Shuttle/ISS Sightings Abound Next Few Days

Tonight at 7:54pm EST, the Space Shuttle will un-dock from the International Space Station. Upon separation, the two celestial voyagers can be seen as companion bright points of light moving slowly across the sky as they orbit the Earth. Needless to say, this can make a great photo opportunity.

Now, there's good and bad news: First, the good: there will be a lot of flybys in the next few days-opportunities abound. Second, these are short duration appearances, a well-timed break in the clouds can make a great photo as, even in the low passes, a lot of sky will be covered.

Now the bad: many of these appearances are at dawn, very close to sunrise, which is bad. The eye will have no problem picking up the Shuttle and ISS, but the a camera in long exposure mode will have a hard time as the longer the shutter is open, the brighter the sky will be and the greater the chance that the streaks of light will be lost in the brightness. Expect to post-process here.

How to take the photos? First, get a tripod. Next, use the remote release of your camera, preferably, or the time delay mode. Stop down the lens and set to low ISO for as long of an exposure as possible . Finally, when the targets appear, fire away. Also, don't forget to shoot RAW just in case!

As encouragement, here's a shot I got this morning at about 6:35am.

Follow the links below to find out when the Shuttle and ISS will be visible.

NE Ohio Flyby Times
Other Locations

Spaceweather

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Young Moon Captured!

A heavy crop of the below image

The full image at 600mm (960mm equivalent on 1.6x crop 30D). Note how tiny the Moon is.

While many of us take it for granted, seeing the Moon within 24 hours of new is a rare event. How rare is it? So rare that, when I snapped a 19 hour old Moon 4 years ago, it made the front page of Spaceweather.com. Tonight, the scenario repeated itself, but the Moon was even newer, only about .7 days old (about 17 hours) at sunset.

At first I didn't even recognize it for what it was, mistaking it for a wisp of cloud, but I soon realized that I was looking at a sub day old moon when I saw this "cloud" move down instead of up. Nearly knee-deep in snow, I shot this picture with my Canon 30D coupled to my Orion ED80 refractor just before the Moon completely disappeared behind the trees. One image is the full shot while the other is a heavy crop.

Because of the combination of a near vertical ecliptic plane and lack of haze (although not tonight), late winter/early spring is an ideal time for shooting young moons. March will offer another opportunity on the 16th, although the moon will be about 24 hours old at the time. Not nearly as difficult, but still quite spectacular, sky permitting.


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The Road to PMA: Week 2

While not nearly as product-heavy as last week, the second week of February saw some truly heavy-hitters coming to market in the second week lead up to PMA 2010.

Canon Rebel T2i/550D. The successor to last year's Rebel T1i, the T2 may look the same on the outside, but sports some new improvements internally, which include: 18Mp sensor (vs. 15), +/- EV compensation (vs. 3), full 1080p HD video at up to 30fps (vs. 20), a 63 zone metering system (vs. 35). Other improvements include a 3:2 width:height ratio LCD screen (which is the same as the sensor) and a dedicated video button. An interesting, but not image improving feature is a photographer/copyright information function. Price: $800 body only, $900 with 18-55 IS lens.

Canon also launched four new Powershot compacts, none of which is Earth-shaking in innovation.

Nikon 24mm f1.4 ED lens. One of my predictions has come true: While it was not the 35 f1.4 predicted, and which I once referred to as "very likely" to come true, on the now infamous Nikon roadmap, it still is an ultra wide, ultra fast prime lens, which still plugs the only major hole in the Nikon lineup. launching this lens made perfect sense for Nikon, as the company has not produced such a lens since ceasing production of its 28mm f1.4 AF-D model in 2006, meanwhile, Canon has three such lenses, the 24mm f1.4L Mark I and II and the 35mm f1.4L. Wide fast primes were a real incentive to shoot Canon, until Nikon wisely got back in the game this past week. This lens is also weather resistant. Price: $2,200.

Nikon 16-35mm f4 ED VR lens. Another prediction on the roadmap that I called "possible" was a slower ultra-wide zoom, then predicted to be a 14-28mm f3.5-4.5 without VR. Nikon currently makes two ultra-wide f2.8 zooms, a 14-24 and 17-35. The major difference here is that the 14-24 cannot use protective front filters while the 17-35 can. Unfortunately, both of these lenses are expensive and not everyone wants/needs f2.8. Now all those people can be celebrate. True, the lens is "only" 16mm to start and it loses a f-stop of light, but it gains VR (said to be 4 stops effective) and costs about a third less than the non-stabilized f2.8 models. This is as good of a compromise as one can get. Price: $1,260.

Leaf Imaging Aptus II 8 digital back. There is a new record holder in the speed department for medium format digital backs. While not fast when compared to digital SLRs, the fact that this 40Mp, 44x33mm monster can take, and process 240MB images every .8 second is quite an achievement. Besides the speed record, the Aptus II 8 (it's just the sensor back)can also be connected to over 80 different camera platforms, making for top of the line versatility. Price? Grab onto your chair: about $19,000.



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January 2010 Astrophotography

Here are some of the January pictures. Orion and Canis Major are coming. It can be a real pain to post-process out suburban light domes (which you can start to see at the bottom of the Gemini shot). Enjoy!

Auriga, 8 minutes total exposure, ISO 800 on Canon 30D

Same cloudy Moon at 70mm

Cloudy Moon in the morning at 28mm

Gemini, 8 minutes total exposure, ISO 800 on Canon 30D

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The Road to PMA 2010: Week 1

The Photo Marketing Association (PMA) will be holding its annual trade show this year on February 19-23, with the manufacturer exhibits running from Feb. 21-23. Being one of the biggest photographic shows of the year, it is only natural that companies would start releasing new products in the weeks leading up to the big event.

To that end, many manufacturers have already launched several new products. Unlike the 2010 CES (Cesspool of Electronic Stupidity, oops, that was Consumer Electronics Show), the news leading up to PMA is about a lot more than cookie cutter junk cams. Some real photo gear has been launched this time and more will undoubtedly follow. So, here is a list of the best that the first week of February had to offer in regards to new equipment being announced.

Tokina 11-16 f2.8 in Sony mount, Tokina's first Alpha mount lens. If reviews in other mounts are an indication, this could be a real gem for Sony shooters.

Fujifilm S11600, S1800, and S2500HD, super zoom bridge cameras ranging from 15-18x zoom capability. All three models are more similar than not, bing built around a similar blueprint.
Fujifilm XP10 rugged compact. Waterproof to 10 feet, shockproof to 3ft, dust proof, and freeze proof to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Bring on the punishment!

Fujifilm HS10 super-zoom bridge camera. 30x, yes 30x optical zoom! Suddenly those far away subjects just got a whole lot closer!

Olympus SP800 and 600UZ (ultra zoom). Olympus joins the long lens game with models that go to 30x and 15x zoom, respectively.

Olympus Tough 8010 and 6020 rugged compacts. More similar than not, both cameras are waterproof to a stunning 30 feet, shockproof to 7 feet, and freeze proof to 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
Hasselblad H4D medium format camera. With a sensor size of 33x44mm, the H4D is almost twice the size of a piece of 35mm film. Unfortunately, the $20,000 price tag will be a put-off to all but well-compensated working pros and extremely wealthy amateurs.

Nikon Coolpix P100 super-zoom. Not only does this camera have a 26x optical zoom lens, but it also offers full 1080p HD video, a first for a small sensor Nikon.

Olympus E-PL1. Yet another update of the original E-P1 (Digital Pen). While the first D-Pen was what many photographers who demanded high image quality in a small body were longing for, the high price undoubtedly caused some would-be buyers to balk at the thought of purchase. Now arrives the affordable D-Pen. With a MSRP of just $599 with an included 14-42mm (28-84 film equivalent), many who hesitated at the E-P1 ($799 body only MSRP) and E-P2 ($1,099 body only MSRP) may finally find themselves ready to pony up the cash and discover the power of the Pen.

Olympus 9-18mm (18-36 film equivalent) and 14-150mm (28-300 film equivalent) Micro Four Thirds lenses. Both are f4-5.6 in aperture and are image stabilized thanks to the in-body stabilization employed by Olympus. The 9-18 has a MSRP of $700 while the 14-150 is set to be priced at $600. Because of the 2x crop factor sensor plus the lack of a mirror, these lenses are very compact, too.

Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens. Originally announced last year only to have production delayed, this lens created quite a stir because of its modest $450 price tag. Sure it's manual focus, but it's also 14mm and f2.8. While not particularly attractive to crop cam shooters, if the optics are good, it could be a very viable alternative to the $2,100 Canon and $1,700 Nikon equivalents for anyone who shoots full frame.

This is by no means a complete list of new products. One can go to Digital Photography Review and/or Imaging Resource for the complete list of new cameras, along with official press releases.


So what do these new releases mean for the market, if anything?

First: rugged compacts are becoming increasingly popular. Standouts among the mostly cookie-cutter crows at CES were a few rugged compacts. With more such models coming on the market, competition is sure to arise, products are sure to get better, and prices should start to fall.

Second: Super-zoom bridge cameras aren't dead. True, large point and shoot cams with long range lenses and advanced features aren't as numerous as in the past, but they will not go away completely, following in the footsteps of VHS tapes, any past audio media, and film.

Third: Few truly high-ed products announced yet, so expect at least a few SLRs and lenses in the upcoming weeks.



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Vote For the World's Most Idiotic Camera Feature

This month brought the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which might as well have stood for Cesspool of Electronic Stupidity, at least in regards to cameras. 45 new point and shoot cams were announced, most of them truly cookie cutter junk cams that all look alike and with specs. that are all the same, even within a manufacturer. Even worse, instead of focusing on usability, most go for gimmick features that do nothing to better the picture taking experience.

While today's cameras are loaded with stupid features, four stand out as the worst of the worst:

Wi-Fi Capability
Face/Smile Detection
GPS/Geo Tagging
Built-in MP3 Player

Which one is the dumbest, vote here and makeyour opinion heard!


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Finally a Good All Nighter!

Sickle of Leo (left), Mars (middle), and Beehive Cluster (upper right).

In an usually gloomy winter, clear nights are hard to come by, and that's not even factoring in the annoyingly bright moon, which plays havoc with astrophotography but also always seems to be out on those clear winter nights. Well, Wednesday night was the exception here. It was clear all night and the moon, not even to first quarter, quickly got out of the way. Some long exposure constellation pictures will be coming soon, but above is a quick 10 second shot of a near opposition Mars between the Sickle of Leo and the Beehive Cluster.

Below are a couple of pictures from late last year. Having a frozen over observing pad gives one a lot of time to play around in Photoshop.

The Sword of Orion with the Great Orion and Running Man Nebulae

The Great Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and Satellites

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