Perseids Meteor Shower Aug 12-13

For those of you who still stay up and do night time photography , the Perseids meteor shower is coming as scheduled Aug 12-13 . This is a great photo opt for those that like shooting the night sky . Look forward to someone starting a thread and posting their pictures . This starts Wed night .

Let's see, new moon, and clear skies / low humidity projected here in SE Michigan, yep I'll do some imaging Wednesday and Thursday

I'm keeping everything crossed for clear skies in my neck of the woods but it isn't looking good

JohnPh wrote in post #17665255
I'm keeping everything crossed for clear skies in my neck of the woods but it isn't looking good

See if there is a Clear Sky Clock close to you . Follow the link , click on your state and find the closest ClearSky Clock to your location . It's always right on !

http://www.cleardarksk​y.com/csk/

Does anyone have any tips or advice on shooting a meteor shower?

Never done it before and would like to experiment.


Thanks

RKSphoto wrote in post #17665403
Does anyone have any tips or advice on shooting a meteor shower?

Never done it before and would like to experiment.


Thanks

Then you need to practice tonight and as it gets' dark Wednesday night . Put the camera on a tripod and do long exposures If shooting with a 2.8 or faster lens then anywhere between 15-25 secs per exposure . If using a 4.5 or slower then 20-35 secs depending the lens . Use a wide angle lens . If your camera is a FF then don't use smaller than a 28mm lens . If using a crop camera you can use down to 16mm but me personally I wouldn't go lower than 18mm . Use a remote if you have one and set your mode to bulb and expose for the lengths you need . If you have a fast lens and you start exposure and a meteorite passes in the FOV I would still expose for 15-20 secs. If a slow then continue for 20-30 secs. Mainly it will be trial and error for you . When you focus you can use LIVE VIEW if your camera has one . if you have a bright enough object in the sky you can focus on that object then switch your camera over to manual focus but do nopt touch the lens or focusing ring any more . Shoot a couple and check your shots by zooming in . If your stars have a nice sharp round brightness then your probably good to go but if they need tweaking then do so very carefully . Good luck and be sure to post your pictures if you capture any meteorites !

What is the reason for not going wider than 28mm on FF. I have a 24-70 2.8 that I plan to use this evening with my 6D. I will be trying incorporate a bit of the scenery and hope to do a little light painting to accomplish that. But I will be out from about midnight to close to 4 am in the plan at this point.
I just want to see if I can get usable shots this evening. I have a nice dark sky are picked out and if things work out, this will not be my last effort at this location. I also have hopes of eventually catching some Milky Way shots in this location when the conditions are right.
Thanks in advance for any input that can be provided.

why not go below 18mm on a crop also? i would think you would want to be able to get as long of an exposure as possible...going to 10mm will allow for nearly double the shutter time

sirquack wrote in post #17666225
What is the reason for not going wider than 28mm on FF. I have a 24-70 2.8 that I plan to use this evening with my 6D. I will be trying incorporate a bit of the scenery and hope to do a little light painting to accomplish that. But I will be out from about midnight to close to 4 am in the plan at this point.
I just want to see if I can get usable shots this evening. I have a nice dark sky are picked out and if things work out, this will not be my last effort at this location. I also have hopes of eventually catching some Milky Way shots in this location when the conditions are right.
Thanks in advance for any input that can be provided.

DreDaze wrote in post #17666274
why not go below 18mm on a crop also? i would think you would want to be able to get as long of an exposure as possible...going to 10mm will allow for nearly double the shutter time

Sorry I didn't get back sooner . Work for me is a factor . Reason for not going wider than a 28mm on a FF and 18mm on a crop camera is because the FOV . With either lens on those cameras will make a meteorite very small and if you try to enlarge the image they will start to look pixelated . Besides a 28mm on a FF camera will cover quite a bit of the skies FOV and same goes for 18mm on a crop camera . When shooting meteor showers you don't really need to worry about FG being in the image . A nice star BG will make a meteorite image look great ! Check out the images in this gallery at spaceweather.com and you can see what proper meteorite images look like and also many have info with EXIF info so that can help you choose settings and lens size .

http://spaceweathergal​lery.com/meteor_galler​y.html

My first astro last night for Perseids...

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/x1Cf​7C

Saw some excellent Perseids as I was getting set up but cloud ruined the rest of the night

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/xfKK​ih