Re: [APML] Leonid plans

[Aplanatic@aol.com]

Hi Thor,

I've built up a tracking platform that holds four 35mm cameras:

A 35 mm f/2 lens will be pointed near the radiant.  A 50 mm f/1.4 lens will be pointed near the meridian, north of zenith.  A 50 mm f/1.8 lens will be pointed near the meridian, south of zenith. An 80 mm f/4 lens will be pointed at Orion.

The three faster lenses will have HG1600 loaded in them, taking 5 minute exposures, and the slower lens will be taking 30 minute exposures with Provia 400.

I did a test run with various films using the 50 mm f/1.8 lens.  I intentionally slewed the platform at 24X sidereal rate to get a sense of the film speed for moving stars.  Of the four films that I tested, the Fuji HG1600 had slightly better recording power under these conditions than the others (Fuji S800 was a close second).

It should be a very interesting experience trying to manage four cameras and watch the meteors at the same time.  I will be seriously p.o.ed if the weather doesn't cooperate.  I'm prepared to drive from our place in the Mojave into Nevada or Arizona if the weather looks bad about 23:00 PST Saturday night.

Dave Rowe



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