Shooting a meteor shower?

theraven · Oct 18, 2012

I don't know how many of you have seen this...

2012 Meteor Showers | StarDate Online

But there is a meteor shower this weekend, it is supposed to be one of the brightest and busiest, making it perfect for shooting. Now I understand the wide lens, the shutter speed and the ISO. However, the aperture is boggling me. If I open it wide, then the focus on the stars seems to be rubbish. Shall I stop down a couple to increase the focus?

Also, I am using a Sony A200 with the 18-70mm, and can't for the life of me find infinity focus, I've tried and tried. It's not at the end of the focus.

Any ideas?

runnah · Oct 18, 2012

Depends on how dark it is when you are shooting. I know my wide is only 3.5 and to get decent star shots I have have to pretty much have it set at that.

The focus is always tough because stars are hard to see in the viewfinder. I would suggest setting up your camera before dark and then lock the focus after getting it set to infinity.

I too will be out shooting this shower. Cannot wait.

theraven · Oct 18, 2012

Unfortunately I can't set it up before dark as with living in a city I've got to drive somewhere dark, luckily not too far. I think it's just a case of trial and error, take as many as possible and hope! Just want the basics to set it up. Its just the infinity focus on my lens I'm struggling with!

Patrice · Oct 18, 2012

If you have live view use it to focus. If not then focus, use image review at high magnification and adjust your focus as needed. You'll have it nailed in a few iterations. Nobody has said it yet but autofocus won't work. (Please ignore that last part if you already knew it.)

TCampbell · Oct 18, 2012

"infinity" is not at the end of focus travel. If a lens is used on a "film" camera (and it could be) then you could load the camera with IR film. The IR wavelengths focus at a slightly different distance from the lens and that extra wiggle room helps allow for the extra travel required. They also leave a small buffer for the auto-focus motor (which can over-shoot and they don't want it to slam the focus limit.)

Not sure about your camera. On my camera I can switch to live-view, a high-ISO, and then set live-view to display at 10x which allows me to see if the stars are sharp. I typically disable auto-focus and do this manually. You can sometimes get magnifiers that attach to the viewfinder.

Judobreaker · Oct 19, 2012

theraven said:
Unfortunately I can't set it up before dark as with living in a city I've got to drive somewhere dark, luckily not too far. I think it's just a case of trial and error, take as many as possible and hope! Just want the basics to set it up. Its just the infinity focus on my lens I'm struggling with!

Just make sure it's far enough to avoid stray light.
You'd be surprised how much light your camera will pick up from a large city that's over 50km away...

theraven · Oct 19, 2012

Thank you very much guys! It will be a case of trial and error, I'll take a pad and pen to note down the settings I've used and fingers crossed might get something!

swiftparkour94 · Oct 19, 2012

TCampbell said:
"infinity" is not at the end of focus travel. If a lens is used on a "film" camera (and it could be) then you could load the camera with IR film. The IR wavelengths focus at a slightly different distance from the lens and that extra wiggle room helps allow for the extra travel required. They also leave a small buffer for the auto-focus motor (which can over-shoot and they don't want it to slam the focus limit.)

Not sure about your camera. On my camera I can switch to live-view, a high-ISO, and then set live-view to display at 10x which allows me to see if the stars are sharp. I typically disable auto-focus and do this manually. You can sometimes get magnifiers that attach to the viewfinder.

Magic Lantern has a magic zoom box, zoomed at 100% in which ever corner of the screen you want so you can see the full image as well. You can also move it around to where you want it zoomed in at

Buckster · Oct 19, 2012

Using Live View zoomed would seem to be the best idea for obtaining focus. If you have a laptop or tablet, you could tether it and use an even larger screen to work with for that.

Another idea is to focus on something at infinity during the day (a cloud or the moon should work), and make a small alignment mark on the lens barrel itself to show where to rotate to, then just dial it in to the same place at night while pointed at the sky.

Another idea might be to use a hyperfocal technique. Use a tape measure, object and a hyperfocal chart during the day to ascertain correct focal distance and aperture and to get familiar with the distance and settings you'll need to use at night while keeping in mind how long you want your exposures to be. Then use the tape, object and aperture previously ascertained during the day, along with a flashlight, to dial it in at night. Then just aim up at the sky and you should get the stars in perfect (hyper)focus.

theraven · Oct 19, 2012

I'll give that a try thank you! the issue I have is I'm using a Sony A200 and I don't have live view, doesn't usually bother me but it does make things like this a little more difficult.

swiftparkour94 · Oct 20, 2012

Buckster said:
Using Live View zoomed would seem to be the best idea for obtaining focus. If you have a laptop or tablet, you could tether it and use an even larger screen to work with for that.

Another idea is to focus on something at infinity during the day (a cloud or the moon should work), and make a small alignment mark on the lens barrel itself to show where to rotate to, then just dial it in to the same place at night while pointed at the sky.

Another idea might be to use a hyperfocal technique. Use a tape measure, object and a hyperfocal chart during the day to ascertain correct focal distance and aperture and to get familiar with the distance and settings you'll need to use at night while keeping in mind how long you want your exposures to be. Then use the tape, object and aperture previously ascertained during the day, along with a flashlight, to dial it in at night. Then just aim up at the sky and you should get the stars in perfect (hyper)focus.

Dude, I like that laptop idea

BluePhotoFrog · Oct 20, 2012

It might be a blessing that you don't have live view. I've only tried using it a few times for astrophotography, and even with the screen set to the dimmest setting, it blows out my night vision...and I can't even imagine how much a laptop monitor would blind me. My suggestion, for what it's worth: Manually focus on the moon before it sets (moon will set before 10:30 pm your time)...showers peak before dawn so you'll have a wait if you're going to try to capture a lot all at once. Jupiter will be visible, near Orion, and is usually bright enough if you have to refocus. I'll be out tonight/tomorrow morning to see if the weather is better than this morning for shooting shooting stars. Anxious to hear how yours come out!

theraven · Oct 22, 2012

Unfortunately, with the joy of living in the UK, it was cloudy and foggy as hell

Did anyone else manage to get any?

BluePhotoFrog · Oct 22, 2012

Yes and no. Pre-dawn was amazingly clear, and I managed to get quite a few sharp (albeit uninspired) shots of Orion. Saw no fewer than a dozen nice streaks, and one rather impressive fireball; but, alas, my 18mm didn't give me the panorama of sky necessary to capture a single one. Despite being centered on Orion's sword arm, all the major "shooting stars" were outside my field of view. So, nice show, no photographic evidence.:violin: