A few Perseids

I did manage to catch a few Perseids on Sunday morning, Aug 12, 2018. All photos are 30 second unguided exposures with a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens at ISO 1600 on a Canon 1D Mk IV.

Nice captures . That decond one is really good . Congratulations !

Congrats! What lens where you using?

I was trying with my 70D and my 18-135 IS STM lens at 18mm, f/3.5, at 15s 800ISO and was unable to capture any.
Is it possible to capture with this kind of lens? Should I go higher in ISO and longer on exposure?

Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. I was doing 30 sec exposures at ISO 1600. You should absolutely be able to capture some meteors with that lens. Just be sure to zoom to the wide angle end....18mm would be just great plus that will give you the faster f ratio as well.

kb9tdj wrote in post #18682735
Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. I was doing 30 sec exposures at ISO 1600. You should absolutely be able to capture some meteors with that lens. Just be sure to zoom to the wide angle end....18mm would be just great plus that will give you the faster f ratio as well.

Thanks fellow Hoosier!

I also attempted around 1:30 this morning (12th) with no luck - but did learn a few things that will help tomorrow morning (13th). With my 5DIV and 16-35 F4, I like 15 sec and 3200 ISO better because the stars aren't elongated as they are at 30 sec.

I eventually used the built in intervalometer, set to take 15 second exposure every 15 seconds. I let it run about 30 minutes and didn't catch a single meteor. I had to quit because my lens was completely covered with dew. Yes, I live in a pretty dark location, 15 miles from a town of 17,000.

I witnessed 1 meteor while I was setting up the camera. Bad luck, I guess.

I didn't see a lot of meteors either....probably 12-15 over the 3 hours I was out. My lens dewed up as well but I had my wife's blow dryer outside on the deck with me and kept hitting the lens every 15-20 minutes to keep it clear.

I got a couple last night! Wahoo! Sure is fun when you see them AND catch them. Funny story though about mine. I have tried the night before and earlier in the evening last night...but I woke at 3am to check the skies, it was somewhat hazy and I finally convinced myself to give it a go. So I got the camera out, set it all up, got the focus right, set all the exposure settings to what I needed, popped it on the tripod, pointed upward, started the intervalometer and this was captured! I ended up getting 4 others but this one was the best! The 2nd image is a zoomed in crop of the 1st!

I did have to edit these images to reduce over exposure due to haze.

Question....when I started the Intervelameter and I know I had started exposure when the meteor zoom by...would the image have been better if I would have ended the exposure sooner than 15s? I am assuming I would have had way less noise and less over exposure, but I am just not sure.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Well, I hope I'm not making a fool of myself, but here is my opinion. If you shortened the exposure, you would show fewer stars, only the brighter stars would show. There is something to be said for that. I think you would have had more noise, not less (and that statement is the most likely to be wrong - I've not done a lot of night-time work). Do you use Lightroom? If so, I would add a significant amount of noise reduction to your pic and deepen the blacks (slider to the left). You can even increase the highlights, as well, to brighten the stars. Depending on the direction that meteor was moving, had you shortened the exposure very much, you may have missed it altogether.

I only got 2 this morning. This was the best. Pretty disappointing.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

kezug wrote in post #18683657
I got a couple last night! Wahoo! Sure is fun when you see them AND catch them. Funny story though about mine. I have tried the night before and earlier in the evening last night...but I woke at 3am to check the skies, it was somewhat hazy and I finally convinced myself to give it a go. So I got the camera out, set it all up, got the focus right, set all the exposure settings to what I needed, popped it on the tripod, pointed upward, started the intervalometer and this was captured! I ended up getting 4 others but this one was the best! The 2nd image is a zoomed in crop of the 1st!

I did have to edit these images to reduce over exposure due to haze.

Question....when I started the Intervelameter and I know I had started exposure when the meteor zoom by...would the image have been better if I would have ended the exposure sooner than 15s? I am assuming I would have had way less noise and less over exposure, but I am just not sure.

Hosted photo: posted by kezug in
./showthread.php?p=186​83657&i=i74122727
forum: Astronomy & Celestial

Hosted photo: posted by kezug in
./showthread.php?p=186​83657&i=i224023335
forum: Astronomy & Celestial

Both your images have a meteorite including the galaxie m31 which is on the right of each meteor . Nice captures .

I finally got a chance to go through my photos from early Sunday morning and was also pretty disappointed with what I captured. Nothing really worth posting, unfortunately. I'm just looking forward to the Leonids in 2032! I had quite a bit of fog for the 1999 show.

Nice job all!

I took my wife and daughter out on Saturday night. We hiked for a mile up into the mountains and setup shop on a fantastic outcropping. We saw about half a dozen meteors but didn’t capture any. No matter though, the weather was perfect and we had a wonderful time getting away from the screens.

We are already planning a location for next year.

kb9tdj wrote in post #18683887
I finally got a chance to go through my photos from early Sunday morning and was also pretty disappointed with what I captured. Nothing really worth posting, unfortunately. I'm just looking forward to the Leonids in 2032! I had quite a bit of fog for the 1999 show.

Dissappointment is one main thing with taking images of meteor showers . Averages are 1-3 good images per night of peak and that depends the weather and location . I only have one good image not on my iphone tho . Taken with film camera back in 02’ . Since then with digital not one good image but I’ve enjoyed most showers i was able to see . However i stopped imaging several yrs ago as i progressed into retirement from astro work but the heart still there . Cheer up , at least you got a couple nice ones !

Ah yes, I recall shooting meteors back in the film days as well. I wasted a lot of Tri-X frames back in the late 70's and 80's, although I did get a few as well. Now I wonder where all those old negative strips are! I also have some glass plates somewhere that I took during one of my astronomy classes at IU ("Modern Observational Techniques") back in 1983 or so. We used a 12" refractor on campus for that class; very fond memories of long nights in the dome back then.