Leonid meteor shower of 2010 is peaking this week ...will you be there?

[ddt0725]

Anyone planning on photographing this ...


http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20101117/sc_space/besttimetoseetheleonidmeteorshowerisnow

Any suggestions for others on recommended setup? It is suppose to be really cloudy and raining here so I guess I won't be able to but would love to see photos from others!

Denise

[tkerr]

Unfortunately the timing is with a Waxing gibbous Moon.


But don't let that stop you from getting out there if your skies are clear. The Moon shouldn't have too much effect since it will be in the opposite side of the sky.


Recommendations for setting up to take pictures.


Use a short focal length lens on a sturdy tripod, open the aperture up and shoot with ISO 400 or 800. I use 800.


At 18mm I can take a 30 second exposure without star drift.


Make sure the camera is aimed in the direction of the sky where the Leo Constellation will be moving through. Take a few test shots and make sure the stars are focused pin point sharp..


Use a remote shutter switch or interface with a computer for remote control. If only using a remote shutter switch set your camera for 30 second exposure and lock the remote switch open and let it just keep shooting. Using a Laptop you can control the timed exposures easier.


Even if you don't capture a meteor in all your shots which is highly unlikely, you can still use them all to create a time lapse video with all the frames you are going to capture. Or you can use them to create a star trails image.


This is one of the very few exceptions when I shoot jpeg rather than RAW.


If you have a telescope on a motorized mount with tracking you can piggyback the camera and take longer exposure while the mount tracks the stars.





Maybe this can give you some ideas:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/41186760/DSLR-Astrophotography-1