5 Tips for Photographing the 2020 GEMINID METEOR SHOWER!

[@Hechttt]

Thank you this was exactly the video I was looking for. This is gonna be dope !

[@MattDieterich]

Glad it was helpful!

[@miroslavk.5049]

Thank you Matt like always for valuable advice.

[@MattDieterich]

Happy to share the video Miroslav and I appreciate you watching!

[@marksaunders4188]

Great tips Matt. Remember me from your Mt. Rainer stamp? I'm glad to see your career has skyrocketed! I think the Gemind is the best of the year. Kudos on your awesome photography!

[@MattDieterich]

Absolutely remember you Mark! You really helped me out so much with promoting the release of the stamp and that meant the world to me! Thanks again for all your help and following along.

[@ChucksAstrophotography]

Excellent tips, Matt. I never captured a Meteor Shower before.

[@MattDieterich]

They're a lot of fun Chuck! I hope the weather cooperates this year ha :)

[@klauspillwatsch7536]

Hey Matt! Very nice Video. I have a question, maybe you can help me. I plan to shoot with 2 cameras: 1 crop camera with a wide angle lens (either a 10-22mm F5,6-6,3, or better with a 14mm F2,8) fixed with one orientation for the whole night or at least for some hours, with an aperture time short enough to not see startrailing in the single pictures. And with my 2nd (full frame) camera i plan to shoot with a Sigma ART 35mm lens in combination with a star tracker, which allows me to take longer exposures. With this setup i will try to capture Orion and as much as i can from Geminid as well. Now it comes to my question: Do you think i will loose brightness of the meteors when i use the tracker and longer exposures? Without the tracker... i would shoot with an 5,maybe 8 second interval. This year during the perseid meteor shower peak i catched one really really awesome shooting star in rainbow colors with this setup. With the tracker i would shoot with 30, maybe up to 60 seconds to get also more details from deep sky objects in Orion. Thank you! Cheers, Klaus

[@MattDieterich]

Hi Klaus! Awesome idea to have multiple cameras running during the meteor shower. I love having a few cameras shooting to maximize the chance of recording meteors. Your tracker idea is exciting and I think worth trying to record Orion. I've read that faster aperture lenses have an easier time picking up meteors such as f/1.4 - 2.8. Definitely would love to hear how your experience is and hope you have clear skies!

[@DrFox2000]

Thanks for sharing Matt, great content worth while!

[@MattDieterich]

Glad you watched the video!

[@beatriceheinze2294]

Thank you for the tips, Matt! Beautiful timelapse! I'll try that once myself.

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks Beatrice I'm glad you like it!

[@framed-tales]

Thanks for the tips Matt!

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching! Fingers crossed the meteor shower is a good one this year!

[@BRP42]

Thanks for the tips! Clear sky’s my friend.

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching!

[@Jimmy_Cavallo]

💥✨💥 Excellent tips, thank you. 4:27 I’m dreaming of a horizon like that. Where was that.? I’m from NJ and you’re the next state over and I know there’s nothing like that around us. Also, are you planning on staying in PA to shoot.? I might head up to the Catskills. 🤟🏼

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks James! Those timelapse videos were from when I worked at Mt. Rainier National Park. Such great night skies there. Ya for now I'll be there in PA, but wish I could stay here near Mcdonald Observatory in Texas! Have to head back to PA later this week.

[@Jimmy_Cavallo]

@@MattDieterich Mt Rainier must be amazing and it’s definitely on my list. No offense but the PA/NJ area surely doesn’t hold a candle to either of those spots. HAA I’ve been to the dark sky party at Cherry Springs and man was it dark but there’s no interesting horizon element to be had up on top of that area. Any suggestions..??

[@MattDieterich]

@@Jimmy_Cavallo oh you're absolutely right. Out west is the place to go if you're looking for dark skies and cool foreground spots. You can still get decent Milky Way in the east and I really like Spruce Knob down in West Virginia. Such a cool area as well to explore!

[@rssmps]

In the video, you said look to the left of Orion but your mouse cursor was to the right. Can you clarify that part? Thanks.

[@MattDieterich]

Sorry about the confusion! Gemini is to the left, or upper left, depending upon the time of night, of Orion. The meteors will appear to radiate from Gemini.

[@chrisprocter7626]

Good video Matt never really been to shoot Meteor showers before done a fair bit of night photography etc but going to have a proper go at getting a few decent meteor shots if the weather gods play ball... I will be using 2 camera's 5d3 and my new Canon R6 which is very good in low light although not really had much chance to try it it properly yet for astro stuff.... my question is I have a Canon 200mm F1.8 which i really want to put on my 5d3 and set it going snapping away and see if i can catch one was thinking along the lines of ISO6400 10 second shutter wide open at F1.8 - so was wondering what your thoughts are with me using those settings - am i flogging a dead horse at that focal length at 10 seconds... and do you have in camera noise reduction on or off

[@MattDieterich]

Hey Chris! Using two cameras is great and do you have wider lenses? I recommend 14-24mm lenses since 200mm will be very zoomed in so chances of capturing many meteors in that small field of view will be tricky.

[@chrisprocter7626]

@@MattDieterich Hi Matt I will be using my 24-70mm F2.8 on my R6 just wanted to see if i could get lucky and catch one at 200mm seen as i have never really used my F1.8 for Astro photography on my 2nd body

[@MattDieterich]

@@chrisprocter7626 definitely would like to hear how you like the R6! Looks like a decent body for night shooting, but I'm surprised they didn't use a BSI sensor like most of the industry is going to, I think that's why the EOS R I have isn't really great at picking up hydrogen alpha even though it's modified for astronomy.

[@chrisprocter7626]

@@MattDieterich I have always liked my 5d3 but have to say the R6 is a game changer in regards autofocus and ISO low light performance been hand holding 1/10 images with the ibis - only had the R6 about a month but absolutely loving the above - the only niggles i have with it are the changing drive modes and ISO which is done thru the menu rather than a seperate button like on the 5d3 but niggles aside i love it... and i also have 2 older 1 series Canon's which are not in the same league in regards autofocus and ISO... really looking forward to seeing what it can do in regards Astro - sadly the weather is looking abysmal here in the UK every day rain and dull drab sky with the forecast much the same for the next 7 days grrrr

[@MattDieterich]

@@chrisprocter7626 whoa that sounds like a serious upgrade of a camera then and I'm excited to see what you shoot!

[@southbronxny5727]

Good tips.....but I always wonder, with so many meteorites, why none ever hit the ISS.

[@MattDieterich]

That's a great question! I imagine they plan the ISS orbit for a certain area to minimize the chance.

[@MahmoudMahmoud-mb7hd]

Hey Matt, I have a question, why 8 seconds? if I go up to 15 or 20 what effect will that have on the meteors in the shots? and thank you for the cool tips!

[@MattDieterich]

Great question Mahmoud! You absolutely can do longer exposures. I find that 8 second exposures are a good starting place for shooting photos to turn into a timelapse video, where you want to have a lot of photos since a 1 second timelapse video requires at least 24 photos. You can see that takes a lot of photos for a timelapse video, so shorter exposure helps achieve that. You can do longer exposures and the night sky will be moving more in the final video too if you want that effect.

[@MahmoudMahmoud-mb7hd]

@@MattDieterich Great, thanks man for the insights!

[@TheJourneySoFar1966]

Thanks for the video! Do you recommend shooting raw? I've never done time lapse but I am going to try it for the Geminids! Shooting with a Pentax K1 and 15mm f2.8.

[@MattDieterich]

Great question! I always recommend shooting RAW so you can then maximize the quality of the edit photos when editing, especially for a clean timelapse.

[@gabrielbaker8123]

Great video.. I have a wide open ballfield walking distance from my house to setup at! good luck!

[@MattDieterich]

Great spot to setup in!

[@davidsargentphotography]

Great tips! My meteor capturing trips typically disappoint me. Perseids were essentially a bust for me this year and Michigan seems to have invited cloudy skies for the next two weeks. I'll be keeping my eyes to the sky. Good luck and thanks!

[@MattDieterich]

I hope the weather can break for the meteor shower David! Pittsburgh is similar and we've been clouded out for a few weeks it seems already ha!

[@v-box1951]

Great info. Thanks. I would like to know how many long exposure shots should we take to make a timelapse video?

[@MattDieterich]

Rule of thumb is you need at minimum 24 photos to create a 1 second long timelapse, since video is played back at either 24 frames per second, or 30. So for a 10 second timelapse video you will want to shoot between 240-300 photos.

[@v-box1951]

@@MattDieterich Thanks a lot Matt!!

[@cyrustsang6927]

Matt, it is worth considering mounting the camera on a star tracker to track the radiant?

[@MattDieterich]

I've had a lot of folks ask that and I think it's a cool idea if you have multiple cameras. Use one on a tracker and the other facing a different direction on a tripod!

[@cyrustsang6927]

@@MattDieterich Great advice, surely I will get the system tested before the shower

[@MattDieterich]

@@cyrustsang6927 awesome I hope you have fun!

[@drmithunbhandary]

Hello thank u for the tips, at what interval do we take photos

[@MattDieterich]

You're welcome! I normally set a 1 second delay between photos.

[@chrisgeick833]

Excited to shoot the meteor shower! I’ll be using a 24mm f1.4. When focusing in the dark, outside of simply turning the focus ring all the way to infinity as well knowing that infinity micro calibrations can be off, what tips do you have to insure my lenses focus is spot on? What is your focus workflow?

[@MattDieterich]

I recommend using live view and zooming in on a bright star to focus as most lenses aren't at perfect focus for stars even if you move to the infinity focus mark :)

[@Jimmy_Cavallo]

On all of my lenses for Nikon if you turn the ring all the way towards infinity you went past the sharpest point of focus.

[@jonberdahl7352]

What do you use to stitch the photos together in a time lapsed video?

[@MattDieterich]

I like using LRTimelapse and Lightroom for making the timelapse videos.

[@normangalimski]

Short, concise, and informative. Thanks Matt.

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks Norman!

[@nrlondon7959]

This is an excellent video. If the weather cooperates I hope to go take photos of this meteor shower. Question. Is is most likely going to be in the teens in Utah. I have seen people use lens heaters or in one case, a hand warmer on the lens. Do you recommend doing that? Thanks.

[@MattDieterich]

I hope you got some shots of the meteor shower! Using those hand warmers on lenses is great if you are in a location that is prone to frost. I have used them while in TX during humid nights to prevent dew.

[@namitasnarkar]

Great tips, Matt! I'll be using the Sony 12-24mm F4 lens. In that case what settings do you recommend? This is the first time I'll be witnessing a meteor shower, so pretty excited!

[@MattDieterich]

Woohoo so awesome! With that wide lens I'd try 15 to 30 second photos!

[@ralphwatson7036]

Good job, I'm ready! Do you plan to do a video on photographing the great conjunction also? For that, I'm not sure... max focal length? is teleconverter okay? tracked or no? single exposure or multiple stacked??

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks Ralph! I was planning on making a tip video for the conjunction, just need to see if I can squeak in the film to get it done. If you download the free Planetarium software Stellarium they have a great field of view calculator for any sensor size and telescope, so you can get an idea of what gear would be best for higher magnification. I'd expect using at least a focal length of 2000mm is a bare minimum and ideally longer with a Barlow :) I see this making a good tutorial!

[@hangerbird]

You talk about using a tripod... but would it be better to use a star tracker?

[@MattDieterich]

For meteor showers you can use either a tracker on a tripod, or simply a camera on a tripod :)

[@yatoarchives9697]

great tutorial! how to make the layered image?

[@MattDieterich]

I will be making a tutorial for how to create the final layered photo, so stay tuned :)

[@yatoarchives9697]

@@MattDieterich thank you :))

[@MattDieterich]

@@yatoarchives9697 you're welcome! I am going to work on that video tonight.

[@stephenmneedham]

Relax and look left of Orion's belt. Look at and above Orion's belt. To the right of and below it. Most important rule, go out, relax, and look. Don't worry about missing anything, a meteor worth seeing you'll see. Like most things, it's usually when you're not trying that you'll have the best luck. Have a pillow, blanket, make yourself comfortable and look. Ever miss a good sunset? You have to really try. If they're out there, you'll see them.

[@MattDieterich]

Great advice Stephen! Thanks for watching!

[@hashmiwarrior]

Can i photograph lyrid meteir shower witb canon 200d camera and 50mm lense

[@MattDieterich]

You sure can! A slightly wider angle lens would likely capture more meteors though, but you can still use the 50mm and have some cool zoomed in shots =)

[@azam24x7]

How do you set focus to capture meteor shower?

[@MattDieterich]

Use live view to zoom in and focus on a bright star :)

[@KrDha68]

Matt, I am heading to the camera shop to pick up a intervalometer. Can these be set to automatically trigger eight second exposures or is it used to instruct the camera to expose for eight seconds and must be triggered manually?

[@MattDieterich]

Glad you're getting an intervalometer! The great thing about the intervalometer is that it will run automatically once you input the exposure length and delay between each photo.

[@RoyceBair]

Well done, Matt. Very informative!

[@MattDieterich]

Very glad you watched Royce!

[@shuaybmhd]

Thanks for the tips 🌌🌌❤❤

[@MattDieterich]

You're welcome!

[@RajivVyas]

Great suggestions! On lens, I have two choices: Fully automatic 28mm F2 and manual fous 50mm F1.1. Which one would you recommend? This is the first time I might attempt taking photos of a meteor shower.

[@MattDieterich]

Definitely go for the wider lens to have a higher chance of capturing meteors and if you have a second camera toss the 50mm on for some more fun ha.

[@robkeane]

What intervalometer do you recommend for a novice photographer using Canon t7i?

[@MattDieterich]

I like the Newer brand on Amazon since they run on AAA batteries. That's a key when working in the field of you need replacement batteries in a pinch!

[@robkeane]

@@MattDieterich this one? www.amazon.com/dp/B06XBRCB1N/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_5kz1Fb6TRNDEZ

[@aravindhan2498]

Shall I fix camera exactly at radiant or else left or right to the radiant point plz..reply

[@MattDieterich]

To either side of the radiant is a idea as they come from multiple vantage points.

[@photodog13]

Have you had any issues with the Starlink satellites causing streaks in your shots?

[@MattDieterich]

Ya I've photographed them in a timelapse video before, pretty crazy. That video is on my channel.

[@pawelschubert6269]

Hi Matt. Thanks for video. Will this also be visible in the Southern Hemisphere?

[@MattDieterich]

Should be depending on your latitude in the Southern Hemisphere!

[@triffidgrower]

Thanks man...all the stuff that I kind of knew, but now I have a checklist. Time to graduate from the ISS...

[@MattDieterich]

Awesome! I hope you have fun!

[@ryanghng]

where did you go to shoot these?

[@MattDieterich]

We were clouded out for the Geminids this season sadly.

[@normpiaskowski5532]

What interval are you shooting at?

[@MattDieterich]

Normally I shoot with a 1 second delay between photos so that way the camera buffer never fills up. Meaning the camera can shoot until the memory card is full, or battery dies.

[@Channing104]

Aww, the lowest I can go is f4.5 hmmm , Thanks soooo much for the info, going to try anyway

[@MattDieterich]

Still worth trying as you might be able to catch some of the brighter meteors!

[@eagleofnight7760]

And find a sky without clouds :)

[@MattDieterich]

Oh absolutely that is step one ha!