Lunar Eclipse Maestro Icon

What Is Lunar Eclipse Maestro?

Lunar Eclipse Maestro is an automated lunar eclipse photography freeware. Commercial distribution is strictly forbidden. To help you enjoy the event, you can use it to control up to four USB or Firewire connected cameras (Nikon and Canon DSLRs or MILCs, plus Nikon Coolpix line and now a few Panasonic, Sony, Fuji and Olympus) during an eclipse so that you can be free to concentrate on observing the event visually. Up to four USB or Ethernet connected SBIG CCD cameras with filter wheels are supported as well. You must preprogram all exposure information according to a script. Observer position (latitude and longitude coordinates, altitude) is used to calculate local circumstances so that camera actions can be referenced to specific eclipse events. All features are optional, so the application can be used for as little or as much as desired.

First developed for the 2010 December 21st total lunar eclipse, it has been successfully tested in the US Southwest at Monument Valley.

Solar Eclipse Maestro is a similar application meant for solar eclipses.

Total Lunar Eclipse Sequence

Hardware and Software Requirements

Overview

Limitations

Supported cameras

Nikon
  • D6
  • D5
  • D4, D4s
  • D3X
  • D3, D3s
  • D800, D800E, D810, D810A, D850
  • D780
  • D750
  • D600, D610
  • D700
  • D500
  • D300, D300s
  • D2, D2X, D2Xs
  • D200
  • D90
  • D7000, D7100, D7200, D7500
  • D5000, D5100, D5200, D5300, D5500, D5600
  • D3000, D3100, D3200, D3300, D3400, D3500
  • D80
  • D60
  • D50
  • D40, D40X
  • D70, D70s
  • Df
  • Z7
  • Z6
  • Z5
  • Z50
Canon
  • EOS 1D C (*)
  • EOS 1D X (*), EOS 1D X Mark II (*), EOS 1D X Mark III (***)
  • EOS 1D Mark IV
  • EOS 1D Mark III, EOS 1Ds Mark III
  • EOS 1D Mark II, EOS 1Ds Mark II, EOS 1D Mark II N
  • EOS 5Ds (*), EOS 5DsR (*)
  • EOS 5D (**), EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 5D Mark III (*), EOS 5D Mark IV (*)
  • EOS 6D (*), EOS 6D Mark II (***)
  • EOS 7D, EOS 7D Mark II (*)
  • EOS 90D (***)
  • EOS 80D (*)
  • EOS 70D (*)
  • EOS 60D, EOS 60Da
  • EOS 50D
  • EOS 40D
  • EOS 30D
  • EOS 20D, EOS 20Da (**)
  • EOS 850D / Digital Rebel T8i / EOS Kiss X10i (***)
  • EOS 77D / EOS 9000D (***)
  • EOS 760D / Digital Rebel T6s / EOS 8000D (*)
  • EOS 800D / Digital Rebel T7i / EOS Kiss X9i (***)
  • EOS 750D / Digital Rebel T6i / EOS Kiss X8i (*)
  • EOS 700D / Digital Rebel T5i / EOS Kiss X7i (*)
  • EOS 650D / Digital Rebel T4i / EOS Kiss X6i (*)
  • EOS 600D / Digital Rebel T3i / EOS Kiss X5 (*)
  • EOS 550D / Digital Rebel T2i / EOS Kiss X4
  • EOS 500D / Digital Rebel T1i / EOS Kiss X3
  • EOS 450D / Digital Rebel XSi / EOS Kiss X2
  • EOS 400D / Digital Rebel XTi / EOS Kiss X
  • EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT / EOS Kiss N (**)
  • EOS 200D II / Digital Rebel SL3 / EOS Kiss X10 / EOS 250D (***)
  • EOS 200D / Digital Rebel SL2 / EOS Kiss X9 (***)
  • EOS 100D / Digital Rebel SL1 / EOS Kiss X7 (*)
  • EOS 1300D / Digital Rebel T6 / EOS Kiss X80 (*)
  • EOS 1200D / Digital Rebel T5 / EOS Kiss X70 (*)
  • EOS 1100D / Digital Rebel T3 / EOS Kiss X50 (*)
  • EOS 1000D / Digital Rebel XS / EOS Kiss F
  • EOS R5 (***)
  • EOS R6 (***)
  • EOS R (***), EOS Ra (***)
  • EOS RP (***)
Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG)
  • All models
  • All filter wheels

Sony
  • a9II
  • a9
  • a7RIV
  • a7RIII
  • a7III
  • RX10IV
  • RX100VI

Panasonic
  • S1R
  • S1
  • S1H
  • GH5 (after firmware update)
  • GH5s
  • G9
  • GH4
  • GX8

Fuji
  • GFX 100
  • GFX 50R
  • GFX 50S
  • X-T4
  • X-T3
  • X-T2
  • X-T1
  • X-H1
  • X-Pro3
  • X-Pro2

Olympus
  • E-M1X
  • E-M1 Mark II
  • E-M5 Mark II

Ricoh
  • Theta Z1
  • Theta S
  • Theta SC
  • Theta m15

(*) Works only with the Intel release of the application
(**) Works only with the Universal Binary release of the application
(***) Works only with the Intel Yosemite and newer release of the application

Note: quite a few Nikon Coolpix cameras should also work, although they aren’t officially supported. Don’t hesitate to let me know.