ISS, Space Shuttle and Columbus

[Fay]

Mark,

do you hold your camera while hand guiding the telescope?
If not, how do you guide the scope & press the camera button?

They are such good images, Mark. I have always been facinated with the shuttle since we went to Stanstead airport, years ago, to watch it come in on top of a jumbo jet. Most amazing sight as it appeared over these low trees.

Fay

[Rick]

Those are absolutely cracking shots, Mark!

[MarkS]

Rick - Thanks for your comments.

Faye - So far I've used a remote control to fire the camera when the ISS is in the centre of the guidescope (make sure the guidescope is perfectly aligned!) so I don't need to touch the camera.  Tonight I'm going to try a different approach by manually pressing the camera button - that way I can fire off multiple shots per second.

[MarkS]

Another tip: the photo below shows how I set the mount up.

The scope is pointing West and it just has to drop gently backwards to track the ISS as it flies overhead.  I adjusted weights so it will naturally fall (slowly!) backwards of its own accord.

[mickw]

Fay if you are going to make a habit of waving your scope around - try this
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-RS-60E3-Remote-switch-500N/dp/B00007EE78/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1202636574&sr=1-4
The have others but this is the cheapest

[Tony G]

Just looked at heavens above for tonights fly past and thought that a shot of the ISS passing Mars would be a great shot.
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDetails.asp?Size=500&OFOV=20&ORA=69.2054339285437&ODec=33.2722354031815&SatID=25544&lat=51.433&lng=0.036&alt=59&loc=Mottingham&TZ=GMT&Date=39488.7760112176&Mouse=?76,358
So my quest for today is:-   'Just to get a image that looks like the ISS'

Tony G

[JohnP]

Tony - why don't you just try putting ZS66 on EOS & then hand holding it. Set shutter to say 1/1000 at ISO 800  - Make sure you have pre-focused though & then just use like a normal camera with a big lens on front... It's worth a try & don't need to bother with mount etc... Just a thought don't blame me if it doesn't work. Also set shutter to continuous & if you see it through viewfinder just keep your finger pressed down..

John

[MarkS]

Tonight's batch is not so good.  I tried holding my finger on the camera shutter button instead of using the remote control.  It made it awkward to track the ISS with the scope and also seems to have caused noticable vibration or smear.

Unfortunately, the best image disappeared off the edge of the frame.