentax - the 400D I have a battery pack. The modded 350 will have the 200mm lens and the AC adapter. Almost bought a third laptop today a HP6000 that has a parallel and serial port. Glad I didnt.
That's the idea h0ughy, gear up with everything you can carry Unfortunately I will have to do a bit of a trip to find a suitable site with power. If I don't then I'll be stuck with 12V and no Laptop, so I'm only counting on using the 300D with batteries. If I can get somewhere with AC then I'll look at doing a bit more. Maybe
It's interesting that I used my desktop last night to stack and post this image, now that I'm looking at it on my laptop it looks overexposed. It is amazing how much of a difference it makes. So seeing as I didn't adjus the image at all in PS or Registax I might have to re-evaluate my exposure times
Terrific image Paul and excellent tips and advice too. Good luck on the big night! I managed to get a look last night through the clouds and sadly, a cluster of big gum trees blocks the horizon where the Moon will rise…right up to 50 degrees!
The last time I measured the horizon at that point, was a few years ago and boy, these suckers have grown despite the drought! However, the Moon should pop out of hiding at the edge of the clump, at around 30 degrees altitude, so I’ll at least get to see mid-totality. I don’t really fancy humping a lot of gear to find a nice E horizon – must be getting lazy eh!
I'll still be humping, but hopefully not too far. I've got my fingers crossed that a nice (though as yet unmet ) neighbour will let me "borrow" some power. I have a great view to the east from a nicely mown vacant block about 200 meters up the road from me. There is a small set of hills about 2 km away to the east so hopefully I will get a nice shot pre-eclipse start of a huge moon cresting the rise of the far ridge.
awww its getting exciting!!! I am suprised to here that Dennis doesnt like hump much now, I thought he would have been the top of his game in this respect, knowing where to setup and obtain the most spectacular views?
awww its getting exciting!!! I am suprised to here that Dennis doesnt like hump much now, I thought he would have been the top of his game in this respect, knowing where to setup and obtain the most spectacular views?
Hi Dave
The hatha yoga practices at Duckadang have given me so much inner contentment and stillness, that I find it difficult to disturb that inner peace and tranquillity in order to pack the car and drive somewhere.
I’ll be content to see the fruits of your labour, and those of others who unlike me, will make the effort to get off their bums!
Unfortunately I will have to do a bit of a trip to find a suitable site with power. If I don't then I'll be stuck with 12V and no Laptop, s
Hi Paul,
Have you considered a cheap UPS for remote power?
Even a 400va(watt) unit will do.
It can be powered by a larger than normal battery to increase run time...
Just a thought.
Looks like the skies may clear in Auckland for the event, but not holding my breath...
Clear skies & good shooting
I bit the bullet today and went out and bought a 75AH Deep Cycle battery. I already have a DC-DC Power Adapter. I've decided to go a bit further afield tonight to a lookout a few km away. I should be able to see the moon coming up over the ocean that way. I also figured it would come in handy if I am not able to get power out at Barambah Dark Sky Camp. So power is taken care of. Fortunately it will only be operating my laptop and maybe one dew wrap if needed (T Oaks controlled)
I have had the flu recently and haven't had the chance to do any experimentation so your tip is very handy on the off chance I get out tomorrow with the ED80 and Canon 300D
I do have a question as to how you used DSLR focus? on the moon itself-is that possible? or on some nearby star?
I'm only going to shoot Jpeg Narayan. I don't think it is worth the effort to go for raw only to convert them to TIFFs so Registax can handle them and then at the end there won't be much post processing done (hopefully). If I had the option of shooting both Raw and Jpeg together I'd do that.
I use DSLR Focus to visually focus directly on the moon. I set it to Focus setting, open the magnifier and set it at 2x, select ISO400, Medium fine quality and about 1/1000sec exposure. Take a focus shot, center the moon, check the overall image and the magnifier and adjust focus as needed. Keep going until it's sharp.
I then select the capture option, (make sure you close the magnifier it seems to do funny things to the program if you leave it open during capture), specify the number of images, the space between images and the lag time and click start. Works a treat.
One thing I have heard done with the focusing is to select a crater mountain that is just sticking up past the terminator into the light and use the normal focus methods that you would use with a star, on that. I found the other way quicker and easier, if not as accurate.
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. I tried my meade for the first time tonight too Paul on the losmandy - fixed my motor stall problem too. loaded it likes 14.7 volts instead of 13.8, so i am running it at 15V. charging the pentax and 400D batteries as i type. probably have 1 battery change for the pentax - the 400D I have a battery pack. The modded 350 will have the 200mm lens and the AC adapter. Almost bought a third laptop today a HP6000 that has a parallel and serial port. Glad I didnt.
Unfortunately I will have to do a bit of a trip to find a suitable site with power. If I don't then I'll be stuck with 12V and no Laptop, so I'm only counting on using the 300D with batteries. If I can get somewhere with AC then I'll look at doing a bit more. Maybe 
) neighbour will let me "borrow" some power. I have a great view to the east from a nicely mown vacant block about 200 meters up the road from me. There is a small set of hills about 2 km away to the east so hopefully I will get a nice shot pre-eclipse start of a huge moon cresting the rise of the far ridge. 
