Filming Meteor showers
 

Hi,

I guess some of you have heard about the recent meteor shower? Has anyone tried to film it?

I've managed to get my XL1 to pick up the brightest stars/planets before but has anyone had experience of filming meteors before?

Regards

Nick

The only time I recall seeing this done (on a television news program) was with the gain cranked to maximum, so that would be +30db with the XL1S. Not sure if the XL1 could do it. I wonder what effect the slow shutter speeds would have. High gain will make a dirty image, but should reveal the meteor trails. Anybody else have any ideas?

I really doubt an XL1 could do it either. I am waiting for an opportunity to shoot a Shuttle re-entry this winter. The one I did shoot (with a Handycam), Real listed on their site for quite awhile.

Nathan Gifford

No way you're going to get anything with the XL1, maybe the XL1s. I've shot star fields with a Sony betacam and a night vision lens. Results were fantastic. I've seen one chip Sony camcorders with the night vision function produce similar results. Chris, how come the Canon's don't have a night vision feature?

Chris, Canon's new "color night shot" mode was introduced only in February of this year, with the ZR40/45MC/50MC. Previous camcorders from last year, including the XL1S and Optura 100MC, do not have this feature. The new GL2 as well as the Elura 40MC and Optura 200MC do have it, though. Hope this helps,

I tried shooting a clear country night sky with starfields a couple weeks ago with the standard 16x. Totally unsuccessfully unless with maximum gain and even then the stars are faintly larger dots beside the heavy grain.

Thanks for the feedback guys, i'm a bit disapointed that i can't do it, but its only a small item on the list of things to do with my XL1.


Nick