Lunar Eclipse Tonight

[bob williams]

After doing some reading--it looks like the eclipse may end up being fairly boring, i.e. The moon may in fact get dark and gray rather than the orange we are all hoping for---they say that the illumination may be reduced 50,000-100,000 times. But what the heck--I plan to stay up and give it a shot anyway. Hoepfully, someone else is following this string so we can bounce ideas off of each other. I do have a few decent pictures of the moon, but I am not sure how much those apply considering the reduced illumination of the eclipsed moon. Here are my starting parameters:


7D+100-400L@400 (no Extender)


White balance-sunlight


ISO-100 (will increase depending on meter/shutter speed)


Aperture 6.3 for max sharpness


Shutter speed 400 (maybe faster considiring the movement of the moon)


sturdy tripod


shutter release


mirror lock up


Now, these settings work for normal full moon shots---but I anticipate having to adjust dramatically for the eclipse since it is supposed to be much darker. This may be a good thing since the moon is normally much brighter than surrounding clouds.


Also, since I dont have enough lens to get a full frame moon shot, I am hoping for a few slow moving clouds to add some character to the shot..


Any other ideas, comments or suggestions is appreciated.


Bob

[HDNitehawk]

Bob


In our part of the world, Central US, the moon is going to be directly above us or just a little past. Maybe if we had planed ahead we could have bought tickets to Guam and we could have caught it rising in full eclipse. So other than clouds or maybe a water tower, it looks like our composition choices will be limited.


In the past I have set up just like you described, using Live View in Manual Mode. I just set Aperture, and ISO and take many pictures adjusting shutter speed until I hit the right exposure. Thats the good thing about digital, we know what we have right then. I suppose I will be doing the same tonight. Its a good thing it will last for some time, it will give a person some time to adjust.

[Richard Lane]

Here's a moon shot at a high ISO.


7D: 300mm f/2.8L IS with 2X extender @600mm, f/8, 1/1000sec, ISO 3200, tripod mounted, medium crop.





Rich

[Jon Ruyle]

Hi Richard-


Why did you use such a high ISO on that shot? You had a tripod. I

[ddt0725]

Now we can all pretend we saw it tonight ...




Denise []

[bob williams]

SHOW OFF

[ddt0725]

[]

[Richard Lane]

Hi Richard-


Why did you use such a high ISO on that shot? You had a tripod. I'm not trying to be critical- in fact, the picture does not look too noisy to me. Just curious.

Hi Jon,


Good question, there really was no good reason. I was just experimenting, and I was shocked to see how little noise there was, so I thought I would post it for people that don't have a tripod.





Rich

[HDNitehawk]

Warming up





F5.6, 1/640, ISO 100 with 500mm x 1.4 on the 7D


Really good size in the frame with this set up.








[View:http://community.the-digital-picture...neric/utility/]





Edit: Its probably closer to 1/4 of the frame

[Jayson]

I am going to give it my best shot also. Of course, the clouds might have the final say. 2:30 to 3:15 is going to be a tough night and even tougher morning! Good Luck. Hopefully you get your shot.