On Thursday March 27, 1997, I shot some pictures of Comet Hale Bopp. One is shown here. I shot the comet with a standard 35mm camera with a standard 50 mm lens fully open. I used 400 ASA film and a 30 second exposure with a tripod.

The time was about 8pm EST. The moon had not yet come out, but the usual ambient sky light did reduce the comet's appearance somewhat. The long exposure used here didn't help either.

Nonetheless, the picture clearly shows the tail nicely even if this web version doesn't do justice to the photograph.