Re: *fast* film/Hale Bopp

[P3D Greg Erker <erker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob Wier wrote:
>Now, the question is, does anyone have suggestions for exposure
>lengths? I'm bracketing from about 30 seconds up to 5 minutes or so.
>On the 30 second end I'm expecting the sky to be too dim. On the 5
>minute end, the town lights will probably be very exaggerated, and
>I *may* have star/comet trails. This is hard to judge, though since
>in order to get both the comet and the town, I'm running about 40mm
>on my Pentax SLR which results in a pretty small image on the comet
>(unless I'm picking up tail that I can't see naked eye wise).

  On the last comet I used Kodak Gold 200 that happened to be in
the camera. I shot with my 50 mm at f2.8 at 15, 30, and 60 seconds.
All were okay but I think the 30 second one was best. I also shot
one of 60 seconds at f2. It was also okay.

  Hyatake (sp?) was near the pole so it didn't move too much
with long exposures. Hale Bopp is further away and so a multi-
minute exposure will blur the comet as well as the stars.

  I saw some Hale Bopp shots my brothers took and the 2 minute
long ones had blurred the comet head a lot. I wouldn't shoot
more than a minute. Thirty seconds may be better. Do a bunch
at multiples of two.

  Your 40 mm lens will make everything smaller which will reduce
the apparent blur. Also good if the tail is very long.

>I may have one more chance at this tomorrow night (although the forecast
>is for clouds to start coming back in). Does anyone have any hints
>to offer? I've not used that fast a print film much (incidentally
>max aptr on my Pentax is 3.5 on the zoom I'm using). Seeing is pretty
>good since I'm at around 8,000' elevation with no air pollution, little
>light pollution, and reasonably steady (but cold) atmosphere.

  The Fuji 800 speed is supposed to be excellent. I have used
it for other things and it is very fine grain. I have a
roll for the comet but haven't shot it. It's a pro film so
you have to buy it from a full service camera store.

  Check out:
http://www.skypub.com/comets/cometpix.shtml

for hints on shooting and a review of the Fuji 800.

  Most lenses have abberations wide open and zooms will be
worse. A 50mm lens stopped down to f2 or f2.8 will work
better. With your slow lens you may just have to shoot wide
open and take your chances.

Good luck - Greg E.



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