International Space Station w/ DSLR & 400mm Lens

Amazing shots.

What would the focal length be for a C8 on a 1.6 crop body? Or even a full frame body for that matter?

I've often thought about "trying" to hand hold my little 4.5" reflector but I don't see any way to do it. A C8 or C10? seems much more realistic as far as size and ability to balance etc.

Jon.

Well my Takahahsi Mewlon as a Focal Lenght of 2415mm - add my 5D and to it and to give you and Idea of how that puppy is sensitive ... 3200mm with my 30D!!!! if a truck goes by I can see the vibration from it! It weights 18 pounds. 20 pounds with the camera and I have no heavy correction lens in front of it. The wind alone will trow a blurr in the picture.

Forget that.


Get the idea?

VIGER wrote in post #8769974
Well my Takahahsi Mewlon

Oh, yummy!! I saw a Mewlon 300 for sale in my home town recently. Nearly fell off my chair when I saw the price...my 4-year old car was cheaper!!

My C11 is about 13 or 14 kilos...not sure I could hand-hold it for more than a couple of seconds, but I might give it a try one day!

Adrena1in wrote in post #8770779
My C11 is about 13 or 14 kilos...not sure I could hand-hold it for more than a couple of seconds, but I might give it a try one day!

IMHO the pict isn't worth it to have a possible accident with a C11 ! However you could put it on a heavy duty alt. mount or a very HD camera mount . Don't chance dropping the C11 ! If you dropped it you would also take a chance breaking the camera ! Add those together and see how much $$$ you would loose ! Can you not manually operate the C11 on it's mount ?

Don't worry, I wouldn't really try and hand-hold the C11 without some sort of surface to rest it on. Mounted on the EQ6 with the tightening bolts loosened and properly balanced it'll be really easy to move the scope around safely and smoothly.

Panning a C11 , that would be fun !

A great shot. I have got my Lat-Long put in and generated a page for the next ten days. I will give this a try. Very interesting.

Wow.. I am sooo impressed. Where was this picture taken?

ejicon wrote in post #8789229
Wow.. I am sooo impressed. Where was this picture taken?

SoCal... Orange County

Since I generated the page for my area, it's been cloudy. Figures.

VIGER wrote in post #8762992
A friend of mine Ian Mercier from Sherbrooke Quebec did this picture of the ISS last week:

I am having lunch with Ian next week you want to bet I will be questioning him.

Well I just came back from Magog (Sheerbrooke) and met my friends overthere for a star party. Ian explained to me he use a DMK camera to shoot images of the ISS and used is finder to guide the scope as he was targeting the ISS. So is trick is to shoot as many pictures of it and hope for the best!

Comparing a DSLR with a DMK is comparing a machine gun with handgun.

and the scope he used was a 600mm - 80mm ED.

More merit to your picture Jon!

I was able to see the ISS the other night, right where the map link said it would be right at the time it said it would be there. That in itself is amazing. I was using my new 7D and Bigma on a tripod and all I got was some squiggly lines. I will keep trying though.

VIGER wrote in post #8807294
Comparing a DSLR with a DMK is comparing a machine gun with handgun.

I assume you mean the DMK is the machine gun, yes? I wish my Casio Exilim video camera did better quality and was more sensitive...can shoot hundreds or even 1000 frames per second!

I'll try the ISS again some time, but through my C11, and will definitely use a webcam...just not sure my Philips SPC 900 NC will be up to the task, but will be fun trying.

I tried again last night and got nothing, hand held. I was shooting at ISO 12,800 and shutter speed was still way too slow, like 1/6. And at 500mm, it was still just a dot. Not sure how you got yours at only 400.

Whoa! At ISO 12,800 you'll only want 1/1000th or so to capture it right...when I shot it at 1200mm some time ago I think I was shooting at 1/200th, ISO 1600 I expect, and sometimes even that was over-exposed.