Lunar Eclipse Equipment 1 of 2 posts

I used my biggest lens (a Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 lens), that I have named "The Beast." I know, a 500mm lens is tiny compared to what the pros use, but it fits my purposes and doesn't overtax my wallet;-) 

I set "The Beast" atop a Slik Pro 700DX tripod (that gives me great stability which is necessary when shooting the night sky.) Note that Drew extended the center column, above the tripod, due to the sharp angle that the camera had to be situated at to get the moon in view. This lessened the amount of neck pain that I had when trying to look through the view finder. 

You can also see a cord hanging down from the left side of the camera. I had attached a remote shutter release to reduce camera shake when depressing the shutter button. Camera movement translates to blurry photos when taking longer exposures.

Here is a shot of the back panel of the camera as it is angled to capture the moon. Do you see the moon out beyond the lens? You can actually see the left side of it slowly being enveloped by Earth's shadow.

I took some selfies while outside, and found that one of them showed the moon on the back panel. Fun!

Whoo Hooo... This is my 100th post on the new version of Maine Nature Diary (hosted by Blogger!) Let's hope for thousands more;-)