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Lunar Eclipse - Australia, etc.

Kevin Caulfield

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I'm thinking of trying a time exposure for tonight's lunar eclipse, which will be visible from the east coast of Australia. I'm planning on getting three shots prior to the mid eclipse, then one of the mid eclipse, then another three coming out the other side. It was only yesterday that I started thinking about it. I'll probably use a 300mm lens equivalent on a 35mm camera and just use the lens cover as a shutter - just checked my meagre 35mm film stock and I have some Agfa Vista 200 which I think is absolutely ideal, as it has lovely fine grain. This worked well for a partial lunar eclipse which must have been around 1999. Is anybody else planning an eclipse shoot? What will you use?
 
It is supposed to be visible here around 11:00pm. Most of the US will only be able to see part of it. I'm not sure if I will be up or not for it - I'm not much for shooting these kind of events, even though they are fascinating.
 
You probably just get to see the part after mid eclipse. I've always had a vague interest in astronomy and even bought a telescope a few years ago. My nephew borrowed it a year ago and yesterday I was about to get it back, but he wants to watch the eclipse first. My last exposure tonight will be around 11.20 pm, and that's way past my bedtime, but I'm looking forward to it.
 

Actually, we will see the entire eclipse in Hawaii.
 
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Well, I know you two want colour pics. Yes, I'll use Agfa Vista. I think a red moon will look much better in colour than mono.
 
I am planning to catch it tonight here in NW California -- we are suppose to see the whole thing, 1:51am to 5:24am (sunrise at 6:39, dawn about 6:15). How I am going to do it is still up in the air (pun not intended, but I'll run with it).

My 8x10 GG is marked off in 20 squares -- I am thinking of putting the moon in each square, 15 minutes apart...or perhaps just do the normal moon-across-the-sky sort of thing. We'll see.

vaughn
 
Well, it looked like it was going to be a no-show due to cloud. About an hour before mid eclipse the moon was virtually invisible. Also, I grossly underestimated its speed through the sky. But once it appeared through the cloud it was a stunning sight. I did a time exposure on Vista, but it may be a while before I process the film as I need to wait for a minor renovation before our laundry becomes a dedicated darkroom.
 
Well - not much of a shot... I got this about 4AM with my little sony digital point and shoot - handheld.
 

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I am just about to dive into the dark to develop the 8x10 I took of the eclipse. Basically, starting right before the start of the eclipse, I took a photo of the full moon (1:30am), then a shot every 10 minutes until 5am, at which time I blew it and I am missing the last two shots of the night which would have had the moon full again at about 5:24am.

But it was beautiful! Especially the way the stars came out from behind the moon as it became a dark red disk. Shooting stars even!

more later...

Vaughn
 
The negative is washing -- a little disappointed. My exposure for the bright side of the moon was good, though one can not see the dark side...underexposed. I also increased the exposure as the moon went into totality by two stops, but obviously not enough as none of the moon shows up on the neg during the 90 minutes of totality. The disk was very dark, but visible...perhaps a couple more stops of exposure would have worked.

I used FP4. The full moon got f16 at 1/125 sec. The partial moon got a half stop to one stop more (f22/16 at 1/60 and f16 at 1/60), and the moon in totality got f16 at 1/30.

Next time I might go with f16 at 1/60 sec for the full moon, up to f/16 at 1/30 sec for partial moon and f11 at 1/15 sec for totality. For this eclipse the moon traveled into the center of the earth's shadow -- making for a long and dark totality...many factors involved!

I also found out that a 300mm lens can not cover the entire eclipse. I would have used my 210mm if it had a shutter. Going across the long side of the 8x10 neg, I went from the full moon before the eclipse started and I ran off the film after taking the first two exposures after leaving totality (twenty minutes). I am missing the last 5 shots (50 minutes).

Well there is another coming up. The next one we'll just see the moon leaving totality as it rises in the east (I think the East Coast gets it all). The horizon would be a little bright at first, but the 300mm could put the second half of the eclipse nicely across the 8x10. I think it is in February -- so the weather will be iffy.

Vaughn
 
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