RE: [APML] Leonid plans

[Jon Kolb <jkolb@mindport.com>]

Hi Thor,

First, please note that I have NEVER caught a meteor on film on purpose...

I recently had 14"x16" plate made that bolts to a doveplate for mounting on
the G-11.  This new plate has all sorts of slots and holes to allow bolting
on almost anything, including up to six tripod heads.  My plan is to mount
it alongside another standard doveplate with my guidescope on board, to
facilitate drift alignment.

On the main plate will be mounted a 50mm f/1.2 lens pointed at the radiant,
20mm f/2.8 and 24mm f/2.8 lenses aimed at other points along the meridian.
All three cameras will have 800 speed film in them, and I plan to stop the
f/1.2 lens down to f/2.8 to match exposure times with the other two.  A
fourth camera, a Fuji GW690 rangefinder with a 90mm lens, will also be
pointed at the zenith, loaded with 800 speed Fuji 120 or possibly faster
film since the lens only opens to f/3.5.

Also on the main plate I plan to mount a Pentax 67 with either a 200mm f/4
or 105mm f/2.4 lens aimed for wide-field constellation shots, probably Orion
since I don't have a good image of the whole constellation.  This camera
will be loaded with Provia-F 400 120, and any meteors captured will be
gravy.  

I plan to run the autoguider the whole time, to ensure good tracking for the
wide-field shots.  When it's time to advance film on the meteor cameras,
I'll throw a dark cloth over everything on the main plate, carefully reach
under it to manipulate the film advance and shutters, then remove the cloth.
I've done this before when using the Epsilon (short exposures) next to the
Borg (longer exposures) and the STV will complain but always gets back on
target. The long exposures show no trailing as long as you wait for the STV
to get back on track before removing the dark cloth.

On fixed tripods will likely be a 24-50mm zoom at 24mm and f/3.5, a 35-70mm
zoom at 35mm and f/3.5, both with RG 1000 if I can find some around here.
I'll also mount a Fuji GSW690 rangefinder with a 65mm lens at f/5.6 and at
least 1000 speed film depending on what I can find locally.  I have neat
little plate that allows me to put two heads on one tripod, so that will
free up a tripod for binoculars to do some Milky Way scanning early on.

Since I have only caught meteors accidently, never on purpose, I'm going
into it this time with a "what the hell" attitude and expecting nothing.
Weather is my biggest concern, and depending on conditions on Saturday
morning, I may drive into Utah or New Mexico.

Sincerely,
Jon Kolb
Adventures in Astrophotography
http://home.datawest.net/jkolb/
jkolb@mindport.com

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