dkCambridgeshire Posted July 29, 2018 Share #1 Posted July 29, 2018 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) Is anyone planning to observe /photograph this year's Perseids meteor showers - visible between July 17- Aug 24 but peaking on nights August 12/13 and 13/14? https://www.timeanddate.com/astronom...b-meteor_times … interactive guide to visibilities https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astr...meteor-shower/ … basic guide to photographyI've not tried to photograph the Perseid meteor showers previously but will make a few reconnaissance trips to a local dark sky location prior to the 'peak' nights. The actual meteor trails are largely unpredictable phenomena each likely lasting less than one second … but providing the camera is pointed towards Perseus and a wide angle lens is used, by playing the % (i.e. taking a few hundred photos), a few meteor trail photos should result.Plan is to experiment w/c 5 Aug with a few dummy runs using the SL 601 camera's built-in intervalometer, and take a series of 'several seconds' exposures at full aperture and at high ISO settings e.g. ISO 3200 to ISO 25000 (I'm not too concerned about noise/grain). Once the 'sweet spot' ISO settings and exposures are established prior to the 'meteors peaking' days, the plan on the 'peaking nights' is to let the camera run automatically via its built-in intervalometer for 2 hours or more (batteries and weather permitting) … taking e.g. 150 and more consecutive exposures of several seconds … in the hope of capturing 'meteor trails' on a few frames … but expecting most exposures to show only stars, plus occasional planes and satellites. No astro tracking required and if using e.g. 4 to 8 second exposures, no star trailing (as distinct from meteor trails) will be visible. The dummy runs should establish the usable ISO settings; no AF necessary; adapted non-SL wide angle lenses at full aperture will be pre-focused at infinity and shutter speed will be manually pre-set. The above Sky and Telescope link recommends experimenting with ISO 1600 and exposures of 10, 15 and 30 seconds at full aperture … which are too long exposures for my purposes. Using a wide angle lens and higher ISO settings, shorter exposures should result … and with the built-in intervalometer set to e.g. 20 seconds intervals, 150 (ish) exposures per hour should be possible. This is all theoretical and will likely have to modify the plan … but weather permitting by 10/11 August, hope to have have gained sufficient experience to obtain some decent photos on the 'peak night(s)'. Camera will of course be set up on a tripod and will require spare batteries. The actual meteor particles are not 'meteorites' i.e. they will not hit the Earth's surface … the tiny particles vaporise and destroy themselves when they hit the upper atmosphere ... and it's their vaporisation 'heat trails' which result in the 'shooting stars'. Will also be using a Sony A7SII with the Leica 19mm R lens; accessory Sony compatible intervalometer is on order which prefer to using an App.; anticipate that the A7SII images will likely be easier (shorter exposure times and more exposures/hour) by virtue of its higher usable ISO capability. The A7SII's Firmware 3 'star eating' anomaly does not occur with exposures of less than 4 seconds. Also have a Minolta 15mm fisheye lens to couple up with the SL 601 The Leica CL has the same type of built-in intervalometer as the SL 601. Best wishes dunk Edited July 29, 2018 by dkCambridgeshire 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 29, 2018 Posted July 29, 2018 Hi dkCambridgeshire, Take a look here Perseid meteor showers?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
vanhulsenbeek Posted July 30, 2018 Share #2 Posted July 30, 2018 (edited) Hi! Perhaps this site could help you with your planning: https://www.lonelyspeck.com/astrophotography-101/ and this site with stacker software (perhaps not for Perseids but for futures forays https://sites.google.com/site/starrylandscapestacker/home Best regards Sander Edited July 30, 2018 by vanhulsenbeek 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
helged Posted July 30, 2018 Share #3 Posted July 30, 2018 Hi! Perhaps this site could help you with your planning: https://www.lonelyspeck.com/astrophotography-101/ and this site with stacker software (perhaps not for Perseids but for futures forays https://sites.google.com/site/starrylandscapestacker/home Best regards Sander +1 for the Starry Landscape Stacker. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkCambridgeshire Posted July 30, 2018 Author Share #4 Posted July 30, 2018 Thank you for the links. Lonely Speck did not have much luck when attempting to photograph Perseid meteors https://www.lonelyspeck.com/2013-perseids/ … but his astrophotography tutorials will be useful. I've not attempted actual astro phenomena photography previously but have successfully photographed 'astronomers in action' without compromising their night vision by utilising 'red filtered flash' with Leica cameras https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/244581-stargazers-in-action-leica-x1-tool-camera/ https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/255668-the-young-stargazer/?p=2969773 https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/228552-leica-xv-tool-camera/ I'm aware that Perseid meteors photography will be a steep learning curve but weather permitting will have several nights' practice before they peak on August 12 to 14 … using both the SL 601 and the A7SII with wide angle lenses (including the Leica R 19/2.8 Mk II lens) The red filtered flash experiments to photograph astronomers in action will continue but the Sony A7SII with both Leica and non-Leica lenses is much better suited to the task by virtue of its very high ISO capable sensor i.e. ISO 50000 (fifty thousand) with usable results … and the potential to use a more subdued red flash. dunk Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_j Posted August 16, 2018 Share #5 Posted August 16, 2018 The BBC Sky at night guide lines worked quite well and the 10th was a nice clear night so I was able to get a few good trails as a practice run. These I combined into a single picture using Photoshop Elements and masking successive layers so that the meteors showed against a single background picture. The set up was simple, camera pointing about NE with Polaris 1/3 way across frame from left and middled vertically. Camera running continuous shooting on 30 sec exposures, f4 ISO 2500. Resulting picture reasonable. I can't post it as there isn't any Leica content whatsoever Unfortunately the peak meteor shower nights were cloudy and nothing was seen. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkCambridgeshire Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share #6 Posted August 16, 2018 Too cloudy on the nights when I planned to try . Regret to advise I've now decided not to experiment with Perseids as requires too much time and effort at the dark site for too little return … Impossible to try in my garden due to too bright LED street lights …thus like daylight . dunk Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
helged Posted August 17, 2018 Share #7 Posted August 17, 2018 Advertisement (gone after registration) Too cloudy on the nights when I planned to try . Regret to advise I've now decided not to experiment with Perseids as requires too much time and effort at the dark site for too little return … Impossible to try in my garden due to too bright LED street lights …thus like daylight . dunk Thanks for the info - and enthusiasm - nevertheless! The combination of cloudiness and light pollution is a tricky one; particularly for time-limited events. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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