#Zuma #Falcon9 by #SpaceX: Streak #2, a single, 464-second exposure.
While rumors swirl around about the possible loss of the #Zuma, launched last night by #SpaceX atop a #Falcon9, may I present Streak(s) #2, another SINGLE, 464-second exposure.
In a possible act of photographic overkill, I was running three different cameras in roughly the same spot last night for the Zuma launch (and landing!). Because I've shot both OG2 and CRS9 from this place at Jetty Park, I knew the vertical shot would work fine (see my post from last night), but I wanted to experiment with some foreground. So, I set the second DSLR (really, my primary camera, a Canon 5D4) with some of the Jetty in the foreground.
A few moments before the Sunday, January 7, 2018, 8 pm (ET) launch, two things happened: I began to worry that I was too low to catch the first (and very high) re-entry burn, and I realized I had forgotten to clean the lens (a Rokinon 14mm). I wasn't about to start fussing with the lens, but I did pan up a bit. So the result is shown here: spots around the bright streak (as it stands, I did a lot of spot removal in Lightroom) and only a small bit of the sizable crowd made it in the frame. In my haste to get something posted, the cleaner vertical shot won out over this one (it needed very little in the way of post-processing).
The exposure was perfect, although the exposure time is 8-seconds shorter than the vertical shot only because the shutter release likes to mess with me and release itself. Eight seconds in and this camera ended the exposure, thus causing me to grab the shutter release quickly and hold the button down for 464 seconds. (I was going to work in a topical jab at my button size and/or function, but have thought better of it.)
As for the third camera, I need to wait a few days to see if that shot worked.
Details: ISO100, 464-second exposure, f18 with a Rokinon 14mm on a Canon 5D Mark IV (full-frame) body.
(The stage separation was amazing; you can see some of the dance in this photo, although this image, even zoomed in, doesn't do it justice.)
Prints available here: http://www.photosofstuff.xyz/Zuma-by-SpaceX/i-SsHpWCQ/A
(Photo by me aka Michael Seeley / We Report Space)
