Hi, first, a minor correction. I started at f/1.2 and the change you saw me make was to f/2.0. The flaring I was referring to might more properly be referred to as coma, something that occurs mostly (you experts out there correct me if necessary) around the edges of the field. In astrophotos this makes the stars on the edge look like little comets. I made the change in f/stop since I thought I might pick out a star or two near the edge. I don't think the stuff you are seeing on your pictures is caused by coma. Patrick Jim Gibson wrote:
I watched you as you set up your camera at Leeds prior to the Columbia fly-over. You first set the f-stop dile to f2.8. Then you audibly made the remark something like "I will go up one stop to reduce flairing". Subsequently you set f-stop up one notch.
I set my camera to f2.8 and I don't know what Marty's was set at that you posted at http://planet.state.ut.us . When I blow my picture up of the flair-out I see a bright light start from the left side of the contrail, immideatly cross over to the right side and continue there in a stright line for a bit then blend back into the main contrail. My question is do you think that this was an artifact of my f2.8 f-stop that you avoided?/