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  #1  
Old 11-28-2009, 11:06 PM
snaquin snaquin is offline
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Default 11-28-09 Launch Pictures - Luling, Louisiana

I took a drive to Luling today to launch rockets today with a group of guys that meets at that field on the last Saturday of every month {SoLaR}. I've been meaning to check out this launch since it's only an hours drive from where I live and the HPR field we use in Winnsboro is almost four hours drive and only available a few months out of the year due to crop planting.

First time out with this camera and very overcast skies for most of the morning so it wasn't the best conditions for taking pictures. It was a pretty good day for flying and the field was dry.

I made three flights.

Semroc SLS Lil' Hustler with an F23-7FJ single use. Awesome straight up boost with good altitude.

ARG SR1720 (EnerJet 1340 Upscale) with an E15-7W. I flew my perfectflite altimeter in this one but I still need to download the data and save the graph. This model just won't die. It flies great on E, F and G motors and boosts perfectly straight each time.

Semroc SLS ARCAS with an F42-8T. All three were great flights with zero damage and were easily recovered within the boundaries of the field a short walking distance from the pads. I used streamer recovery for the Lil' Hustler and SR1720 and reduced the chute size from 24" to 18" to bring the ARCAS down a little quicker. Since I was holding the camera I didn't see the chute eject but Whit told me it popped right at apogee. Perfect flight and the 18" chute for that field with recovery on sod proved to be a good choice.

My friend Whit assisted me with loading my rockets on the pad and recovery since I am still walking with a cane from surgery since April of last year. This is the first launch I've been able to attend since 2007 and it would not have been possible if not for his assistance. All in all we had a great day flying.

Other memorable flights were a Hawks Hobby Cherokee 29mm on an F25. A Performance Rocketry Little Dog on an H180. An Estes Liquidator with three minnows on board. Whit's Thrustline clone of the Astron Drifter with Excelsior decals. A cardstock V2 with built up fins and others I was unable to photograph for one reason or another .....

All the launch photos from my camera are here:

http://public.fotki.com/snaquin3/ho...g-field-novemb/

A slide show with the 51 launch photos from my camera is here:

http://public.fotki.com/snaquin3/ho...md=fs_slideshow

Enjoy!



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Steve Naquin
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  #2  
Old 11-28-2009, 11:58 PM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
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Steve,

Good to hear that someone was able to get in some rocket flying on Saturday.

Nice pictures. I especially like the hat.

Bob
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  #3  
Old 11-29-2009, 08:23 AM
Rocketcrab Rocketcrab is offline
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Steve, great looking models! Thanks for sharing the pics, too. I'm also glad to see someone got some flying in. Our club held it's annual "Super Secret Turkey Day + 1 Launch" [long story] on Friday morning. When we started out at 9:00AM it was sunny, chilly but bearable. By 9:30 or so a thick layer of clouds had moved in and the wind picked up to 20 - 25mph - making that 41F temp feel A LOT colder. Needless to say, we wrapped things up very early!
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Old 11-29-2009, 08:48 AM
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tbzep tbzep is offline
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Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. Looks like you were experimenting with shutter speeds. Other than the little super quick birds, you probably won't need to go faster than 1/2000. Nice pics, especially for the first time out with your camera.
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Old 11-29-2009, 10:25 AM
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Good job, Steve. Glad to see you out and about. Fine job on the models, as usual. The hat, the hat, great hat! (Shout out to Bob for mine! Just love it!). Good pics!
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  #6  
Old 11-29-2009, 11:24 AM
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Love your Lil' Hustler, I just finished mine. What did you fly it on? I am afraid I will lose mine on an F.
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  #7  
Old 11-29-2009, 06:08 PM
snaquin snaquin is offline
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Thanks for the comments guys ..... it was great to get out and fly a few. Bob I think I've worn that hat to every launch I've attended since I got it!

Quote:
Originally Posted by tbzep
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. Looks like you were experimenting with shutter speeds. Other than the little super quick birds, you probably won't need to go faster than 1/2000. Nice pics, especially for the first time out with your camera.


I was experimenting with the shutter speeds and ISO settings. It was so overcast in the early morning that even setting ISO to 400 at times wasn't enough to get to 1/2000 sec shutter speed. I didn't want to use the preset sports setting so I could try some of the higher ISO settings. It seemed ISO 400 to 800 is what I used for most of the shots but I also set it higher for a few to see what kind of shutter speeds were possible and to see if the higher ISO settings would render as clear an image. I'm using the better of two low quality .jpg settings and the files are for the most part a little over 1MB each so I'm not sure I want to dial up the image quality any but when I crop the images they are not really clear. What I really need is a lot more practice with shooting these types of pictures ......

Whit's little Drifter clone on a C6-7 was so fast all I got was a frame of smoke!

.
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Steve Naquin
TRA# 677 L2
NAR# 85518 L2
SAM# 0052

🚀 In Construction: Der Blue Maxx/Minie-Magg 5.5” & Vander-Burn MDRM Clone w/Stickershock23 Custom Decals
🚀 In Paint & Detail: USR Banshee
🚀 In Build Queue: Estes Doorknob w/Vander-Burn Rocketry Upgrade Kit [Sport Decor], Semroc Centurion-F, Semroc Egg Crate
🚀 In Repair: SLS Lil’ Hustler, SLS Aero-Dart 1969 Trim
🚀 Stay Tuned For Fall 2021 Launch Dates
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  #8  
Old 11-29-2009, 06:18 PM
snaquin snaquin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rocketguy101
Love your Lil' Hustler, I just finished mine. What did you fly it on? I am afraid I will lose mine on an F.


I used a F23-7FJ. Worked great in the Lil' Hustler. I used a nylon streamer that was about 2"x60" long to drop it with. No damage but the ground is somewhat forgiving being a freshly plowed field. Very tuff little rocket. I built mine with epoxy because I knew I would primarily fly it at our HPR field in Winnsboro on F and G motors where I have plenty of room for recovery and lots of guys to track it. I flew the E15 in the SR1720 first with a streamer to see where it would drift to so I had no problems recovering it at this field. I would not have attempted a flight with that motor using the stock parachute as it would have surely drifted out of the limits of the field.

The F23 put it way up there but my buddy tracked it to apogee and never lost sight of it so your field size and recovery method would be your major considerations.

.
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Steve Naquin
TRA# 677 L2
NAR# 85518 L2
SAM# 0052

🚀 In Construction: Der Blue Maxx/Minie-Magg 5.5” & Vander-Burn MDRM Clone w/Stickershock23 Custom Decals
🚀 In Paint & Detail: USR Banshee
🚀 In Build Queue: Estes Doorknob w/Vander-Burn Rocketry Upgrade Kit [Sport Decor], Semroc Centurion-F, Semroc Egg Crate
🚀 In Repair: SLS Lil’ Hustler, SLS Aero-Dart 1969 Trim
🚀 Stay Tuned For Fall 2021 Launch Dates
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  #9  
Old 11-29-2009, 06:56 PM
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tbzep tbzep is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snaquin
Thanks for the comments guys ..... it was great to get out and fly a few. Bob I think I've worn that hat to every launch I've attended since I got it!



I was experimenting with the shutter speeds and ISO settings. It was so overcast in the early morning that even setting ISO to 400 at times wasn't enough to get to 1/2000 sec shutter speed. I didn't want to use the preset sports setting so I could try some of the higher ISO settings. It seemed ISO 400 to 800 is what I used for most of the shots but I also set it higher for a few to see what kind of shutter speeds were possible and to see if the higher ISO settings would render as clear an image. I'm using the better of two low quality .jpg settings and the files are for the most part a little over 1MB each so I'm not sure I want to dial up the image quality any but when I crop the images they are not really clear. What I really need is a lot more practice with shooting these types of pictures ......

Whit's little Drifter clone on a C6-7 was so fast all I got was a frame of smoke!

.


Image quality will be better on sunny days where you can shoot at lower ISO settings. High ISO give a lot of graininess unless you have one of the high end cameras. My D80 is more grainy at ISO 1600 than a D700 is at ISO 6400....but it's a lot more expensive!

I usually set my shutter speed and let the camera adjust the aperture and ISO. I have an AUTO ISO setting on my Nikon that will jack up the ISO when a wide open aperture isn't enough. That lets me shoot as low an ISO as possible and still keep my shutter speed where it needs to be. Otherwise, you will often end up with a high shutter speed, high ISO setting and the lens will stop down (close it's aperture) a lot, wasting its light gathering ability. I think you have an f/3.5 lens, but I noticed several images with the aperture closed way down. A good example is IMG 0637. You shot it at 1/3200 with an ISO of 1600, so it had to close down the aperture to f/10 to get a good exposure. If your camera has an auto ISO setting, it will drop the ISO and open the lens up a little. I think you could have shot it at 1/2000 and the camera would have probably adjusted to ISO 100 and aperture down around f/5 or f/6. (just guessing, you can do the math and get an accurate setting)


One more tip is to use your shutter priority for liftoffs and then make a quick switch to full auto mode for still shots. That will give you a good combination of slower shutter speed, higher aperture, and lower ISO for good crisp photos of the rockets on the pad or people showing off their rockets. Just don't forget to switch back to your shutter priority before shooting another liftoff.
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  #10  
Old 11-30-2009, 06:22 PM
snaquin snaquin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tbzep
Image quality will be better on sunny days where you can shoot at lower ISO settings. High ISO give a lot of graininess unless you have one of the high end cameras. My D80 is more grainy at ISO 1600 than a D700 is at ISO 6400....but it's a lot more expensive!

I usually set my shutter speed and let the camera adjust the aperture and ISO. I have an AUTO ISO setting on my Nikon that will jack up the ISO when a wide open aperture isn't enough. That lets me shoot as low an ISO as possible and still keep my shutter speed where it needs to be. Otherwise, you will often end up with a high shutter speed, high ISO setting and the lens will stop down (close it's aperture) a lot, wasting its light gathering ability. I think you have an f/3.5 lens, but I noticed several images with the aperture closed way down. A good example is IMG 0637. You shot it at 1/3200 with an ISO of 1600, so it had to close down the aperture to f/10 to get a good exposure. If your camera has an auto ISO setting, it will drop the ISO and open the lens up a little. I think you could have shot it at 1/2000 and the camera would have probably adjusted to ISO 100 and aperture down around f/5 or f/6. (just guessing, you can do the math and get an accurate setting)


One more tip is to use your shutter priority for liftoffs and then make a quick switch to full auto mode for still shots. That will give you a good combination of slower shutter speed, higher aperture, and lower ISO for good crisp photos of the rockets on the pad or people showing off their rockets. Just don't forget to switch back to your shutter priority before shooting another liftoff.


First off thanks for all the great advice and certainly all taken into consideration. Shooting with this digital with all these options and mode choices is much different from my old 35mm I used for years.

I did notice more graininess when shooting at the higher ISO settings pretty much the same as when I used to use higher ISO 35mm films. The lens I purchased was a 17-85mm f/4-5.6 with image stabilizer and the better usm drive motor for faster focus. It wasn't the best Canon lens like an L series but it was what I could afford at the time with the body on sale from B&H last year.

I don't think I have an auto ISO setting when using shutter priority but the fully auto point and shoot mode has it. I guess the best way to go at this would be to start with 100 the lowest ISO setting possible in shutter priority mode and try to dial in 1/2000 sec and see if I can get get an aperture that will work and move up the ISO from there to either 200 or 400 if needed. Without the auto ISO setting is that how you would approach this?

Another mistake I made was turning off the AF auto focus and then forgetting to turn it back on. The SR1720 image is very out of focus because of that. I was concerned the auto advance wouldn't be able to focus properly after the first shot since it couldn't lock onto the fast moving rocket. This was a non issue since I was only looking for a single pad shot so I'll leave the AF on from now on or try to get accustomed to using the focus lock feature for multiple images. The SR1720 would have made for a great shot too .....

http://public.fotki.com/snaquin3/ho...b/img-0616.html

Also your tip about shutter priority for liftoffs and then make a quick switch to full auto mode for still shots will work great. I noticed I can set a different image quality as a default in each of those modes so I set the full auto mode to a smaller image size and will shoot the lift off shots at the best resolution to keep from having large files for all my launch pics.

Again I appreciate the suggestions. Your launch images are always fantastic so I'm paying attention here.



.
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Steve Naquin
TRA# 677 L2
NAR# 85518 L2
SAM# 0052

🚀 In Construction: Der Blue Maxx/Minie-Magg 5.5” & Vander-Burn MDRM Clone w/Stickershock23 Custom Decals
🚀 In Paint & Detail: USR Banshee
🚀 In Build Queue: Estes Doorknob w/Vander-Burn Rocketry Upgrade Kit [Sport Decor], Semroc Centurion-F, Semroc Egg Crate
🚀 In Repair: SLS Lil’ Hustler, SLS Aero-Dart 1969 Trim
🚀 Stay Tuned For Fall 2021 Launch Dates
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