Amita wrote: [Problems getting prints from astrophotographic exposures -- snipped....]
Hi Amita, Getting machine prints from astrophotographic exposures is problematic. I think the fundamental problem is that the machines usually can't determine the boundary between two successive exposures. (Worse yet, the technicians can't determine this visually, and they often end up cutting the film right through the middle of an exposure.) At least in my experience, it seems that the drug and department store minilab technicians haven't had enough training to know how to override the machine and manually print a specified area of the negative strip. Perhaps it isn't even possible to override some machines? I shot about half a roll of the Christmas eclipse a couple years ago and I had a devil of a time getting prints from the nearby drugstore. The central image of the partially eclipsed Sun was quite dense, but the machine just couldn't figure out where the edges were. What ~may~ help is to shoot a conventional scene at the beginning of each roll, and instruct the technician not to cut the film. This way, you'll at least have a starting point from which to reference the registration of the rest of the exposures. Another trick is to get a little bit of something terrestrial -- a tree branch, the edge of a building, a horizon -- into your shot. This usually gets exposed enough to allow the machine to see the edge of the negative frame. Hope this helps. I still haven't shot the rest of my roll that I hopefully have a few Leonids on -- been sick with the flu and haven't gotten outside with the camera yet. Maybe this weekend. Bill Peifer Rochester, NY - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
