Eclipse watching / NM & AZ GTG

[Yoyo]

I’ll just throw this out there. I’m planning to head up to the Gallup vicinity on Sunday for the eclipse. Hope to leave Las Cruces before 9 and arrive around 4 p.m. MDT on Sunday. Camp out at Bowl Lake or Tse Bonito that night and then head east for more road tripping. I have yet to do map reconnasaiance with the USGS topos yet to find a WNW facing cliff that’s accessible by 2WD vehicle.

This site has a nice map of the effected areas.
http://www.eclipseafrique.com/dbimages/document/fichier/679/Schedule_USA_-_NEW_MEXICO.pdf

[Plamadude30k]

I will be visiting home in Albuquerque for this. If anybody wants to meet up, I might be available.

[chupathingie]

I was toying with the idea of driving out to Albuquerque myself, as it’s only 4 hours away and one of my best friends from high school lives there. I suppose I should give him a ring soon. The only catch for me would be that the eclipse happens late in the day and I’d likely get home after 1-2AM just to have to get up for work on Monday.

[ravnostic]

I’ve already made plans.

Next Saturday I’ll drive up to Page, Az (near dead center to the eclipse), the hotel room, with small patio, faces north, but the parking lot has a clear view WNW in very close proximity to the dam and power-plant. I’ll set up there around 3am, for good polar guidance, and track all the day (there’s other stuff to look at while I wait). Anyone’s welcome to join me if it’s possible.

[lokisbong]

It figures my new job has me scheduled to work during the eclipse. but I might be able to see it from work. the front doors are orientated facing that way.

[ravnostic]

Hey, it’s a job! Try to take a break at that moment.

[lokisbong]

I wasn’t complaining about having a job just that something aways seems to get between me and solar eclipses. I plan on going out if at all possible. I even have a cheesy eclipse viewer filter thing sold by our local astronomical society.

[Yoyo]

Page is an option. I’ve got a college friend there who’s the deputy director at the hydro plant. I came back home via Page after FarkCon in Vegas. I was hoping not to drive that far, but I could adjust my schedule to go that far. Plus the bluffs at the west side of the city over looking the gorge would give an unimpeded view of the setting sun and eclipse. Ok, time to remap my route.

Edit: Wow, Page is about 5 hours more driving. Yikes. That means I’ll need to leave home on Saturday or possibly Friday. Hmmm…

[ravnostic]

Yeah, Page is 4-5 hours from me (275miles); so I’m taking Saturday off from work. I’m staying at the Quality Inn, which you can google; I’ll use the view from the parking lot (I posted a picture on my public profile on G+ if you want to see the view). It’s not 100% perfect, but the view of the setting sun will be. I won’t get kicked off the property; and if I keep the horizon over the cheesy buildings to just show the elec. plant/dam, I should do okay. Weather thus far is looking promising (well, clear at least–I’d like some ‘light’ clouds, cumulus, but not TOO many–and not directly over the sun during totality–we’ll see what I get.

I’m also staying Monday to do the Antelope and Marble canyons (the latter may be deferred till Tuesday’s trip back home.)

[Yoyo]

Well, my friends who live in Page will be out of town for the weekend, so I’m going to head up to Gallup and save 10 hours driving. Camp out over night and pass through Albuquerque Monday on the way to visit family in Kansas City.

I did stop by the welding store today to pickup a shade 11 filter. The guy at the store knew exactly what I was up to when I mentioned I was looking for a shade. He said a lot of people were buy 14s, and we both agreed that that level was a bit much. Just in case you’re wondering shade 11 is about 14 1/3 stops, while shade 14 is 18 1/2 stops. Now the cost savings of a photographic filter is astounding, as the welding filter was only $3.75, however it’s not quite neutral density. There’s a decidely green cast to the sun. Tomorrow I’ll try adjusting the white balance. Or I could just set it to monochrome.

[Yoyo]

Ok, so here’s a typical test shot of mine. 🙁 I think I’m going to try the 85/1.8 instead of the 55-250/3.5-5.6. I’ve got it stopped down to about f/11, but it still doesn’t focus very well. I’ll probably try switching to raw tomorrow, and also wireless remote and mirror lockup.

Full scale crop from 18MP jpg.
[img]http://tinyurl.com/cn52d9m[/img]

https://public.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pTb2d8aO9W8U1xArC91QK42zHB3NgdGEvoZY41p502FhSNOVMc0DEBbdNnmOQ8098hqHTHTni_O_oF-4P2lIOLw/test1.jpg?psid=1

[Yoyo]

It turned out to be the filter I was using. There was a nice couple of eclipse chasers from Chicago also viewing at Red Rocks Park near Gallup, NM, and they gave me a flimsy plastic filter that worked much better.

https://public.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pS5X3nDkyd1MDtYBkdNhiAV8FMtP4FrXmD6Pyyf4I3M1MYZ-vtjzM6LE3KbQPdvAU0a1NcaF7XwWUJkNEjpy4Kg/sunset-trees.jpg?psid=1

[ravnostic]

The flimsy plastic ones do work better; my aunt brought along some shade 14’s, and I tried one–definitely too dark–she couldn’t get shots at all (well, nothing worth posting). I’m very happy with the baader filter results, but I think I’ve got to get a plan to get me an h-alpha. Cost is the prohibitive factor in a scope of my size.

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