On Leica and Eclipses

 

Single frame exposure of the lunar eclipse, just before totality. Leica M11 w/ Telyt 400mm & 2x-Apo-Extender, riding on an iOptron SkyGuider Pro

I almost didn't shoot this. I was tired after a long day of making images for work. Totality wasn't until midnight, and I had to get up extra early to take my family to the airport. I didn't have my telescope at my disposal. I had a lot of excuses not to. But by the time I looked up and saw it happening after dinner, I knew I had to. I mean, how often do we really get to see things like these? I try to not even take a sunset for granted, so why would I miss this?

I have a weird tendency to shoot things with Leica M cameras that are not considered by most as an appropriate use of the camera. There are a lot of purists who use these cameras and a lot of opinions about how they "should" be used and manufactured. I see the M10 and M11 as being some of the most versatile cameras ever made. They are like the swiss army knives of the camera world. They may not have all the bells and whistles, but they almost always can get the job done. Done well, and done stylishly. 

Continuing my tradition of hooking up lenses never designed for this system, I pulled out the 'ol 400mm Telyt, which is essentially a telescope. I have not done a direct side by side comparison with the Canon 100-400, but from observations in use, the Leica made in 1969 performs nearly, if not at least as well. Perhaps better in some ways. Viewing conditions seem to matter more than the sharpness of the lens. That night was quite cold and clear until some high clouds rolled in just after totality. With the 2x APO Extender, I was shooting a killer 60mp sensor through 800mm of old ass glass in my backyard and loving it.  

I shot brackets for a HDR image, but found I didn't like or need it. A single raw file, thoroughly processed in Lightroom is all I needed. I didn't shoot at specific intervals to capture the process, but animated the missing frames by using 3 images for the GIF below. Maybe not "accurate" but this feels closer to the experience than what a true timelapse would have captured.

Totality.

Three frames animated into a sequence illustrating how it appeared.