I remember some years ago seeing a free gift with a photo magazine which allowed you to calculate the ange of the sunrise and sunset at a given latitude - looked a bit like a compass as far as I can remember. I didn't buy it, but now I kind of regret it.

I'm currently planning my shoots for the coming season and I think this could be a very usful gismo for planning getting the sun angle just right for a given subject. I have trawled the web but surprisingly found nothing about this gadget. Anyone know anything about this?

Thanks

G

I know nothing of it but I do wonder if the software that came wiht my cheap Celestron telescope would let me know this stuff. Perhaps I should reinstall it.

Get a GPS. My Etrex Venture has a sunrise sunset calculator that indicates when and where the sun and or moon are coming up.

Not a gadget, but if you know the location:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/AltAz.html

will give you altitude and Azimuth

If you have a Palm, there are programs such as Planetarium that can show you that info.

For a Pocket PC or PC you need Ephemeris by Jonathan Sachs. Google it, I don't have the URL to hand.

Brilliant for what you need and free.

I have used Sunpath for years with a compass, but a declinometer may be what you are referring to. Sunpath is used by cinematographers, and is very useful for scouting locations.

http://www.wide-screen.com/

I don't have a declinometer but for a few jobs, wish that I had one.