The Venus passage of June 8 - 2004.
Ok, this was a event that I have looked forward to since I started out in Amateur Astronomy, way back in 1979.
I had no big plans to invest to much time and work in photographing this event. My plans were just to snap some pictures so I had some images of my own.
Now when the results are in, and I can see this in retrospect, I must say that I am somewhat disappointed on myself that I did not invest some time before the event, and tried out some films and expose times...
If I had, the results would have been far-far better as is it turned out.
The images in primary focus, at f/10 turned out OK. But the shots with ocular projection was way underexposed. This mean that none of these shots are salvageable. -( Dam it - the view through the camera looked so great, so I had great hopes when I took them. To bad that I trusted the recommended exposure times from the cameras exposure meter... O'Well - live and learn. ;-)
Anyway, when all is said, I am pleased nonetheless. My only hope from the outset was to see the transit, and that I did. -) So what if the images did not turn out the way I hoped for when I took them. The most important thing, is that I succeeded in seeing the transit, and that memory will be with me for many-many years to come....I hope. :-)
And there are already lots of other excellent images out there all over the web of the passage for all to see, including me. :-)
Below are 5 of the images I took through my Celestron Compustar 8.
I shot the event with ordinary film, Konica 200. With my trusty old Olympus OM1, through a Baader Solar film.
© Copyright 2004 by Robert Gibala.