lunar eclipse + winter solstice

As luck would have it, the skies cleared up this evening for us to be able to view and appreciate the lunar eclipse. What makes this eclipse so special is that it coincides with the winter solstice, an event that hasn’t happened since 1632. Seeing an opportunity to photograph such a rare event, I hurriedly set up my gear just in time for the first phase at 10.37pm PST.

As far as my settings for the camera, here is what I used.

ISO100, 1/200 sec at f8. The focal length was 200mm but due to the 7D’s crop factor (1.6x) and the Tamron 1.4x Teleconverter, I ended up with a focal range of roughly 450mm. Not bad! The following images shows the setup and the remaining shots show the eclipse’ trajectory. The images are not black and white. They are in full color but it does appear as if they were shot in black and white.

Another total lunar eclipse will occur on Dec. 10 and will be visible over the western half of North America before moonset.  For the next total lunar eclipse that will be visible across all of North America, we must wait until April 14 to April 15, 2014.

Here is the Tamron 1.4x teleconverter that I used. The advantage of using a teleconverter is that it allows you to “extend” the zoom range of your lens. The disadvantage is that the images come out “soft”. However, when used wisely, it works really well.

Here is the complete setup. I used the Canon 7D with the 1.4x teleconverter and the 70-200mm f2.8L lens that gave me a full zoom value of 448mm. The lens was mounted on a Giottos MT-8361 carbon fiber tripod with a Manfrotto ballhead with a Canon TC80N3 Timer Remote Control.

This image is the full crop of the 7D. It’s a bit soft which I think is mainly due to the teleconverter. Otherwise, it’s a great shot I think. There are so much textures that are visible in this frame alone.

The moon at the half point of the eclipse.

The eclipse at almost the three quarter mark of last night’s eclipse.

Here is the time lapse sequence of the lunar eclipse last night. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I didn’t want to miss. I hope you were able to enjoy the event last night as much as I did.