Backyard Nighttime Nature in New Jersey. Firefly Trails.
Between thunderstorms I have been experimenting on the best way to photograph fireflies. I want to capture both the number and movement of the fireflies. I set out three cameras to take a series of 30 second images. The images were then combined into a composite using the startrails.exe program. For these three composites I used relatively high ISO’s and narrow apertures to get a wider depth of field. C&C appreciated.
The bad news that I heard today is that the Sirius/XM Book Radio channel is going away as of 15-July-2013. The Book channel is about the only reasons I have kept up my subscription to Sirius/XM. I have the Book channel on 24/7 both at home and in my car. My long distance drives will not be the same when lost listening to a story.
Two hours of Fireflies Flashes During a Summer Night in New Jersey. Images collected using a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 VR lens (ISO 6400, 200 mm, f/11, 30 sec). Composite of 238 images created using the Startrails program. (David J Mathre)Two hours of Fireflies Flashes During a Summer Night in New Jersey. Images collected using a Nikon D800 and 105 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 3200, 105 mm, f/11, 30 sec). Composite of 225 images created using the Startrails program. (David J Mathre)Two hours of Fireflies Flashes During a Summer Night in New Jersey. Images collected using a Nikon D3 and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 1600, 35 mm, f/8, 30 sec). Composite of 211 images created using the Startrails program. (David J Mathre)
Backyard Spring Night Sky in New Jersey. Wide Angle Lens Options for Nikon 1 Cameras.
One of the issues I have had with the Nikon 1 “mirrorless” cameras is the lack of wide-angle lens options. The widest angle available with the initial set of lenses was 10 mm f/2.8 prime. This has a 77° field of view (FOV) equivalent to a 27 mm lens on a full-frame (FX) DSLR camera. I like taking wide-angle panorama landscape images when traveling. In order to do this with the Nikon 1 camera requires taking several images and then stitching them together during post-processing. Before going to Norway, I saw a note on the internet that the Olympus FCON-T01 Fisheye converter uses the same 40.5 mm thread that the Nikon 1 10 mm f/2.8 lens uses. The 0.74x adapter increases the FOV to something like 20 mm on a FX DSLR camera. I took this combo with me to Norway, and published an image of Greenland from 36,000 feet using the combo. (19-February-2013).
Since returning from Norway, Nikon released a new wide-angle telephoto lens for Nikon 1 cameras – the 6.7 – 13 mm f/3.5-5.6. At 6.7 mm this lens has a 100° FOV equivalent to a 18 mm lens on a FX DSLR camera. The following three images were taken with the Nikon 1 V2 camera 1) with the 10 mm f/2.8 lens; 2) with the 10 mm f/2.8 lens and the Olympus fish-eye converter; and 3) with the 6.7-13 mm lens at 6.7 mm. The wide-angle image with the 6.7 mm does not have the fish-eye curvature effect. Indeed, when in Norway I found that when I used the Olympus lens I would need to keep the horizon right at the middle of the image. I think that I will be adding the 6.7-13 mm lens to my light-weight travel kit.
Note: Nikon changed the threading on the 6.7-13 mm lens to 52 mm, so I can’t use the Olympus adapter with this lens 😉
New Jersey Early Spring Night Sky with Moon and Clouds. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 160, 10 mm, f/2.8, 10 sec). (David J Mathre)New Jersey Early Spring Night Sky with Moon and Clouds. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens + Olympus Fisheye adapter (ISO 160, 10 mm, f/2.8, 10 sec). (David J Mathre)New Jersey Early Spring Night Sky with Moon and Clouds. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 6.7-13 mm lens (ISO 160, 6.7 mm, f/3.5, 20 sec). (David J Mathre)
Gone to See Patagonia 2010/2011. Photography Workshop with Thom Hogan. Day 7: Night Sky in Patagonia.
I got up really early before dawn to see the night sky in the southern hemisphere. I’ve wanted to see the Southern Milky Way and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. This was the first time that I saw the Orion constellation upside down. I don’t recognize many of the other stars and southern constellations. Images while staying at Hosteria El Pilar in El Chalten in Argentina.
Night Sky in Patagonia. Hosteria El Pilar, El Chalten, Argentina. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 400, 16 mm, f/4, 30 sec) (David J Mathre)Night Sky in Patagonia. Hosteria El Pilar, El Chalten, Argentina. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 16-35 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 28 mm, f/4.5, 58 sec) (David J Mathre)Night Sky in Patagonia. Hosteria El Pilar, El Chalten, Argentina. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 400, 16 mm, f/4, 58 sec) (David J Mathre)Night Sky in Patagonia. Hosteria El Pilar, El Chalten, Argentina. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 400, 16 mm, f/4.5, 58 sec) (David J Mathre)Night Sky in Patagonia. Hosteria El Pilar, El Chalten, Argentina. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 16-35 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 28 mm, f/4.5, 58 sec) (David J Mathre)Southern Hemisphere Milky Way. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 50 mm f/1.4 G lens (ISO 100, f/4, 50 sec) (David J Mathre)Night Sky in Patagonia. Hosteria El Pilar, El Chalten, Argentina. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G (ISO 12800, 50 mm, f/2, 1/15 sec) (David J Mathre)
Late Fall Night Sky Anomaly. Super-Nova or Geminid Meteor Coming at Me?
The sky was clear Thursday night. I had three cameras out to capture Geminid meteor trails. Friday night the sky was also clear, so stayed up again to capture any late Geminid meteor trails. After being up two nights in a row, I really needed to catch up on some sleep. When I started to review the images today, I found an anomaly in the star trail image between 2-3 AM Friday morning. The images for this composite were taken on a Nikon D4 with a 14-24 f/2.8 lens. I have trouble with condensation on this lens and this night was no different and because it was cold frost formed on the center on the lens. The result is that light getting to the center of the image is significantly attenuated. I didn’t expect to see anything in the center area because of the frost — but there was one bright star. The unusual star is actually brighter than Sirius. I went back and reviewed the individual images, and found that this “star” only appeared at 02:19 AM — not before and not after. I checked the images from the other two cameras. The D800 with a 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens covered the same space, and indeed it also captured the same anomaly. I didn’t see any news about a super-nova, so did I capture an image of a Geminid meteor coming right at me? Good thing that they burn up in the atmosphere!!
Late Fall 02:00 to 03:00 AM Sky Star Trail (with anomaly) in New Jersey. Composite of 60 Images taken with a Nikon D4 and 14-24 mm f/2.8G lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec) using Star Trails. (David J Mathre)Late Fall 02:18 AM Sky in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 14-24 mm f/2.8G lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)Late Fall 02:19 AM Sky (with anomaly) in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 14-24 mm f/2.8G lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)Late Fall 02:20 AM Sky in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 14-24 mm f/2.8G lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)Late Fall 02:18 AM Sky in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)Late Fall 02:19 AM Sky (with anomaly) in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)Late Fall 02:20 AM Sky in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)
