F

Choosing Films for

Comet Photography
Kodak or Fuji which one to choose? This overview takes
the guesswork out of film selection.
By Johnny Horne

Ready and waiting. Amateur astrophotographers

already have a general idea about which films to
stockpile as Comet Hale-Bopp draws nearer. Comets
are similar to deep-sky objects as far as photography goes, so modern emulsions that perform well
on nebulae and galaxies should also be excellent
on bright comets. Photograph by Ernest W. Piini.

HE DISCOVERY of Comet Hale-Bopp

in July 1995 sent the hearts of amateur astrophotographers racing. Early predictions
for this unique and intrinsically bright object indicated a favorable Northern Hemisphere
apparition and signaled the end of a 20-year
drought of bright comets. Unless they had made
exposures of Comet West in the spring of 1976,
even seasoned astrophotographers were without
images of a great comet in their portfolios.
Fortunately, 1996 produced a surprise dress rehearsal for Comet Hale-Bopp that is, if we
can call Comet Hyakutake a dress rehearsal. This
magnificent object was observed and documented by millions of people worldwide. The resulting
images were published in magazines and posted
on the Internet. Thanks to the efforts of these
amateur astrophotographers, we now have a better grasp of what certain films can and cannot
do. Our hit list of commercial emulsions suitable
for Comet Hale-Bopp can then be refined based
on the experience gained on those memorable
Hyakutake nights.

1997 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

Top: On October 31,

1996, Comet Hale-Bopp
passed near the globular cluster M14 in Ophiuchus. Johnny Horne
recorded this view with
a 12.5-inch f/4 Newtonian reflector, Lumicon
coma corrector, and
Fujicolor Super G 800
Plus film. Tracking during the 15-minute exposure was made with an
SBIG ST-4 CCD autoguider. Note the bright
jets emanating from the
comets pseudonucleus.

March 1997 Sky & Telescope

47

400 is the best thing we have right now when it

comes to color deep-sky work (S&T: November
1996, page 108). His tests show it to be sharper
and finer grained than the now-discontinued Fujicolor Super HG 400. The Pro 400 also has an
amazingly low reciprocity failure and excellent
response to both red and blue light, its sensitivity
to the latter being enhanced by gas hypering.
When it comes to slide films for Comet HaleBopp, California astrophotographer Jerry Schad
says his favorite is Kodaks Ektachrome P1600.
This high-speed emulsion can be processed at ISO
ratings as slow as 800 or as fast as 3,200. When
exposed under a dark sky and processed at a
speed of 1,600, transparencies feature vibrant
colors and a neutral sky background. Its graininess is comparable to ISO- 400 slide films. Ektachrome P1600 is best developed using Kodaks
E-6 chemistry, since other brands can produce
serious shifts in color balance.
COLOR FILMS FOR SCHMIDT CAMERAS

Above: A wealth of details is evident on this

March 22nd shot of
Comet Hyakutake taken
by Horne with an
8-inch Schmidt camera
and hypered Kodak
Technical Pan 2415
film. An ST-4 autoguider
tracked on the comets
head throughout the
4-minute exposure.
Lower right: The Veil
Nebula photographed
by Jerry Lodriguss
using a Nikon 500-mm
f/4 ED telephoto lens,
Lumicon Deep Sky filter, and gas-hypered
Kodak Ektapress Multispeed 640 (PJM-2)
color-negative film. This
image is a composite of
two 30-minute exposures. Lodriguss used a
Lumicon 300 kit to
hyper rolls of PJM-2 in
8 percent forming gas
for 12 hours at 50 Celsius and 3-pounds-persquare-inch pressure;
hypering was done
with the film inside the
cassette, not spooled on
a reel.

48

WHAT TO USE
Comet West was a wonderful sight in the predawn sky back in 1976. But fast, fine-grain, colornegative films werent available then. The only
color emulsions that had a chance of capturing
the comets glory were slide films such as Kodak
High Speed Ektachrome and Fujichrome 100.
Times have changed. Almost any of todays
high-speed, color-negative films should produce
decent photographs of bright comets like HaleBopp. An informal poll of veteran astroimagers
points to Fujicolor Super G 800 Plus as one of
the best and most versatile emulsions currently
available. This film performs well whether it is
exposed at the focus of a guided SchmidtCassegrain or with an ordinary camera having a
50-millimeter lens on a stationary tripod. The
Super G 800 Pluss off-the-shelf capability allows it to be used without gas hypersensitization,
though hypering is recommended for long exposures. Its grain is much closer to those of ISO400 films than to the ISO 1600s.
The Super G 800 Plus will easily record bluish
objects, like Comet Hyakutake, as well as the
yellowish dust tail expected from Comet HaleBopp. Its fast speed makes it perfect for composing artistic shots of a bright comet looming over
faintly illuminated foreground subjects (see the
June 1996 cover). Seasoned astrophotographers
Michael Stecker and Bob Yen gave the Super G
800 Plus high marks during their Hyakutake sessions from dark-sky sites.
Another top choice is Kodaks new, slower
speed, color-negative Pro 400 (PPF) film. According to veteran astroimager Tony Hallas, the Pro

Sky & Telescope March 1997

Astrophotographers usually prefer slow, finegrain films for the wide-field, deep-sky shots that
Schmidt cameras produce. Owing to their fast optical systems (usually f/2 or faster), exposures of
only a few minutes are needed even with moderate-speed emulsions. Films rated at ISO 100 to
400 are commonly used with Schmidts.
The incredible image quality and resolution of
Kodaks Ektapress 100 color-negative film made
it seem like a perfect choice for Schmidt photography as Comet Hyakutake drew close to Earth
early last March. However, after exposing several frames of Ektapress 100 with my 8-inch f/1.5
Schmidt, I was surprised to see that all the bright
stars on the prints were red! Alpha Librae appeared even redder than Antares (see the May
1996 cover). Although the contrast and grain of
the images were good, those red- colored stars
couldnt be corrected in the darkroom. The same
effect happened when I later tried Fujicolors
Super G 100 and Super HG 100 more beautiful negatives with red stars! In fact, the brighter
the star, the redder it appeared.
According to a customer-service representative
at Kodaks Rochester headquarters, the red stars
may be caused by halation or spreading of the
light within this particular films emulsion layers.
(This seems reasonable because I have seen sim-

1997 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

ilar reddish casts on conventional shots taken with

Ektapress 100 photographs containing intense
specular highlights, such as sunlight reflecting off
chrome car bumpers.) Although I was unsuccessful in contacting Fujis representatives, I suspect
the same effect occurs within their emulsion.
For the remainder of Comet Hyakutakes apparition, I had to settle on Fujicolor HGV 400 colornegative film for my Schmidt photography. (Although European astrophotographers had been
using their local version of Kodaks Pro 400 for
some time, their American counterparts did not
begin exploiting the films astroimaging capability
until Hyakutake arrived.) The HGV 400 produced
more natural-looking stars, had good contrast, and
suffered from only slightly coarser grain.
I also tried slide films like Kodaks Ektachrome
Lumiere 100X and Ektachrome 100 Professional
as well as Fujis Sensia 100 in my Schmidt camera. The Lumiere and Sensia produced goodquality slides, but the sky background had a
greenish cast. The Ektachrome 100 yielded brilliant colors and a pure slate gray background.
KODAKS TECHNICAL PAN FILM
While a number of color films suitable for
deep-sky and comet work have come and gone,
the black-and-white film scene has remained fairly stable. Since the late 1970s Kodaks Technical
Pan 2415, 6415, and 4415 films (35-mm, 120- and
4-by-5-inch-formats, respectively) have remained
the hands-down favorites for exquisitely detailed
black-and-white images of deep-sky objects.
With their high resolution and red sensitivity,
these ultrafine-grain, high-contrast emulsions are
unbeatable for recording faint structures in nebulae and galaxies. However, for long exposures
they must be hypered. Shigemi Numazawa of
Japan dramatically demonstrated the films capabilities during Hyakutakes apparition using his
8-inch Schmidt camera (see the July 1996 cover).
KODAKS LATEST PJM-2 FILM
During last years Summer Olympics in Atlanta,
Kodak distributed samples of its exciting new
Ektapress Multispeed 640 color-negative film
called PJM-2. Primarily designed for photojournalists, PJM-2 can be exposed and processed for
a variety of film speeds. When processed normally in C-41 chemistry, its ISO rating is 640.
Preliminary tests of hypered PJM-2 by astrophotography expert Jerry Lodriguss showed
that its red sensitivity surpassed that of the Pro
400 in recording the ionized hydrogen emission
of NGC 1499, the California Nebula. A single 30minute exposure of the Veil Nebula with a 500mm f/4 telephoto lens and Lumicon Deep-Sky
filter revealed red, green, and yellow hues. All of
Lodrigusss test shots were processed normally at
ISO 640. His tests also indicated that unhypered
PJM-2 appeared to be as fast as hypered Pro 400
and Fujicolor Super G 800 Plus, with PJM-2 having better grain structure and sharpness. Examples of Lodrigusss images are posted on his Web
home page at http://www.astropix.com/pjm2.htm.

FILM AVAILABILITY
Kodaks Tech Pan 2415 can be found at most
large camera stores and comes in 150-foot bulk
rolls and 36-exposure cassettes. Tech Pan emulsions in 120, 4-by-5-inch, and larger formats are
usually available in stores catering to professional photographers. Astronomy dealers like Lumicon of Livermore, California, sell prehypered 2415
in 36- exposure rolls for $11.95 each.
The Fujicolor Super G 800 Plus comes only in
35-mm, 36-exposure rolls. It is sold in 20-roll
press packs, each costing more than $100, but
many stores sell individual rolls. Considering the
duration of Comet Hale-Bopps apparition, a 20roll pack might not be enough!
Kodaks Ektachrome P1600 also comes in 35mm only. Small stores may not carry this film but
larger ones should have several rolls in their
freezers. The Pro 400 comes in 35-mm, 120-, and
220-formats, while the PJM-2, which was released late last year, is available only in 35-mm.
Dramatic photographs of Hale-Bopp are within the capability of almost all amateurs, even if
they have never imaged a comet before. Virtually
all present-day, high-speed color films, coupled
with modern cameras and lenses, can easily produce pictures rivaling those taken of Comet West
more than two decades ago. If the brief but spectacular appearance of Comet Hyakutake was indeed a dress rehearsal, 1997 may feature yet another great comet. A treasure trove of portraits
could carry us over through another 20-year
comet drought.

Horne took this portrait

of Comet Hyakutake on
April 16, 1996, with the
8-inch f/1.5 Celestron
Schmidt camera. The
exposure time was 4
minutes on Fujicolor
HGV 400 film.

When not shooting comets, Johnny Horne is the chief

photographer for the Fayetteville Observer-Times.

1997 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

March 1997 Sky & Telescope

49