space shuttle launch

ELinder

ELinder

Member
Well, I managed to get a ticket to see the next space shuttle launch from the NASA causeway. I've seen it launch a few times, but never from this close, about 6.5 miles away. To that end, I decided to take photos instead of concentrating on just soaking in the event (tho that'll happen too).

Earlier today I was finally able to find the new Nikon 2x teleconverter online at Amazon for a "normal" price (other sites have been charging up to $200 more than that). So much for the money I was about to spend on a new tripod and head. I figured with it being a day launch, I could use the TC on my 70-200 f2.8, and stop it down to about 8-11 and still get results that I'd be satisfied with.

So of course, I just found out that the launch has been rescheduled, and it is now going off at 6:30AM , a night/dawn launch. So now I'm going to need that tripod after all to take photos of the stack before launch. This is going to get expensive...

Has anyone here photographed a launch? I'm searching a number of places for advice.

Erich
 
FWIW I'm not sure even 600mm equiv is enough zoom. ; But anyway, everything I've seen online is that the 2x TC3 is AMAZING. ; Which means we can't wait for the new 1.4 and 1.7s to come out.
 
Scott, thanks for the links. The first one is new, the second I had already found. I'll let you know how the TC works out. I wanted to get it early enough to play with it to find the combination's sweet spot wrt sharpness, and to practice my vertical pan technique before the launch. Just about all the sample images I've seen are wide open, but I intended to stop it down, so we'll see how it works.

Roger, I know my combo may not be enough zoom, but it's what I have to work with. Even if I can't get super closeups, they'll be pics that I took. Besides, I was sort of playing with the idea of getting a TC eventually to use at airshows. This just kicked me into action.

Erich
 
Yes, I seriously thought of that too. The problem is that I have to take a bus to the viewing site, and I just won't be able to carry a fold up chair, tripod, and a honkin' big lens all at the same time.

Erich
 
Well you can, you just might not want to. ; ;) ; Actually, I often haul around all day in the swamps with a 200-500 lens attached to my A550...it's a pretty big lens, though not as big as a big fast 300mm or bigger prime. ; Still, it's quite large. ; I find it actually very easy to carry all day, for miles of walking, by simply mounting the lens collar to the tripod, and carrying it around with camera and lens on the tripod slung over a shoulder, holding the tripod by the extended legs. ; That leaves a hand free to carry something else too.

I've only ever shot the shuttle from either Disney or my backyard, neither of which is even close to the view you'll be getting - so I can't offer up much advice. ; I'd love to be there with my 500mm though (for 750mm equiv).
 
I'm envious, Erich. ; Time is running out on the shuttle, and the chances of any post-shuttle manned American launches are getting slimmer by the day.

Here are a couple of TMIP threads on shuttle photography:

http://www.themagicinpixels.com/forum/index.php/topic,4459.0.html

http://www.themagicinpixels.com/forum/index.php/topic,4209.0.html

For my first shuttle launch seen from about a half mile south of the VAB, I used a rented 500mm mirror lens. ; Great for pre-launch shots. ; From the causeway I used either an 80-200 zoom or a 400mm. ; I was perfectly happy with the results. ; (Sadly, my film camera did not record exposure data and I didn't bother to take notes.)

For exposure, you will want to underexpose by a stop or two. ; The SRBs are burning aluminum, so even in broad daylight they have the same brightness as a tungsten light bulb.
 
Dennis, thanks for the pointers, especially that podcast with Ben Cooper. I've been to his site many times drooling over the photos.

Erich
 
I had tickets for a launch from there at one time. ; Unfortunately it got scrubbed about 9 minutes before it was supposed to go, and we couldn't stay until the next launch.
 
Since NASA was kind enough to schedule a launch before my Space Shuttle launch, I decided to take a trip over there to try out my new teleconverter, tripod, and head. And, boy, am I glad I did. This is going to be a tough shoot. The Delta 4 launch was supposed to be a day launch, but it was delayed long enough that it was full dark. All the better for my practice session, since the shuttle launch will also be pre-dawn.

[expando]http://gallery.mac.com/erichlinder/100119/DSC_4664/large.jpg[/expando]

The whole gallery can be seen here: http://gallery.mac.com/erichlinder#100119

Lessons learned? Many. My 70-200mm + 2X telecoverter will have enough reach to satisfy me, since I'll be about 2 miles closer to the shuttle than the Delta 4. Actually, I saw a whole lot more detail on the photos than I did in person. In person, it was tiny. The tripod will be a must for pad photos before launch (duh). However, I don't think I'll use it during the launch. For the Delta, I did, then when the vehicle cleared the tower, I took it off and tried hand held. Big mistake. I lost a bunch of time fiddling with the release, and somewhere along the line managed to bump the focus ring, so all the ascent shots are a nice bokeh blob. Also, I had the camera set for high speed continuous release. I think the quick continuous mirror slap slightly blurred the images. I had VR off, so I'll have to experiment if I leave it on with burst release on the tripod. Also, even though I was shooting raw only, before the vehicle got to the top of the tower, the buffer was full and I could see the camera slowing down. I'm using a Sandisk Extreme III card, so I don't think that was the bottleneck; the D90 just has a small buffer I guess.

As for exposure, well, I was prepared for a day shoot, and hadn't yet looked into night suggestions. I had metered while still light, and set to manual mode. I decided since the rocket would light up the area some, to leave the settings i had, but bump the ISO from 200 to 400. I also stopped down some for sharpness. From that far away, there's enough junk in the air that I think I could have stayed wide open and not lost anything in clarity, and would have gained a lot in shutter speed. It worked OK, but there's a lot of room for improvement. I think no matter what, I'm going to get seriously blown out exhaust, so I'm hoping to get the shuttle itself more visible than the Delta was, and hope the close blown out exhaust doesn't cover the shuttle. To that end, I think I'll probably go with IOS 800, and leave the lens wide open.

Much more research to do yet, and I'm open to suggestions.

Erich
 
You answered some of my questions. ; Was wondering if you were in continuous mode. ; You could use JPEG and the buffer won't fill as fast. ; Why did you turn VR off? ; This is one lens Nikon says you can leave the VR on when put on a tripod.

As for the photo itself. ; Hard to judge. ; The shuttle will be much bigger and lighted better. ; You should get some great shots before launch of it on the pad. Did you find out what exposures others have used once those boosters and main engines ignite? ; When watching it on TV, the cameras will blow out at first and then adjust to the extra brightness. ; I am assuming people have published their launch photo data someplace you can see.

Wide open with the TC 20 is f/5.6? ; If it is, that should be enough depth of field on a cropped body. With the TC on, will it autofocus or was there enough light on the vehicle to do so? ; Since you complained about moving the focus ring, I am guessing not.

Remember, if the steam does get in your way, the shuttle will soon appear above it once the boosters ignite.

Of course, this is all armchair quarterbacking so take it for what it is. ; Sure wish I could be with you. ; Not many launches left.
 
I thought about shooting JPEG for the buffer, but I decided that I'd probably need the extra latitude in post, and I was right on that count. It's still fast enough that I got several snaps with the launch tower, it's just that I wasn't expecting to run into a full buffer that fast.

I had the VR active mode off on the tripod (so normal mode was on), which is why I think the mirror slap was slightly blurring the images. I'll probably hand hold the shuttle, so it'll definitely be on.

As for exposures, so far I've seen just about everything, aperture priority, shutter priority, full manual. About the only thing everyone seems to agree on is pre-focus, then set autofocus off. My setting aren't too far off from what I've seen a few times (manual mode 1/400, f7.1, ISO400, spot metered initially). The shuttle is going to be a lot brighter, so I'll have to allow for that. I haven't decided if I'm going to try to change settings after it clears the tower. I may set to spot meter in aperture priority and set the exposure compensation to underexpose a bit.

It depends where on the causeway the viewing area is, but it looks like the main engine steam will come at us, so we'll see ignition, then get a couple of seconds of blocked view before the stack rises above the tower.
 
I looked at my slides of STS-52 and STS-66, which both launched off of pad 39-B. ; The steam went a little to the left, so I could still see the shuttle after ignition. ; Since they only use pad 39-A now, the angle may be a little different, and you may see more steam than shuttle.

I'll try to scan and post those slides some time in the next week.
 
Looks like I guessed well for my Delta exposure. I wrote to Ben Cooper from Launchphotography.com to thank him for the website viewing location tip for the Delta launch. He recommends basically the same settings for the shuttle launch.

He wrote: "From the causeway, closeup photo at 400mm, use ,manual focus and exposure ISO 400 f8 1/250 (your 7.1 1/400 is the same thing). Or 5.6 1/500 or ISO 200 f8 or 5.6 250th or something equivalent."

Erich
 
As promised, here are some shots of previous launches from pad 39-B.

STS-52 in October 1992




STS-66 in November 1994




As you can see, the shuttle is not hidden by the steam. ; Of course, once it gets up a little higher, visibility improves a lot.



Click on any of the photos to go to their Flickr pages. ; There are a couple more shots from these launches there as well.
 
Thanks, those look good. Do you remember what kind of zoom lens you used? Yes, the angle will be slightly different than yours, but also slightly closer than you were. The latest news is that they have a hardware problem that may force them to roll back to the VAB and take the orbiter off the stack and back to the processing building to fix it. That would be a MAJOR delay. That stinks, but better safe than sorry.

Erich
 
Delays have always been the name of the game. ; If memory serves, I have tried to see five shuttle launches and only succeeded three times. ; One of the failures was rescheduled before my trip (but it was too late to change my plans), and the other was scrubbed just a few hours before launch.

Looking at the original slides and my collection of lenses, I'm guessing that STS-52 was shot with an 80-200 f/2.8 using Kodachrome 64 and for STS-66 I used a 400mm f/5.6 using Kodachrome 200. ; The first and third shots were cropped quite a bit but the second one is nearly full frame.
 
OK, I'm back home, and exhausted. Full report later, but here's a sneak peak.
First impression: Holy Crap was that COOL!!!

Erich


large.jpg
 
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