Night and Moon Photography with A620?

[TMR Design]

Hello,

I am curious about whether or not cameras like my A620 are capable of good night and moon photography. If there is a near full moon or full moon and I use ASA400, lens wide open and maximum shutter of 15 seconds, on a tripod, and utilizing digital zoom...... can I get quality shots? Will the 16x zoom make it close enough so it is not just a small dot in the sky?

If anyone has some pictures like this that were taken with A series (or similar) cameras can you show me or give me links so I can see?

Thanks.
Robert

[Jon]

For the moon, you don't want anything like 15 sec. More like 1/100 or 1/200 sec. at ISO 100. It's always a sunny day on the moon. I'd just use the optical zoom and do any further enlargement in your computer rather than using digital zoom for best results. It's essentially the same thing, but you'll be able to control the process.

[turbines]

Jon is correct. Since the moon is illuminated by the sun a standard daylight exposure will be approximately correct. If you use 1/ISO for the shutter speed at f16 you will get good exposure of the moon at any phase on a clear night. The moon is moving very fast and any shutter speeds slower than 1/50 should be avoided or you'll end up with an unsharp image.