Lunar eclipse discussion

proudgeek

As we all know, this weekend there will be a super moon total lunar eclipse, which won't occur again for another 33 years. Therefore, I'd like to get this right. My thought is to shoot this in two ways:
1. With a D810 and a 300 (with and without a TC20) to get as much detail as possible
2. With a D800 and a 24-70 to get a sequence of moon shots as it goes through the eclipse sequence. I then hope to combine these images using something like StarTrax. My question is that over a 3 hour period what focal length would you recommend using in order to keep the moon in the frame for a full three hours while still getting enough detail.

Thoughts?

Ironheart

The moon moves approximately 15 degrees per hour, so you would need a 45° angle of view to keep it in the frame for 3 hours. A 50mm lens has a 46° field of view (FoV). You probably want a bit more than that however.

proudgeek

The moon moves approximately 15 degrees per hour, so you would need a 45° angle of view to keep it in the frame for 3 hours. A 50mm lens has a 46° field of view (FoV). You probably want a bit more than that however.

Ironheart, why am I not surprised that you knew this? I wish I knew you when I was struggling with calculus my freshman year of college. So you think 45mm-ish?

Ironheart

I was just re-checking my facts here, and a 50mm lens has a 46° FoV on the diagonal If you look at horizontal/vertical its 40°/27°
I'm using the Angular Field of View Calculator at http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/calc.htm

At 35mm you get 54°/37° h/v (all of these assume full-frame FX)

The other thing to worry about is exposure. The full moon is EV 15 (the same as a sunny day on earth) or perhaps 1 stop less if you believe the "looney 11" rule of thumb. A crescent moon is 3-4 stops less than that, and during totality you will need to loose another 4-5 stops.
This is one method from mreclipse. He was using ISO 100 film to do a multiple exposure.

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

"[An] exposure of 1/125 second at f/5.6 was increased to 1/8 second within 15 minutes of totality and then set to 4 seconds throughout totality."

He also makes this excellent recommendation:

"You can estimate the eclipsed Moon's direction and elevation by checking the Moon's position one or two nights before the eclipse. Just keep in mind that the Moon will appear in the same location about 50 minutes later each night. This is just a rough guide but it should be good enough for planning purposes"

Ironheart

Ladies and gentlemen, charge your batteries. This is a super harvest blood moon eclipse.

http://earthsky.org/tonight/total-lunar-eclipse-blood-moon-hunters-moon-september-27-28-2015

"There is a total eclipse of the moon on the night of September 27-28, 2015. It happens to be the closest supermoon of 2015. It’s the Northern Hemisphere’s Harvest Moon, or full moon nearest the September equinox. It’s the Southern Hemisphere’s first full moon of spring. This September full moon is also called a Blood Moon, because it presents the fourth and final eclipse of a lunar tetrad: four straight total eclipses of the moon, spaced at six lunar months (full moons) apart. Phew!"

NSXTypeR

At least in NYC, it looks like it may be a cloudy night.

I'm not really looking into photographing it, as I don't have a telephoto lens, but I was hoping to at least watch it.

Hope you guys have better luck than us in NYC.

Paperman

You may get all in one frame with a 50mm lens but the image will be awfully small ... Use some lens with more magnification and find a way to combine them later in one frame.

kanuck

Lots of great tips on here, thanks for passing this along. I was blown away last night on my drive home. I had to pull over and just look in awe at the sheer size of the moon over the city. It was like a scene from Avatar. Sadly I did not have my gear on me though. I look forward to maybe seeing some nice "super moon" shots on this discussion though.

tcole1983

I attempted. Will post when I have a chance to get them off the camera.

DaveyJ

The conditions for this photo op in the Adirondack Mountains was spectacular. Just seeing it unfold was pretty cool. The visibility was ideal, etc.! For what it is worth we are racing towards the Autumn Color Peak up here! We have had many nights in the high 30s!

spraynpray

@DaveyL - images?

spraynpray

From a duplicate thread:

A small gathering if Nikon and telescope aficionados for the lunar eclipse. A couple of new Nikon products were present: D810A and 200-500mm f/5.6E ED AF-S VR lens. The D810A is mine and the new lens belongs to a buddy. While I did attempt to shoot the cloud-covered eclipse with the D810A attached to the new lens, it was not the same level of quality as through the AP140 telescope. First image is with the D810A. Third image shows the D810A attached to AP140 (left) and a D800 attached to a Takahashi TSA-102 (right). Both were equipped with barlows for doubling the magnification.


Larger view here of the Lunar Eclipse shot: https://flickr.com/photos/visual-universe/21764830272/

Ironheart

My viewing area was socked in with clouds. Didn't get a glimpse until it was heading back into the light, and then it was covered again. Got a few blurry photos ( I guess Guess I'll try again in 32 years.

Great image @VisualUniversePhoto. Would love to hear some of the tech specs on how you got it.

VisualUniverse

Great image @VisualUniversePhoto. Would love to hear some of the tech specs on how you got it.

Thanks. The effective focal length was 2100mm. The refractor is an Astro-Physics 140 EDF StarFire, which has a focal length of 1050mm. Astro-Physics.com makes a 2x barlow with built-in field flattener that is optimized for their refractors. I used this to double the focal length. The mount is an iOptron iEQ45 Pro and has a Moon tracking setting. I used an intervalometer for shutter control. I kept the ISO between 1600 and 5000 throughout the duration of the eclipse.

Focusing with LiveView worked great when the moon was bright. I ran into issues when moon was darker, as LV was not displaying any of the moon, even when ISO was cranked up high.

jonnyapple

Awesome, @VisualUniverse!

tcole1983

My attempts...D5200, 300 F4, monopod at ISO 6400. Lost all definition pretty much.

kanuck

Great to see some images posted here. Very nice spraynpray and tcole1983!

Ironheart

In the interest of science...

autofocus

Pac-moon? Half way through the eclipse.

HipShot

I've seen some really impressive composite shots of the moon as the eclipse progressed. I hope to attempt that next time. For now, I really need to concentrate on just getting sharp images of the moon.

gabbott66

Here's a wider view of the eclipse and sky over my neighbor's tree. D800E, 85mm, at f/1.8, 1.6 sec.

gabbott66

And here's the close up version. D800E, Tamron 70-300, 300mm, ISO 200, f/5.6, 1.6 sec.

Snowleopard

So if I set a budget of $3,000 for a telescope, what is the best scope and mount I can get.... I would love an Astro-Physics setup, but that is way out of my budget at the moment....

spraynpray

Can't help but think you are asking the wrong people here. Why not try asking an astronomy forum?

Snowleopard

Can't help but think you are asking the wrong people here. Why not try asking an astronomy forum?

Not all astronomy people are into photography, and apparently we have some members here that have that experience.

proudgeek

Shot late Sunday night and had to get up at the crack of dawn for a work trip. Just got back last night and took a look at what I got. Results were mixed, although I'll post a shot in PAD today of the moon rising that I liked. What I learned was those cool shots of the moon in different eclipse sequences across the sky are all probably faked to a degree. Also, the arc of the moon where I was was such that it didn't move across the sky but rather up and over my head (if that makes any sense). Pretty cool to watch though. Reminds me that sometimes you just have to put the camera down and enjoy the show instead of living every moment through the lens.