Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/04/06

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Subject: Re: Photographing the Comet
From: db <boise@compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 6 Apr 1997 11:20:22 -0400

Ted,

>>And after all the fuss about this comet thing and what I see on film from
an 800mm, I really can't get excited about it other than, "gee whiz there
is that thing they are talking about!"  Just maybe I'm becoming synical in
my old age.<<

The comet is best photographed with a 50 to 80mm lens wide open under an
extremely dark sky.  Long exposures with fairly fast color films will
reveal the faint colors, wisps, and tentacles of the tail that extends for
thousands and thousands of miles.   With an 800mm lens you get a shot of
the coma but the real beauty is in the off gas surrounding and trailing the
coma.  The tail can be so faint at its farthest reach from the coma that it
cannot be really apreciated without wide long exposures.

Happy hunting, Don