Saturday, 7 September 2013
PART
2
PHOTOGRAPHING THE METEOR SHOWERS
To photograph a meteor shower,
the camera setup is very similar, however, it will require lowest ISO
sensitivity and longer shutter speeds in Bulb (B). a remote cable is very
important requirement in this case because you will be using shutter speeds as
slow as 5-10 minutes, depending on the lens maximum aperture.
Set for the lowest base ISO
sensitivity. Do not use low ISO boost of Lo-1.0, Lo-0.7, and Lo-0.3 because
they can result in lower contrast. If your camera has actual ISO 100, 125, 160
feel free to use them. We recommend using ISO 200.
Leave the aperture at the
highest useable aperture then set the shutter speed for bulb (B). The time
length may require some experimentation. At least 5 minutes may or may not have
success. If the photograph remain pitch black, extend by another 5 minutes and
so on. We do not recommend using shutter speeds longer than 30 munities because
the sensor will become overheated, resulting in very grainy photographs. If you
wish to use shutter speeds longer than 30 mutinies, please use 35mm film SLR
with a roll of film that has a low ASA sensitivity such as ASA 50, 64,100.
Doing a thirty minutes or longer exposure with 35mm film will result in very
clean photographs.
NOTE: do not be alarmed, there
will be some star trails. Meteor showers trails are ones that are perpendicular
to star trails.
You can use triggering method
that uses a remote cable as discussed earlier HERE. When triggering, simply
depress the remote’s shutter release button then lock it down by a knob or
switch. It is recommended to have a stopwatch on hand, so it can tell you when
it is time to unlock and let go the remote’s shutter release button. If you are
using a Nikon, MC-36, it has a built in timer and it is not necessary to have a
stop watch on hand.
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