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kind of -- you don't have to spend much at all

Posted by mhardy6647 (A) on September 24, 2020 at 18:33:55

In Reply to: AstroPhotography posted by pictureguy on September 24, 2020 at 16:41:48:

There is much fun to be had with a decent DSLR (or whatever) that allows long exposures. Even an equatorial mount/"clock drive" isn't essential .

A good tripod is, though.

There are websites & apps that will tell you when the ISS is flying over your area and where to look for it. I enjoy seeing it, and also photographing it. Haven't managed to rig conditions to get the whole flyover in one decent quality exposure... but I also haven't tried too hard.

(EDIT) An airplane flyover -- and the Milky Way. ISS needs to be in the sun to be visible (it isn't that high up, and it's fairly large and pretty reflective), so these viewings are early morning (shortly before dawn) or evening (towards the end of dusk).

Generally speaking, though, you will want a dark sky. The modern cameras offer enough sensitivity ("high enough ISO settings", as they say) to keep exposures short enough that the earth's rotation is fairly negligible -- or one may use it as an effect.

Here's an exposure long enough to see some of the arc caused by earth's rotation, e.g.

There are add-on gizmos that permit time exposures for some cameras that lack same (I had one for my first DSLR). My current DSLR can take time exposures, but only up to 30 sec. For longer exposures, I just use "B" (Bulb) -- and count :)

One trick to minimize/eliminate any shutter shake -- cover the lens with a piece of cardboard before opening (and before closing) the shutter. :)

... and of course it doesn't always have to be dark, either! ;)

Note the exceedingly high-tech aperture stop I crafted for the very cheap little Schmidt-Cassegrain 'scope I used in 2018 to take some eclipse piccies the easy, lazy way. :)

all the best,
mrh

• my 'final frontier' album on Flikr   (Open in New Window)

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