After some 2000 km traveled in just 48 hours, I can definitely say it was well worth the trip. We chose to go to Lake Tuz (Tuz Golu). In a place with just over 3 minutes of total eclipse and nice scenery. We slept in Ankara.
In case you missed the last two total ecliplipses in the region - 1999 and 2006, you'll have to wait for a while for your next chance to catch one.
Lessons learned:
To avoid telescope shake use a remote control or timer.
Never store pictures in JPEG. Always use RAW.
A telescope with a shorter focal length may actually be a good thing.
Gear used to catch this one:
- Garmin GPSMAP 60CS to get to the right place easily
- 90mm Maksutov telescope, 1200mm focal length, f/13.3
- Nikon D70 camera
- Gimp 2.0
- Image above is a full frame captured through the telescope. Corrected: curves, selctive blur, resize