Analemma with the Temple of Aphaia

Hi John,

I have a two-part mount. The first part is permanently outside and pointed for the mean azimuth of the analemma of interest. It is secured using carpenter clamps.

The second part has the camera permanently attached (enough silicone for a D-cup! ) and is angled so that the middle of the camera's FOV is pointing at the mean altitude of the analemma. Furthermore, this part slides and fits perfectly into the first mount described above.

As for the cross-over point, please note that there is NO room for error. It occurs on precisely one day, either April 12/13 or Aug 30th, and varies from year to year (ie. April vs Aug option). As for the apex points, there is some room for flexibility but it also is limited to perhaps a day or two.

The most heart-breaking concern is indeed these three points (cross-over and two solstices) and account for lots of anxiety and worry as I approach these dates. In general, it is virtually impossible for me to miss the summer solstice or the cross-over point in April/Aug. If there is a problem, it inevitably has to do with the winter solstice.

The ephemeris of the sun is basically the crux of the analysis. Simply use your favourite planetarium program (ex. Chris Marriott's SkyMap Pro) to generate the daily ephemeris of the sun and for the time of interest (ex. 9:00:00, 10:00:00 etc). For the latter, I would assume you would be choosing something which is generally convenient for you and your other commitments and obligations.

By the way, what camera do you plan to use? Make sure it has an explicit multi-exposure switch and for it to be reliable (ex. no movement of the film within the camera chamber, secure light seals etc). Oh yeah, you will also want a good solar filter (I use Baader's ND5.0).

Finally, you will need a very accurate timing device which can ping to the Atomic Clock server. You need accuracy down to the actual second. Also, identify a very good local weather prediction service so that you will be able to identify problematic scheduled days which can be circumvented by shooting a day early or late (weather again permitting).

If you need any help, please let me know!

Anthony.

Anthony,
A fab image, the weather here just would not let you take a pic like that.

Thanks Anthony,

The weather here would make the precision that you have almost impossible but it could be worth the gamble....

I have a Canon A2E film body that I only occasionally use, I think I would look at picking up an old second hand body to commit to a project like this.

I might try practising over the next year using digital from my back garden and see how that goes first.

Anthony,
A fab image, the weather here just would not let you take a pic like that.

Dave,

Thanks for the kind words!

As for the weather, you may try a different approach ... expose EVERY Sunday, for example, so that you will have a weather record in the form of an analemma. Days (ie. Sundays) where the weather is not accomodating translates to a missed exposure.

Anthony.

Thanks Anthony,

The weather here would make the precision that you have almost impossible but it could be worth the gamble....

Precision is something that one cannot be flexible and in part explains why my final analemma is now on its fifth attempt. For example, during the second year of this marathon (2002), nine of the eleven analemmas failed because of very slight movement of the film within the camera chamber. Similarly, since this year is already committed to my problematic analemma, I am also reshooting my perfectly vertical analemma due to some slight imperfections as a result of releasing the shutter a handful of seconds early/late so as to avoid a passing and misplaced small cloud.

I have a Canon A2E film body that I only occasionally use, I think I would look at picking up an old second hand body to commit to a project like this.

I have the Canon EOS 3 which is the next level up. The A2E is perfect since you can preprogram for up to NINE multi-exposures and keep doing this while you are taking exposures. Picking up a used and older camera can be dangerous due to hidden and unknown problems which are discovered a year later at the end of the annual attempt.

I might try practising over the next year using digital from my back garden and see how that goes first.

My problem here is that digitals do not allow multi-exposure mode on the same "frame" which means you will be practicing with a camera you ultimately will not be using during the actual run. Unless of course you plan to take each exposure as a separate image and then combine them. If so, you would be deviating from the challenge of capturing the analemma on a single frame of film. Simultaneously, I would have been done a loooong time ago using such an approach, for I have taken over 1000 multi-exposures the past five years between my successful and failed analemmas (equivalent to about 25 analemmas! )

Anthony.

Timing to the second, yikes - that's just not going to happen with the weather here in Ireland

Are your solar exposures actually done at the same location as the background exposure?

I like the idea of doing a "sunday" version where gaps are left by bad weather - much more Ireland friendly! :lol: