Chris,
I did not catch the original message, so I don't know what type of
astrophotography you are looking to do. For astrophotography, you want as
fine a grain as you can get, which means slower film.
In general, for astrophotography you don't want to shoot wide open otherwise
you will not have sharp stars at the edges of the field. You may want to
check out Michael Covington's book and website for some good information:
http://www.covingtoninnovations.com He also has an excellent free exposure
calculator that you can download for free. It also will help with
calculating the film's reciprocity failure which will be helpful for
determining the longest exposure's you can take for each type of film.
Another list member Matt BenDaniel did some tests to determine the best stop
for some good Zuiko's for astrophotography: I quote:
>I have reviewed several months of wide field astrophotography to determine
the widest satisfactory aperture for my Olympus OM camera >lenses. What I
care about most are coma, spherical, and chromatic aberrations. Vignetting
is less of a problem, because it can be mitigated in >post-processing.
>
>Here's a summary:
>
>Lens f-stop stop-down
>
>Zuiko 8/2.8 8 3 stops
>Sigma 16/2.8 8 3 stops
>Zuiko 28/2 4 2 stops
>Zuiko 50/1.8 2.8 2 stops
>Zuiko 90/2 2.8 1 stop
>Zuiko 135/2.8 4 1 stop
>Zuiko 250/2 2 0 stops
>
>Matt BenDaniel
>http://people.ne.mediaone.net/mbendaniel/gallery/astro/wide.html
Don't forget you will need a tracking mount if you plan to take more than
star trail photos. Star trails are an excellent first subject, by the way. I
hope this helps.
Mike V. <><
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris O'Neill" <chris@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Roger Wesson" <roger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2001 11:45 PM
Subject: [OM] Astrophotography
> Hi, Roger:
>
> Thanks for that information! Here's some follow-up comments/questions:
>
> On 11 Aug 2001, at 0:02, Roger Wesson wrote:
>
> > Generally for successful star shots, you want fast film (800 or above),
> > clear and dark skies, and no moon about (otherwise it'll just look like
> > daytime).
>
> Well, that one sentance probably answers why I've not had much
> success. I almost always use ASA 200 print film, and most of my
> attempts have been when the moon was somewhere in the sky.
>
> > Use your lens wide open, but remember the difference with normal
> > photography is that it's absolute aperture you want, so a 50mm at f/2.8
> > (aperture = 17.85mm) will capture more stars than a 28mm at f/2
(aperture =
> > 14mm).
>
> I haven't a clue what you mean by absolute aperture, but most of my
> attempts have been made with either a 50/1.4 or a 24/2.8 lens.
>
> > You folks who've splashed out on your 50mm f/1.2s should be able to
> > do great star shots.
>
> Someone send me a 50/1.2 and I'll see if I can come up with something
> nice in the next year or two! :-)))
>
> > Exposures should be no longer than 25s for a 50mm
> > lens - inversely proportional for other focal lengths.
>
> Maybe that's one of my other problems. Most of my attempts to date
> have been exposures of around 10 to 15 seconds. Once, I did try
> exposures of one and two minutes, but those turned-out looking like
> daylight shots. Again, there was a moon in the sky, IIRC.
>
> > Tripod and cable release are essential to avoid camera shake.
>
> Yup! Always!
>
> > Or you might want to do star trails, for which the non-electronic OMs
are
> > absolutely perfect. Choose a dark moonless night, point anywhere in the
> > sky, use film slower than 400ASA and leave the shutter open for an hour
or
> > two.
>
> An hour or two?!?!? I don't see how the stars don't get totally washed-
> out with exposures of that length????
>
> > If you try this, try not to let anyone walk in front of your camera
> > with a torch...
> >
> > http://www.worldtraveller.f9.co.uk/travel/ohp/2001/photos/torch.jpg
>
> LOL!!! Actually, that's kind of an interesting effect! :-)
>
> > Hope that helps - tell us about any results you get. I've got some
> > astrophotos coming back soon which will hopefully be worth telling
everyone
> > about.
>
> I'll give astrophotography 'nuther try sometime in the near future, and
will
> let you know if I have any better success. Thanks, again, for your
> comments and suggestions!
>
> Regards,
>
> Chris
>
> ---
> I'm *not* a Zuikoholic.... I'm a Zuikohobbyist!
> Chris O'Neill (chris@xxxxxxxxx)
> http://www.joinco.ca
>
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>
>
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