Beaver Moon //Lunar Eclipse 2021

a handful of photos and a little talk about gear

I don’t have too much to say really, other than I almost decided at near midnight not to go out and enjoy the eclipse, but to stay inside where it was warm and get a good nights rest. I didn’t know what to expect with a lunar eclipse, and in my head, I thought maybe it would just look as though the moon was going through it’s normal waxing / waning phases until it disappeared in the sky. That would have been interesting but not interesting enough to keep me up until 6am.

Luckily, I ended up deciding to go out at 2am and take a look. I had some camera gear already picked out, but learning from my previous mistake during the solar eclipse of 2017, I needed to take my time and enjoy this rare sight and take it all in.

It’s still so wild to me that in just 5 years I’ve got to experience both types of eclipses at or near totality and in just a few short years, there’s an opportunity to view another total solar eclipse. My dad who has had an interest in space his entire life has never seen a lunar eclipse until this past week. It’s very rare and I’m very thankful for the good weather and to have had the opportunity to experience it, and to get to share a small portion of what I felt and saw through these photographs. I hope you enjoy them.

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I briefly wanted to touch on the gear that I used. I don’t think I have the most amazing photographs from the event (I’ve seen so many amazing shots from other photographers), but using fairly modest equipment and with very little knowledge of what would be happening I was able to make photos that I’m both proud of and also photos that capture what I saw fairly accurately.

I had three cameras set up, but for the photos, I only used files from the setup in the middle here. My old Canon T1i with an EF 70-200 iii. This is a camera from 2009 with a 15mp aps-c sensor. I chose this camera because it was the only aps-c EF mount camera I had on hand, and I wanted that extra reach the 1.6x crop factor gave me.

I didn’t bring my Canon 5D with me or my Sony a3000, both of which would have worked just fine (possibly better), but I’m plenty happy with the results. Another reason I chose the T1i is I know how it operates and getting it set up and running quickly was one of the most important things for me, as I wanted to enjoy watching the eclipse, without looking through a camera the whole time.

In addition, for video, I brought along my JVC Everio camcorder which captured some really interesting looking footage. It’s 35x optical zoom really allowed me to fill the frame with moon and get some great low fidelity clips. And I also brought along my Olympus OMD E-M1 Mark II with a 135mm m42 lens on a 2x teleconverter. I shot in 4k with the digital teleconverter turned on, and was able to fill the frame with this setup as well. I didn’t capture anything stunning or amazing, but I plan to use the footage in some upcoming videos, so be sure to lookout for that.

Lastly, real quick, I wanted to just show my tripods. I get a lot of questions about tripods, usually from people who have something janky already and want to upgrade but don’t know what to purchase. These are my favorites that I own. The top one is an old Manfroto tripod with a Neewer branded video head. In the middle is my Vanguard VEO 265, which might not be as lightweight as I want it to be but folds so small and is so sturdy when set up that I just really love the thing. And on the bottom is my really old Focal branded travel tripod. When I bought it, the head was broken, so I stuck a tiny ball head on it in it’s place. It’s great for smaller cameras (basically anything but my 5D with the battery grip), and weighs like half of the Vanguard.

All of these I got secondhand and very cheap compared to their retail prices, so when someone askes me what tripod to get, I have no idea what to tell them. I love all three of these, but the Manfroto was $160 new when it came out and I wouldn’t ever spend that much on it. Same for the $280 Vanguard. I got it for $18 at a thrift store and it came with a custom VEO messenger bag with a compartment to store the tripod in. I think I paid $3.99 for the Focal.

Just like with all gear, everyone’s tastes are different. I use my Vanguard tripod most of the time, and with its small size, I can carry it in a lot of bags that I can’t usually carry a tripod in (I’m not crazy about bags that look like camera bags). I don’t know what the best tripod on the market is right now, but my advice would be to try to purchase used. There’s little to go wrong on a tripod, if everything functions well when it’s sold to you, it should last a long time.

Anyways thanks so much for checking out this weeks newsletter!
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See you soon.

—Forrest