Long Lens for Space Shuttle Pics

[mark_poseley]

<p>Hello:</p>

<p>I have decided that I need to witness a shuttle launch before the program ends so I will be going to Fla for the May 14+ launch.</p>

<p>I will probably end up in Titusville and I understand this is about 12 miles from pad 39A. If I can get tickets to watch from the causeway I will but I am not counting on that; tickets apparently sell out very quickly.</p>

<p>I will have a 300 mm plus 1.4 TC but will I need a longer lens? Can you calculate what length lens you might need to fill the frame at that distance?</p>

<p>I can rent what I need if more than 420 mm is necessary to get decent images. I have a 5D MK II.</p>

[elliot1]

<p>As it is difficult/impossible to get close to the launch site, no affordable lens will be the right lens. Even an 800mm lens is too short for the task. I shot the pictures of a launch a few years ago with a 5D/100-400mm combo - you can see the shuttle well enough with cropping but don't expect to make posters out of them. I shot until just after the solid rocket boosters separated and got reasonably good shots clearly showing the boosters moving away from the shuttle body - a fair amount of cropping will be required. It is truly a great experience. You will really enjoy it!</p>

<p>A good area you may want to consider to shoot from is Cocoa Beach - a great beach and beach area and great area to watch the launch. Traffic is pretty heavy in the entire area after the launch and it could take several hours to leave. If you do watch from the beach (to the south) of the launch pad, the shuttle will appear to rise over land rather than over the ocean so you will want to look to the N/NW rather than NE.</p>

[jerry thirsty]

Don't get your hopes up. The causeway is about the closest you can get without knowing someone on the inside, and even a 1000mm lens (on full frame) is marginal from there. Plus you will be shooting through a lot of humid haze until the shuttle gets fairly high. Still, you can have fun trying, but don't get so caught up in trying to get pictures that you miss out on the experience.

[Jerry_]

<p>Having gone a couple of times and having the launch scrubbed for mechanical fixes, be prepared for anything. We saw one young man with a telescope with camera attachment...save for the haze over the water factor -- the view was fairly good. It was a large unit to set up -- then take down as the launch was not to happen.</p>

<p>If Canon had a 1000mm Reflex lens, and you had a body that was not full frame, you would be in the 1,500mm range, but no auto-focus.</p>

<p> </p>

[matthew_newton]

<p>Way to short to fill the frame. 12 miles to fill the frame on a full frame sensor, you'd probably need something like a 4-5,000mm lens. From a mile away you'd probably need a 200-400mm lens to fill the frame, let alone 12x that. Your lens will be plenty fine to get some 'landscape' shots with the shuttle launching up, but don't expect frame filling shots or anything even close to that.<br>

Go more for the enjoyment of the launch then for trying to get tons of 'amazing' photographs.</p>

[sarah_fox]

<p>To get a shot like this one...<br>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_shuttle">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_shuttle</a></p>

<p>... you'd be focused in on a height of approx 370 ft over a distance of 12mi * 5280 ft (63,360 ft). On a full frame camera, you'd need a lens of fl = 36*63360/370 = 6164 mm. On a crop frame you'd need 3853mm (Canon's 1.6 crop, not Nikon's 1.5). I'd say you need all the lens you can get.</p>

<p>Look for a 1000mm mirror lens. I believe Nikon has/had a good mirror, and if you're a Canon shooter, you can easily adapt the mount. At a focal distance of 12 mi, I don't think you'll need to worry about the bokeh issues of the mirror. You MIGHT get away with a 1.4x TC on such a lens, but your image quality isn't going to be great. Then again, at that sort of distance, I don't think your image quality will be too great anyway.</p>

<p>When you're watching the launch hold my old friend Willie McCool in your thoughts, and look to the sky with the same spirit of wonder that he had....<br>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_McCool">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_McCool</a></p>

[mark_poseley]

<p>All:</p>

<p>Thanks for the input. I am going primarily for the experience; it is something I have wanted to do for years. I will just pick up a 300 F4 (I want one anyway), and will get what I can from that. If all I get are snaps to remind of the experience I am OK w/ that.</p>

<p>If I wanted to go whole hog I could get my telescope set up and go that route but it would require a learning curve I don't want to get into right now. I have an 8" Schmitt - Cassegrain that would most likely help but it is a lot to haul around, much less lug it two thousand miles or so to Florida.</p>

<p>Anyway, I will have two weeks and a free place to stay in Ft Myers so the Everglades and Keys will be my stomping grounds for as much time as possible after the launch. I am aware of the possibilites of no launch; hence the May 14+ date...</p>

<p>Sarah - thanks for the math. ;-)</p>

[sarah_fox]

<p>Another suggestion for you, Mark:</p>

<p>It was not long ago that I drove to DC to photograph the GLBT equality march in DC:<br>

<a href="http://www.graphic-fusion.com/equalitymarch.htm">http://www.graphic-fusion.com/equalitymarch.htm</a></p>

<p>I knew ahead of time that there would be some very notable people at the podium in front of the Capitol bldg, including Matthew Shepard's mom, Julian Bond of the NAACP, and pop phenomenon Lady Gaga. I took a long lens on the off chance that I might have an adequate view, but I pretty much decided podium shots would be beyond my capabilities. I focused instead on photographing the crowd, taking both my 17-40 and my 16mm fisheye. That was the action that I was able to access.</p>

<p>My point is to prepare yourself to photograph what's most available to you -- the people witnessing the event. That will be every bit as important, IMO, as the rocket shooting into the air. At these sorts of events, everyone has a long lens pointed at the main action, and they capture a tiny trail of smoke across the sky. Nobody photographs the spectators. Nobody documents their pilgrimage. That's where you can get shots that are different and interesting, and that is where you can tell a story nobody else is telling.</p>

<p>Don't forget to post pics here on PN! :-)</p>

[konrad_beck1]

<p>Here is a description how the professionals did it in 1981:<br>

http://maitani-fan.co.cc/maitani_fan2/pursuit_file_13.html<br>

They could mount their cameras only 1-mile away, but the photographers themselves had to be another 3-miles further away.</p>

[jaybee]

<p>I'm going to make a completely different suggestion: don't worry about photographing the event, just enjoy it. I was able to view a night-time launch 10 or 12 years ago. A friend who worked for United Space Alliance invited me to go with him. From what I understand, our viewpoint was as close to the launch pad as you can get without being part of the crew's family. Even with a long lens, I don't think I could have gotten anything spectacular in the way of photographs.</p>

<p>I've told everyone that a shuttle launch is something that everyone should see at least once in their lives. I'm happy I got to do it. Have fun.</p>

[gene thornton]

<p>The causeway is six miles from the launch pad +/-, years ago I was on the causeway with a Canon AE1 and a 200 mm lens, I was happy to say all my shots were all of correct exposure and focus, but the shuttle its self was very small in the 35 mm frame, but the smoke was very prevalent.</p>

<p>I was told if you write to your congressman you might have a better chance of getting a pass for the causeway.</p>

[steve_t.1]

<p>I'm with Joel and others- forget the camera for the launch. The press and NASA have so many iconic photos of the shuttle launching that you are re-inventing the wheel, and your efforts won't match their unique photos. A shuttle launch, as you stated, is a once in a lifetime event, see it with the lens of your eye and capture it in your memory, don't see it through the lens of your camera. Stuff like this happens so fast, and it is so unusual, and so grand, that if you spread your attention to the camera as well as the launch, the launch itself will mean less to you- you'll miss it as you try to capture it. <em> "I am going primarily for the experience; it is something I have wanted to do for years."</em> Don't miss the live experience because you were messing around trying to catch your own version of something that will never equate to what has been done, not in this case. Set the camera down at T-minus 1 minute and don't pick it up until T-plus 5 minutes. Enjoy the experience!</p>