Well, I have been whining for weeks about how lousy the weather has been for planetary stuff. Sunday morning was my big chance at some truly clear skies and I finally got a really great look at the 'Red Planet'. Using a 6" Mak and red, green and blue filters I saw all those features that I have been reading about on these lists for the last several weeks.
Central meridian was approx. 310 and Syrtis Major was at first the most obvious feature, but soon Sinus Sabaeus and Decaulionis Regio were quite recognizable - best in red light. Utopia was very prominent and the shrunken northern polar cap was easily seen. In blue light there appeared to be a cloud cap over the polar region - difficult to be certain of how extensive it was. Also, in blue light there appeared to be some clouds on the eastern limb. Zen Lacus was fairly bright white, especially in red light. Fantastic view!
I was able to get some video footage using the PC23C B&W surveillance camera, working at f/30 and using a #25 filter. I was surprised at how much I could see on the monitor and the images I captured to computer are not too bad considering only 6" of aperture.
I posted a Mars image on the VIDEOASTRO Astrophotos page at: http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/canterbury/222/astrovid1.htm
Be sure to check out the Mars images by David Moore on the same page.