Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2014 7:09:44 GMT
Hi,
Well, for those in the southern hemisphere and the eastern part of Australia, the last total lunar eclipse 2014, takes place tonight. In Tasmania we have typical October weather, cloudy, gale force winds, cold blasts from Antarctica etc. Ever the optimist, I have spent some time getting the gear tuned just in case, hopefully two cameras running on autopilot, a DSLR and a ASI 120MC-S. Plus another DSLR with a 300 mm lens, don't know if I can get Uranus as a star in the field at total eclipse, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I rate my chances at 30%.
I did learn something that once again showed how important it is to have a dry run when so much gear is involved. I had intended using one of my Nikon DSLR's, a 600D or 700D both FX on the 12" f/5 so loaded Nikon Control on a PC, connected everything up, guess what, when the camera has no lens attached, the camera settings cannot be changed via the PC!!! bummer. OK so I used one of my Canon DSLR's, a 7D, used Canon Utility and bingo, all works with no lens attached, so good to go with interval remote shooting. I knew there was reason I mostly used my various Canon DSLR's on the scopes. There was a snag with the Canon though, being only an APC format (not full frame, the Moon just overfilled the FOV, fortunately I had a couple of big focal reducers one of which with a T-mount reduced the Moon to the right size.
The Canon 450D with a 300 mm zoom is an experiment.
How it looks in operation-I rarely work in the dark.
A lot of gear piggy backed on this 12" f/5 on both sides. One day I will finish the 16".
Skies looking NE at 6 pm-dodgy!
Rainbow over my observatory at 6.30
Well, for those in the southern hemisphere and the eastern part of Australia, the last total lunar eclipse 2014, takes place tonight. In Tasmania we have typical October weather, cloudy, gale force winds, cold blasts from Antarctica etc. Ever the optimist, I have spent some time getting the gear tuned just in case, hopefully two cameras running on autopilot, a DSLR and a ASI 120MC-S. Plus another DSLR with a 300 mm lens, don't know if I can get Uranus as a star in the field at total eclipse, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I rate my chances at 30%.
I did learn something that once again showed how important it is to have a dry run when so much gear is involved. I had intended using one of my Nikon DSLR's, a 600D or 700D both FX on the 12" f/5 so loaded Nikon Control on a PC, connected everything up, guess what, when the camera has no lens attached, the camera settings cannot be changed via the PC!!! bummer. OK so I used one of my Canon DSLR's, a 7D, used Canon Utility and bingo, all works with no lens attached, so good to go with interval remote shooting. I knew there was reason I mostly used my various Canon DSLR's on the scopes. There was a snag with the Canon though, being only an APC format (not full frame, the Moon just overfilled the FOV, fortunately I had a couple of big focal reducers one of which with a T-mount reduced the Moon to the right size.
The Canon 450D with a 300 mm zoom is an experiment.
How it looks in operation-I rarely work in the dark.
A lot of gear piggy backed on this 12" f/5 on both sides. One day I will finish the 16".
Skies looking NE at 6 pm-dodgy!
Rainbow over my observatory at 6.30