Follow up to recent Space Shuttle thread

[darren_cokin]

I posted a question to this forum a couple weeks ago, asking about

lenses to use to shoot the upcoming space shuttle launch.  You can

read the original thread here:<br>

<a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BtPX">http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BtPX</a><br>

<br>

Thanks to everyone who responded.  (Except a certain professor of

mathematics, who made the most insipid suggestion I've read in this

forum.  He postulated that going to see a space shuttle launch

would be a waste of a day, that could be better spent photographing

flowers and strangers in cafe's...)<br>

<br>

I did wind up choosing the Nikkor 80-400mm VR zoom.  Decided to

expedite the purchase, so I'd have a chance to get some experience with

it on another trip, which I took this past weekend.  (With B&H

and Adorama closed for Passover, I ordered from J&R Music

World.  Good price, speedy service.)  Very happy with it so

far.  In bright light, I haven't been having any problems getting

the focus to lock, which was my biggest concern after testing it in a

poorly lit camera shop once.<br>

<br>

The space shuttle launch has now been delayed until July (and my trip

as a VIP with it), but I was sent out to the Cape earlier this week to

do some actual work.  Inspecting a system recently installed on

Atlantis, which I've been helping troubleshoot.  While there, I

took the opportunity to do some location scouting at the site adjacent

to the Saturn V memorial, where I'll be on launch day.<br>

<br>

Good news!  My F.O.V calculations seem to have been correct. 

With an APS sized sensor, 400mm is plenty to get the shot framed just

the way I wanted from 3.2 miles.  <br>

<br>

Here's a sample.  It's not great art, I know, but you get the

idea.  (I will continue my comments below.)<div></div>

[darren_cokin]

After taking some 175 pictures during the inspection inside Discovery's cargo bay, and 220 out at the launch pad, the mighty EN-EL3 Li-ion battery failed me after only 50 shots inside the crew compartment and flight deck. (I got 90% of what I wanted to shoot in there at least.) This is the first time I felt like I really could have used a spare battery. If I had realized my old college buddy was going to insist on escorting me to such interesting places after my inspection was done, I'd have found somewhere to recharge it over lunch. (Going into the cargo bay has basically become no big deal for me, but getting up on the flight deck is a RARE opportunity. It pays to have friends...)

 

I know it's inappropriate to post a gallery/portfolio to this particular forum, but I can't resist sharing some of these photos. I'll provide the lens and exposure setting data, to at least partially keep it on topic. All photo's taken with a D100 set at ISO 200. When a flash is specified, it was a SB-50DX.

 

The vast majority of the pictures I took were documentary in nature, not really very artistic, and probably only of interest to space geeks like me. But, here's a handful at least, that I expect might be interesting to the general photo-net community.

 

This turtle seemed to have gotten lost on his way to the marsh...<div></div>

[darren_cokin]

That one is worth repeating at higher resolution.

[darren_cokin]

Technicians in Atlantis, waiting for the next test.<div></div>

[darren_cokin]

Area of concern. (KU-band antenna sweeping past end of new inspection boom. Crew procedures may need to be modified to ensure adequate clearance.)<div></div>

[darren_cokin]

Just hanging around...<div></div>

[darren_cokin]

The next day (yesterday actually), inside the ship. View looking forward from cross-bay platform.<div></div>

[darren_cokin]

It's actually quite dark in there with the doors closed. View looking forward from keel platform.<div></div>

[ilkka_nissila]

Excellent! Very nice pics.

[darren_cokin]

Crew access arm at launch pad 39B. Discovery's booster and tank are visible to left.<div></div>

[darren_cokin]

View looking up starboard side of Discovery. Wing is below, payload changeout room structure is above.<div></div>

[sl attanapola]

Wow!Great PICS!

[darren_cokin]

These main engines seem big, until you go to the Saturn V memorial and see the an F-1. That's me; I had my friend snap the picture, with my directions for the composition.<div></div>

[darren_cokin]

Tiles and seal around dome heat shield, at the base of one of the engines.<div></div>

[darren_cokin]

On mobile launch platform.<div></div>

[darren_cokin]

(last one)

 

Aft flight deck of Atlantis, from below.<div></div>

[vivek iyer]

Darren, Thanks for sharing! Must have been a visual treat (even for you)!

[Prof-K]

Great! Thanks for sharing, Darren.

[stank]

Darren

You must have some pretty good friends. What a unique opportunity. What kind of work do you do? I work HST and am now hoping we get a shuttle mission.

Thanks for the images,

Stan

[mab]

Thanks for posting - sounds like a terrific experience.

 

-matt

[jim_gifford]

Back when the Saturn V was just segments oxidising in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building, I used a 500mm reflex lens to get some shots of a 1992 launch* from alongside the big digital clock by the lagoon. That's essentially the same distance you'll be working from at the new museum-exhibit site.

 

That 500mm lens was okay but certainly none too long. Your 80-400 lens with the 1.5x crop factor should be fine but as you know, the shuttle leaves the vicinity in a big hurry, so by the time the orbiter is experiencing max aerodynamic pressure on the way up (maybe a minute into the flight?) you'll essentially see the plume and a speck. When the SRBs detach you should be able to get some useful shots of their separate trajectories. After that, there isn't much a 400mm lens can see.

 

Exposure may be tricky with a digital sensor that is sensitive to overexposure... the SRBs generate a lot of light! You might want to try bracketing so that you can either (a) open up some shots to see the orbiter better at the expense of blown highlights in the plume, or (b) close down some shots to get detail in the plume, at the expense of an underexposed sky and orbiter.

 

Maybe the D100 will bracket far enough, and fast enough, to get some series that go BOTH over and under the nominal meter reading.

 

Have fun. I still remember the ticking rumble in my ribcage as that sound came across the lagoon at all of us. Wonderful experience.

 

(*if you're a mission history buff, the flight I saw depart was IML in early 1992.)

 

Be well,

[darren_cokin]

Stan,

Yeah, good friends. Her first weekend off in a month and what does she want to do? Go back to the office and play tour guide for me. (My badge gave me all access, if I was escorted.)

 

I wish you luck with the Hubble servicing mission, I really do. It ought to happen. I worked on the STS-103 mission myself. I was in the payload integration group in Downey at the time, worked closely with the folks at Goddard building the pallets. It was my job to ensure there was room for them. I didn't want to move to Houston (California's nice!), so I left the shuttle program a few years ago. Just a small skeleton crew of orbiter engineers are left in California, the payload folks are gone. But, integrating this new inspection boom (OBSS) into the payload bay required payload integration sorts of skills - yet the orbiter team was responsible for it. I volunteered to help them out part time. Boy was I excited when I recently learned part time included trips to inspect the system after they installed it on each ship!

[mark_chappell]

<I>This turtle seemed to have gotten lost on his way to the marsh...</i><P>

 

Cool stuf for a technojunkie like me. FYI, I think that's a gopher tortoise, which is terrestrial

(perfectly happy on dry land and in fact, won't do very well in water).

[Jerry_]

May's delay could go beyond the expected launch in July. My guess at engineering luck for anyone putting a 'heater' on a tank of rocket fuel to keep 'frost' from forming is nuts. The shuttle design is dated, something safer and newer should have been the outcome of the last flight over Texas.

[bruce_rubenstein]

Those pictures are great, and I'm totally jealous. I'm curious about one thing: do you need a camera pass for taking pictures like that? I work for a mil contractor and even camera phones aren't permitted in offices.