Photographing the Perseids

[johnb]

Hi

Well the time is nearly here and if the cloud gods are kind a few pictures would be good. So I was planing to put my Sony A350 on a tripod point it in the general direction and set it to take 30 second exposures at an ISO of 800 and let it run, it will keep going until the mem card is full so will get a good 3 hours worth and hopefully will catch a few ? - Am i on the right lines ?

regards

John B

[George]

I was planning something along the same line......if I get the 1000D re-built

[jgs001]

John, from my experiences, and failure last year, I think 30 seconds is probably too long an exposure... you're trying to capture a short pulse of light, lasting less than a second... in amongst all that blackness... at 30 seconds, I think most of them just disappear... I was thinking 10 to 15 seconds might be better.

[Polar Bear]

Hi

Well the time is nearly here and if the cloud gods are kind a few pictures would be good. So I was planing to put my Sony A350 on a tripod point it in the general direction and set it to take 30 second exposures at an ISO of 800 and let it run, it will keep going until the mem card is full so will get a good 3 hours worth and hopefully will catch a few ? - Am i on the right lines ?

regards

John B

I would go for less exposure time and more images. From the ones I have already seen even the larger ones will only last about 2 seconds on entering the atmosphere. If you do some experimenting so that you don't image background stars you can then stack multiple images to give a single image with lots of trails . I would think 30 seconds at 800 may introduce a little noise on the images. Lots of options available I would suggest experimenting a while before leaving the camera on for a few hours.

Paul

[Dave Smith]

I am going to disagree with some of the advice given so far. Personally I would go for as long a time exposure as your sky will allow i.e. so the background does not become too prominent. Three years ago I made two attempts, the first night I used iso 1600 and 30s exposures over a period of 3+ hours and managed the following (see link below). The following night (the peak) I used iso 800 and 30s exposures also for 3+ hours and it completely failed. I subsequently saw pics taken by Pete Lawrence who used iso 3200 and he captured far more meteors. It may be worth having a look on his website.

This year I am planning on using 3200 iso which is the max that my camera (40D) will allow and probably 1 or 2 minute exposures from a dark site. I figure that this is rather like capturing lightning where you take as long a time exposure as possible without ruining the background sky and as high an iso as you can to capture the faintest meteors.

I also used a wide angle lens f=10mm to cover as much sky as possible.

http://astrosnaps.co.uk/Perseids.html

Dave

[Polar Bear]

As I said experiment ! . Thinking about it , as the object is to photograph streaks of light that last between 1/4 and 2 seconds the higher the sensitivity the more chance of recording them. The actual time the shutter is open should not matter too much other than shorter exposure times may cut off a meteor mid flight. Shorter shutter times may also cut down noise and ambient background light but will soon fill up your memory card .

Paul

[Llamanaut]

With the shot i had in mind I was planning to use a canon 450d with stock 18/55mm lens at 18mm set for 30 sec exposures wide open at f3.5 with ISO800 mounted on an RA drive to capture the stars of cassiopeia/ perseus as a steady background... would the ISO be high enough to capture the meteor streaks? Ive tried test shots this week with various timings and ISO settings but the sky begins to get washed out with anything over 30 secs at ISO800, anything under 30 seconds and the background stars dont show through....anything over ISO800 is way way too washed out

Do other forum members think i need to increase or decrease the exposure time? Would i have to blend one long exposure shot of cassiopeia/ perseus with lots of short exposures of meteors? I was going to leave the camera/ mount to run while i gawped at the meteor shower, Ive tried looking up more info yet the more i read up the more confused i become... any definitive thoughts?

[Dave Smith]

With the shot i had in mind I was planning to use a canon 450d with stock 18/55mm lens at 18mm set for 30 sec exposures wide open at f3.5 with ISO800 mounted on an RA drive to capture the stars of cassiopeia/ perseus as a steady background... would the ISO be high enough to capture the meteor streaks? Do other forum members think i need to increase or decrease the exposure time? Would i have to belend one long exposure shot of cassiopeia/ perseus with lots of short exposres of meteors? I was going to leave the camera/ mount to run while i gawped at the meteor shower, yet the more i read up the more confused i become... any thoughts?

As I have said in the post above, when I tried iso 800 three years ago I hardly captured any meteors. Shutter wide open fine, 30 sec exposures fine but I would recommend you use 1600 iso which I believe is the highest the 450D will do. and 18mm focal length will give more chance of capturing meteors.

The exposure time is not critical as far as the meteors are concerned except the camera will be off for at least 1 sec between exposures. SODs law says that it is during that one sec that the brightest meteors arrive. Longer exposures will also save on memory but you just need to watch that the sky does not get too bright.

I hope that helps.

Dave

[LukeSkywatcher]

I have the 450D. I'd never get away with 30s exposures from my place. The image would be all orange. I plan on 10s exposures and as many as i can fit onto 3 memory cards.

18-55mm kit lens set to the widest. ISO, i dont know. Maybe about 800.

[Dave Smith]

I have the 450D. I'd never get away with 30s exposures from my place. The image would be all orange. I plan on 10s exposures and as many as i can fit onto 3 memory cards.

18-55mm kit lens set to the widest. ISO, i dont know. Maybe about 800.

I would keep to iso 1600 but reduce the time exposure to suit your sky.

Dave

[callump]

I think what Dave has said pretty much sums it up - as high an ISO as you can go, for as long as you can go, until the sky glow gets too much.

You don't *need* to use a driven mount, though it will give you a fixed perspective over the night.

This year i will be trying out my Pelang 8mm 'fish-eye'...

/callump

[LukeSkywatcher]

Thanks. I'll hopefully get some testing done tonight.

[johnb]

Great thread and I guess there is no right or wrong answer to this, no doubt local conditions will have an impact on exposure times ?

This was a 30 sec exposure at ISO 800

Im based south of croydon and we get that awful orange glow from Croydon \ London when looking north

Regards

John B

[Llamanaut]

Now that is a nice pic... I had a play last night in amongst clouds and I've managed to nail ISO1600 between 6 and 10 seconds. This is probably max before orange glow starts to creep in, iso is sensitive enough to pick up short duration meteor streaks and exposure should be good enough for background stars to come through... Just wait, I bet Thursday is totally clouded over now. Thanks dave for your persistence!!!

[Psychobilly]

I use 30-60s exposure at ISO800 wide open with a CLS-CCD...

[Dave Smith]

Great thread and I guess there is no right or wrong answer to this, no doubt local conditions will have an impact on exposure times ?

This was a 30 sec exposure at ISO 800

Im based south of croydon and we get that awful orange glow from Croydon \ London when looking north

Regards

John B

That is a nice picture. I rather like the illuminated sky and trees and sky. Makes me wonder if it is better to not be at a dark site.

Thanks dave for your persistence!!!

No problem.

Dave

[LukeSkywatcher]

Great thread and I guess there is no right or wrong answer to this, no doubt local conditions will have an impact on exposure times ?

This was a 30 sec exposure at ISO 800

Im based south of croydon and we get that awful orange glow from Croydon \ London when looking north

Regards

John B

Astrosnaps (Dave) was on bang the money when he said use the widest apeture and highest ISO for as long as you can manage from your location.

I tried it and IT WORKS.

[Llamanaut]

Tried again last night with some pleasing background star results, 18mm at f3.6 iso1600 for 10 seconds seems to be the way ahead... however, the background stars arent as sharp or dense as id hoped... ive only captured the brightest of the lot.... Once ive taken the thoudand or so shots i have planned i intend to stack them, will this bring out any more background detail? any tips?

[GazOC]

I'm going to try to capture some for the first time tomorrow night using my 1000D. Thanks to this thread I'll hopefully have bit less faffing around to do.

Many thanks all.

[ezza123]

I should have read this thread last night!!! Shame the clouds are looking like they are settled in North Hants!!! Should have tried - 1600/10sec/Wide!

[Psychobilly]

That sort of approach works for me... the important thing is to keep an eye on the sky background level you want to keep it nice and dark...

[GazOC]

Newbie question:

I've got a 18-55 IS lens but also a "0.45 wide angle w/macro" that screws in the end to give a wider FOV. Is is worth using this or should I stick with the IS lens at 18mm?

Due to being on nightshiftt all week I havn't had a chance to experiment with setups and settings.

[Polar Bear]

Just to widen the discussion a little, has anyone tried capture with a High Definition Camcorder ? Any tips on settings (that work) would be appreciated. I have borrowed one and will be going up on the moors tonight. Although an experienced photographer I have little experience with video.

Paul

[LukeSkywatcher]

Tried again last night with some pleasing background star results, 18mm at f3.6 iso1600 for 10 seconds seems to be the way ahead... however, the background stars arent as sharp or dense as id hoped... ive only captured the brightest of the lot.... Once ive taken the thoudand or so shots i have planned i intend to stack them, will this bring out any more background detail? any tips?

You will be amazed at just how much data will show up after stacking. I stacked 25 frames (5 s each) and out came M31 and the double in Perseus.