Gear
Camera
The first thing needed to take pictures of the Galilean Moons is, of course, a camera. For this video, I used a Canon Rebel T5i, though any DSLR should do just fine. Canon and Nikon aren't the only options, they seem to be the most popular and, as a result, are likely the most economical for a given level of performance. I hear CCD cameras are good too, but don't know much about them.Lens
The next thing to consider is the camera lens. I used a Canon 75-300mm, f/4-5.6 zoom lens set to 300mm. For the purposes of astrophotography, a camera lens's focal length correlates to magnification (large focal length means large magnification). Going past 300mm starts to get very expensive. My lens was only $250. The cheapest lens Canon sells with a focal length longer than 300mm goes for $1150. There are also teleconverters available that extend the focal length at the expense of f-number (ie, relative aperture). These achieve a longer focal length for a lower price, but may sacrifice auto-focus capability (not generally needed for astrophotography, but can be useful).Tripod
A tripod is a really nice accessory for astrophotography. The Galilean Moons are bright enough that relatively short exposures compared to constellations or nebula will work; but the necessary exposure time may be long enough that holding the camera by hand isn't steady enough to get nice, sharp pictures at high magnification. This was certainly the case for me, so I used a tripod for all of my pictures. The guy at the camera store sold me on a Mefoto Globetrotter.Miscellaneous
Though not necessary, having a laptop is really nice. At the magnification being used, touching the camera introduces a lot of wobble and blurs the pictures. Though a simple, cheap remote would do the job, I really liked being able to review the pictures I took on a big screen as I was taking them. Also, it saves me the (minor) hassle of transferring images from the flash drive in the camera to a computer later. Canon's DSLRs can be controlled through EOS Utility 2.Lens wipes are a must. Depending on where you live, either humidity or dust may collect on the camera lens. It's always good to have some wipes around to clear anything off, especially in astrophotography, where the camera is pointed primarily up most of the time.
Jacket, hat and gloves. Even in sunny Southern California, nights can get cold. Staying warm for half an hour or so isn't so bad without warm clothing. Staying out 2-4 hours, even in what seems like a balmy 60F at first, can get chilly. And even if your polar bear self can hack it, it's best to have these items along and not need them than the opposite.
Gear I Wish I Had
Over the course of spending 42.5 hours with my gear, there were definitely items I wish I had.An equatorial tracking mount would have made my life way easier. Pointing each frame individually by hand meant that the placement of Jupiter in the frame as well as the orientation of the Galilean Moons relative to Jupiter changed slightly with each frame. An equatorial tracking mount would have at least kept each night's set of photos placed and oriented identically. As I'll note in my post-production post, framing and orienting all 800+ frames was a real chore. With an equatorial tracking mount, I would only have had to frame and orient 20 to 25 frames.
No matter how nice a set up you have, you can always wish for better optics, either higher magnification or a larger aperture. Though I used just a camera and lens for the Galilean Moons video, it will be more economical to get a telescope for further planetary astrophotography. Saturn's ring gap, for instance, can not be resolved with the setup I used for this video. The expense of just jumping to a 400mm lens (as noted above, $1150) can buy a pretty nice telescope and mount. Also, a telescope with a given focal length can achieve a wide range of magnification by using different eyepieces, which are far more economical than ratcheting up camera lens focal length.
No comments:
Post a Comment