This is a 1 in a billion video. It shows a plane flying in front of the moon at 0:04. It was shot with the GH2 in 1080p @ 24 FPS mode with a 400mm Canon FD lens and two 2x stacked teleconverters for a combined 35mm equivalent focal length of 3200mm. I used the "No Adverse Affects" hack at 42 mb/sec.
It is nearly impossible to stage a shot like this because at this focal length any movement at all will cause the shot to be off. You can see the movement in the camera even though it was on a tripod.
I didn't even know that the plane had crossed in front of the moon until I watched the video.
Yea Ashima is the real deal. She can out climb most of the pro women and she is still just 10 years old. Mirko definitely can do stuff she can't do. However, I think he is almost 1 foot taller than she is. Both of those kids are doing things that no one that age has ever done before.
I saw the Reel Rock Film Tour with 9 year old Ashima. It'd peeked my interest immediately for my daughters. Talking to one of the instructors at my local gym, he said the youngest child to climb their 5.6 was 2 1/2 years old. LOL
The main problem on extreme focal lengths is setting the focus. I'd recommend looking for a mirror-tele lens that has a good focusing mechanism + support (unless you get it with the adapter) and a sturdy tripod if you are serious about trying out telescopic shooting. Sometimes the mirror-teles go for pretty cheap. If you get an 800mm and a 2x adapter you'll cover a whole bunch of focal lengths. Should set you up nicely even for shooting planets..
Nice video. I think your teleconverters blurred it a little bit. I wonder what would be the budget solution to get the moon that big and more sharp.
I did also some moon shooting. 210mm Tamron and ex. tele converter mode used. And did also some cropping in Sony Vegas Pro... Here is the vid (just ignore the cat):
Definitely get them started young. My son has been climbing competitively since he was 5. He actually was the one who got me started climbing. Go check out some of the climbing comps in No Cal sometime. There is a 10 year old kid named Mirko in that area that is competitive even with some of the best adults.
If the kids see that someone closer to their own age can do it will sometimes help ease their nervousness about climbing.
Hopefully, I will get some good footage tomorrow. The Rise up comp is one of my favorite places to climb.
I am heading to Lynchburg Va, on Saturday for my son's climbing competition at the Rise Up gym there. Come on down if you want to get some footage of kids crushing really hard problems. It looks like you are closest to the Earth Treks gyms(Timonium I think). There are also the sport rock gyms there as well.
I have a lot of great friends that climb at Earth Treks. They are all awesome people. Take your daughter there and I am sure she will have a great time.
I find telecrop mode fantastic for shooting the moon / planets. It makes it far easier to locate and focus.
I managed to get very nice shots of the moon in 720p50 with only a 200mm lens. Going to try adding a 2x to that when the weather allows me. Also got a shot of a planet, but it was too small to tell which one and I'm not an astronomer!
Where do you live? Find the closest climbing gym and take her. The climbing community is a very close group. For the most part they are all very helpful and encourage new climbers.
Have her start on the easiest route in the gym. They will have something marked VB or V0 for bouldering and 5.5 or 5.6 for roped climbing. Just ask someone there to help spot her if bouldering and use an auto belay if you are not certified for belaying yet.
The biggest thing will be if she gets scared when climbing at higher heights. Usually if they can make it to the top without crying and asking to come down then climbing might be for them.
I took my daughter a few times and she always asked to come down after about 14 feet. Climbing just isn't for her. My son is a different story. It is pretty much all he wants to do. Luckily I have overcome my fear of heights and I climb with him all the time.
If you let me know where you live I can look up the gyms in your area.
My girl is 6 yo. She likes hanging on a chin bar and she can go across a monkey bar... pwning most boys in a playground. Any recommendation on how to start rock climbing for young kids? I'm also interested in rock climbing. Almost 40 yo... but never late for having fun.
@mpgxsvcd I took a cell phone pic of the shuttle launching. :-) I thought about bringing my camera, etc., but I knew it would be a complex shoot - and I wanted to just enjoy the moment.
I live about 40 miles west of KSC, so I see (and hear) launches with some frequency from my house. My luck being what it is, every time I went out to the cape to watch a shuttle launch close up - it was scrubbed and I came home swearing I'd never do it again (the traffic going home really sucks). But I decided to try again for this "night" launch and got lucky...in fact, it was almost scrubbed due to some kind of issue down range. Issue was cleared up with about 30 seconds remaining in the hold window. Yikes!
I don't think the USA will completely abandon the space program, but I've heard we may scale back manned space flight programs - perhaps favoring unmanned programs. For my own part, I've never been a fan of the manned space flight program. I'd rather see those funds diverted (and even increased) to unmanned programs...probably more than 10x the science value at 1/10 the cost and far less risk for unmanned missions. Why send people? Let's just invest to push robotics and computer technology further.
BTW - if you'd like to see the ISS pass over during sun set or sun rise, there is a handy little java web program that will tell you when/where to look for your position on the globe. In the USA it uses your ZIP code to make it easy. You'll need clear weather and an unobstructed view of the sky. It's amazing to see it fly over...a big, bright star that's orbiting a few hundred miles away @ 17,000+ mph. Your kid/s will love it.
Ironically, I shot this a few minutes after I watched the movie October Sky(The Rocket Boys) with my kids for the first time. We also just launched our first model rockets this weekend. Maybe the celestial gods were looking out for me?
I sure hope that my kids have a passion for space like I do. It would be a shame if we completely abandon our space program one day.