Shooting the Space Station

*germar* · 06-20-2007, 06:15 AM

I have a challenging camera set up for the forum to consider:

This Thursday night at 10:23pm (GMT -6) the space station is due to make a pass over my area. Forecasts are calling for clear skies. I'd like to take a time-lapse shot of this with my K100D.

The entire flyby takes bout 60-90 seconds, with the station looking like a a "Venus on steroids"... small but extraordinarily bright as it swoops across the sky. The rate of motion, for those who haven't see the station before, is just a touch faster than a commercial liner at cruise.... not zipping across the sky, but it won't be there for long. At 10:20, the sky will be completely dark, no twilight left.

What are suggested setups? I was thinking about my 18-55mm with a conkin ND filter and a small f/stop so I can extend my exposure to 30 seconds. Manual focus out to infinity, of course. I'm thinking 18 as it's the widest thing I have that can accept filters.... I also have a Zenitar.

Any suggestions? I've got till Thursday to figure out the best technique.

Regards,

germar

**Buddha Jones** · 06-20-2007, 06:48 AM

If 18 is your widest, what is your fastest?

*Peter Zack* · 06-20-2007, 07:09 AM

I rarely point the lens up at night but have a few ideas that may help. These thoughts come from a rather dismal attempt to shoot the recent Lunar eclipse. But that experience taught me a few things about trying this.

You have 2 choices.
A) With a short focal length and a long shutter speed your shot will look like you've caputered a bright shooting star. If the fly-by is 60-90 seconds then you have an arc that crosses the frame with a 30 second + exposure. If that's what you're looking for then it's a fairly simple shot.
1) get outside the city and find a place where there is a dark sky and no street lights etc. One issue you face is that there will still be some sunlight left in the sky so you need to be in as dark a place as you can find.
2) solid tripod maybe even weight added (5-10 lb) sandbag hanging from the center column to make sure it won't move.
3) cable release and if you have the K10D set the camera on 2sec with mirror lock to activate the shot.
4) I don't think the ND will help at all and may make this much harder to shoot.

That being said you might want to find a spot where there is some buildings without too many lights that will give you some scale and 'landscape' at the bottom of the shot. It will add life to the shot and make it much more interesting to look at.

Or second choice
B) A conventional lens will not capture detail of ISS. It's too small. If you had a high quality telescope then you could take multiple faster shutter speed shots (1/2-1 second) and layer them to get some detail.
I'm only guessing here but with it crossing the feild of view so quickly this would take some super panning skills or a GPS tracking motor that can move very fast.

Take some test shots tonight of the sky with and without the moon in the frame at about the same time. Test shots will give you the exposure info you need, effects of buildings and lights in the foreground and which lens will give you the results you want. With the 'shooting star effect you want the fish-eye might be very cool just left open at a mid aperture for about half to 3/4 of the fly by. But I think it's too wide and you may not see anything in the shot at all. My suggestion is a 35mm+ lens will work the best.

Others here may have much more experience doing this sort of thing.

*germar* · 06-20-2007, 05:43 PM

Originally Posted by Buddha Jones

If 18 is your widest, what is your fastest?

Buddah:

Fastest is a 55mm 1.8 SMC Takumar. Kinda narrow FOV, I think.

The widest/fastest I have is a 28mm 2.8 SMC M.

Maybe the 28 is my best choice, huh?

thanks,

Gerry

*germar* · 06-20-2007, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by Peter Zack

I rarely point the lens up at night but have a few ideas that may help. These thoughts come from a rather dismal attempt to shoot the recent Lunar eclipse. But that experience taught me a few things about trying this.

You have 2 choices.
A) With a short focal length and a long shutter speed your shot will look like you've caputered a bright shooting star. If the fly-by is 60-90 seconds then you have an arc that crosses the frame with a 30 second + exposure. If that's what you're looking for then it's a fairly simple shot.
1) get outside the city and find a place where there is a dark sky and no street lights etc. One issue you face is that there will still be some sunlight left in the sky so you need to be in as dark a place as you can find.
2) solid tripod maybe even weight added (5-10 lb) sandbag hanging from the center column to make sure it won't move.
3) cable release and if you have the K10D set the camera on 2sec with mirror lock to activate the shot.
4) I don't think the ND will help at all and may make this much harder to shoot.

That being said you might want to find a spot where there is some buildings without too many lights that will give you some scale and 'landscape' at the bottom of the shot. It will add life to the shot and make it much more interesting to look at.

Or second choice
B) A conventional lens will not capture detail of ISS. It's too small. If you had a high quality telescope then you could take multiple faster shutter speed shots (1/2-1 second) and layer them to get some detail.
I'm only guessing here but with it crossing the feild of view so quickly this would take some super panning skills or a GPS tracking motor that can move very fast.

Take some test shots tonight of the sky with and without the moon in the frame at about the same time. Test shots will give you the exposure info you need, effects of buildings and lights in the foreground and which lens will give you the results you want. With the 'shooting star effect you want the fish-eye might be very cool just left open at a mid aperture for about half to 3/4 of the fly by. But I think it's too wide and you may not see anything in the shot at all. My suggestion is a 35mm+ lens will work the best.

Others here may have much more experience doing this sort of thing.

Peter:

Thanks for your ideas, they are good ones.

Yes, I think I'm hoping to capture the arc across the sky more than anything else. I believe the challenge is finding a spot that does not have a great deal of light pollution, as you suggest.

I was also planning on forcing the sensor to ISO 200 and not to auto. I hope that a 30 second exposure should work with that sensitivity.

I will try a few test shots this evening to see what I get.

G

rfortson · 06-20-2007, 09:22 PM

To capture the arc, I don't think you want a fast lens as you'll need to close the aperture down and you're going for a long exposure. If you have the aperture too open, you'll get a bright picture unless you're in the middle of nowhere.

Too bad it didn't pass over with the Shuttle still docked or (even cooler) nearby.

photo_mom · 06-20-2007, 11:37 PM

Hi Germar!

This is the space station on April 9th at 9:21PM in relatively dim Virginia skies. I live in the boonies, but we still have a problem with light pollution. I used the Zenitar 16mm at f2.8 ISO 800 w/*istDS. This is a 108s exposure. It was also the most dim I've seen the ISS ever. It's usually much brighter. This was a weird pass, evidently. In fact, until I read your post, I didn't even bother to process the picture!

Click on the image to view it in a larger size

(My dog bumped my tripod so the funny second line at the bottom is the space station at the beginning of the exposure.)

Click on the image to view it in a larger size

Tomorrow it should be much brighter. Even if you are in an area that's not so dark, you might be able to get something. This is an IRIDIUM flare that I took a photo of at 5:54PM Nov 13, 2005 using the Zenitar at f2.8 400ISO 44s *istDS:

Click on the image to view it in a larger size

I've been to Bertram, TX and found it VERY dark at night. So some areas outside of Austin should be quite nice for viewing the ISS overflight. This was taken in Bertram in Dec 2004 at 10:49 with a SonyF717 at f2.2 30s balanced on a chair in an attempt to capture the comet that was visible then. It's that fuzzy green blob at the top of the photo. So I think a Pentax w/any decent lens should do much better!!

Click on the image to view it in a larger size

*LeoTaylor* · 06-21-2007, 07:38 PM

Let us know how your photos came out. I've taken a lot of astrophotos, including Iridium satellite flares, but not the International Space Station. Last night my wife and I were treated to a very bright ISS followed by the shuttle about 15 degrees behind. Heavens Above, which we use for predicing these events, said it would be MAG -0.6 and in my opinion it was a couple of magnitudes above the prediction!

The new solar panels are very reflective, and last Friday I saw the ISS flare for the first (so far only) time. It rose to perhaps MAG -6 which is close to a good Iridium.

Tonight's pass is in 5 minutes, we have lot of clouds in Connecticut but I'm hoping for a hole to see the ISS.

*LeoTaylor* · 06-21-2007, 07:55 PM

Ten minutes later.

We saw the ISS again, and were pleased to see the Shuttle about 60 degrees behind! The ISS was not as bright as Venus or Jupiter, but again it appeared brighter than predicted.

The weather report was for clouds and showers, so I did not take the camera out. They passed though some clouds but the path from WNW to SSE was mostly clear.

Another great view but another missed photo op!

Next good pass of the ISS I set up the Pentax!

*germar* · 06-22-2007, 05:56 AM

Thanks again for all the excellent ideas and advice.

I wound up with thin clouds when the event was due here in Central Texas last night, didn't even locate it in the sky, much less attempt an exposure.

I did get to experiment with long exposures and such, so it wasn't a total loss.

I'll have to try again next time!

germar

Arpe · 06-23-2007, 10:16 PM

Actually germar, I'm surprised that the CIA hasn't been down on you like a ton of bricks given the title you gave to this thread!