Night launch streak photography

[Zade]

I intend to photograph the upcoming Falcon 9 launch from 10 miles away shooting North with a Canon 16 - 35 F4 lens. Everything I have read suggest shooting at ISO 100 at F20. Intend to keep the lens open for about 2 minutes and 45 seconds . Question 1 any comments upon that setup ? Question 2 With the rocket heading in an East Northeast trajectory does it make sense to have the camera in a horizontal vs vertical position to capture a streak photo? Question 3 is 16 mm wide enough or would someone recommend purchasing a Rokinon autofocus 14 mm F 2.8. I know Rokinon offers a 12 mm but it is not autofocus and I don't trust my eyes to pre manual focus but rather use autofocus on some distant object before launch.

 

[Particle Article]

it may be a good idea to stack frames,
because it's possible to over-expose in the day?

 

[Zade]

it may be a good idea to stack frames,
because it's possible to over-expose in the day?

Was a night launch

 

[Particle Article]

oh OK, sorry-
I'm not good with photography, but I asked my friend who used to work on telescope optics,
I'll let him know it was night and see if he can help

-how did the shots turn out? ...I see you're really technical

 

[Zade]

oh OK, sorry-
I'm not good with photography, but I asked my friend who used to work on telescope optics,
I'll let him know it was night and see if he can help

-how did the shots turn out? ...I see you're really technical

They turned out fine. got help from other sources

 

[Buzzerd]

Hi,
I recently watched my first rocket launch and photographed it as well. It was the March 6 night launch of CRS-20 and we watched from Cocoa Beach. I used two 2 minute exposures at f8, ISO100, one for the launch and one for the landing. My lens wasn't wide enough (18mm) to catch the entire launch arc although it turns out I probably could shot portrait rather than landscape. The two images were combined in Photoshop.

 

[Particle Article]

awesome shot , thanks for sharing!