My 1st attempt @ the Moon.

[S.E.V.]

Soo i have seen all these insane shots of the moon. So i decided to give at it myself. I looked at the exif of all the other shots taken by others and dialed in mine to the normal setting as everyone else. But how do they get such a detailed shot of the moon at a shorter focal length then 400? This one shot was taken with my 100-400 wide open.

Please C&C i need to know what i did right and wrong and what to improve.

Thanks

original
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/funkysole/IMG_69021.jpg

100% crop

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/funkysole/IMG_6902100crop.jpg

[BenJammin]

good shots

[Robert_Lay]

I've not paid that much attention to moon shots, but it would seem that the usual rule should be applied to get maximum sharpness, and that would be to stop down about 2 stops.

If possible, you would benefit from anything that you can do to dampen out any vibrations of the tripod. I would also think an IS lens might offer some advantage here.

[S.E.V.]

Thanks next time i will stop down from f8 a few stops and give that a whirl.

[TooManyHobbies]

I'm no expert either, I just did this one. Looks similar. The crop has been downsided by 1/2 and sharpened.

http://www.photography-in-nc.com/smf/index.php?topic=243.msg888#msg888

It was with my 100-400 with a 2x on it at f11 and manually focused. Next time I will put it on Live View to get better focussing and maybe a higher f-stop. I also think I needed to weight my tripod column to minimize movement, but I did this on a whim. I know the moon get's closer too, so that would help. I did take this in the NC mountains right after a rainfall on a clear night to maximize visibility. I think the shot was at a 1/20 of a second with ISO100.

[jemann]

Nice shots S.E.V.

Here [flickr link] (http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1659874832&size=o) is my first moon shot, taken at the weekend. It's a 100% crop taken with my 400D and new 70-300 IS. It's undergone a little sharpening in Photoshop.

The camera was tripod mounted, with IS switched off and I used mirror lockup and a wireless remote. I shot in P mode at ISO 100 but found I had to set the exposure compensation to -2 and set the metering to partial to stop the image being over exposed.

I'm thinking that I should try shooting in Av mode, let the camera set exposure for a wide open aperture, then lock that and close up 2 stops. Would that eliminate the need to use -2 exposure compensation?


(Sorry for pasting a link rather than attaching the image file. I'm currently at work and don't have access to photoshop to resize the file for the forums.)

[S.E.V.]

Nice. I shoot it m mode, shutter was at 200 iso 400 f8 tripod, no mirror lock up no remote. Gonna try the mirror lock with remote once.

[Rob.B]

I have never tried a moon shot with digital, but have done so with MF (medium format) kit in the past. Then I always used MLU (mirror lock up) to getrid of "mirror slap" vibration. Try to wait at least 10 seconds after locking the mirror before begining the exposure, this will allow any vibration to die down.

Good luck.

Rob.

[|)\/8]

Did you use a tripod? I use a tripod and remote shutter release and also use mirror lock up. Here is one I did about a month ago. ISO 100 f/8 @ 1/250, 280mm. I would say a tripod and remote shutter is a must for these shots.

http://www.dykstra.us/images/IMG_2486_moonframed.jpg

[S.E.V.]

Okay well th winds died down and i was out. Decided to putz around this time.

Tripod, remote, Mirror lock-up, 1.4x TC+2xtc Stacked, ISO 400, F11, shutter speed 1/80, MF. Un-cropped, original shot resized to 800x533.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/funkysole/34XTCmoon.jpg

That is the color of the moon tonight due to the smoke from the fires. It is pretty hellish out here.

[conbu19]

this is mine from last month tamron 70-300mm on tripod exif is included. not as sharp as the more expensive glass,but not bad either.

[bbulldog]

Dont forget the closer you zoom into the moon the more it lloks like it is moving. thats why if you use a telescope make sure it has a motor on it. So any long time shots will be out of focus.

[TooManyHobbies]

Dont forget the closer you zoom into the moon the more it lloks like it is moving. thats why if you use a telescope make sure it has a motor on it. So any long time shots will be out of focus.

Even at 1/20s and faster? I'm shooting with 800mm. At what FL and shutter speed would that come into play?

[TooManyHobbies]

The interactive tools are great for eye visible objects. You can even see when the moon is at its closest perigee. I going to try to get a picture of Mars and Saturn, so we'll see how that goes. No telescope, just camera.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/javascript

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/skychart/

[mama2girls&boy]

I think you captured good detail on your second attempt. Good job!

Here's mine taken on 10/25 (cropped and some pp levels done):

Settings:
ISO 100
f/8.0
1/250
100-400mm w/1.4 extender

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2065/1761621243_f1acdf8482.jpg

[Sauk]

I just did a moon shot last night. 300mm F2.8L with a 2x extender.

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7906/img0263tp8.jpg

[TooManyHobbies]

Here are 2 100% crops from a shot I did tonight -- 400mm 2x extender f13 and 1/100s. I don't like this phase/side of the moon; I like it when more jagged craters show. Side lighting shows things much better.

[Robert_Lay]

Good idea in showing us the 100% crop - that way we get to see every bit of detail that you can see with your original image file (limited, of course, to the piece that you choose to show us).

Thanks - most images are posted with the expectation that we can make critical judgements of the work while looking at a 800 x 533 pixel downsampled image.

[TooManyHobbies]

Good idea in showing us the 100% crop - that way we get to see every bit of detail that you can see with your original image file (limited, of course, to the piece that you choose to show us).

Thanks - most images are posted with the expectation that we can make critical judgements of the work while looking at a 800 x 533 pixel downsampled image.

Thanks.

I used the live view mode to manually focus the shots. I was amazed at how shallow the DOF was. I'm trying to figure out the right combination of speed and exposure to give me the best quality. These were ISO 100, but I think I could use some more speed and bump up the ISO of the MIII without suffering any noticable image degradation.

Here's the whole moon....

[Robert_Lay]

I think you may be getting the wrong sense of the focusing. All focusing seems to be "shallow" when twisting the focus ring on the lens - but that is unrelated to the DOF, which is a function of several things - such as distance to the subject and aperture.

You are looking for the optimum shutter speed and aperture for a given ISO. I don't see noise being a problem even at ISO 800, so I would go to ISO 400 and use that extra two f-stops of speed to go for a faster shutter speed. The f/13 is fine. I would also lock the mirror. Any unsharpness you are having has to be due to camera/tripod shake.

[TooManyHobbies]

I think you may be getting the wrong sense of the focusing. All focusing seems to be "shallow" when twisting the focus ring on the lens - but that is unrelated to the DOF, which is a function of several things - such as distance to the subject and aperture.

You are looking for the optimum shutter speed and aperture for a given ISO. I don't see noise being a problem even at ISO 800, so I would go to ISO 400 and use that extra two f-stops of speed to go for a faster shutter speed. The f/13 is fine. I would also lock the mirror. Any unsharpness you are having has to be due to camera/tripod shake.

You are probably right about the manual adjustment being large per small movement. It still seemed smaller than I thought it should be considering the distance. I was using mirror lockup, had a very sturdy tripod heavily weighted to add stability, remote shutter, and waited for vibrations to settle. I could see the moons movement between shots and had to re-adjust, but I didn't think a fast shutter speed would be needed for such small movement, but may it does need faster than 1/100s. I'm still fooling around till I find the best combo. I did notice the moon was a lot closer than last time being near its closes perigee last night.

[*Sonic*]

This was the last shot I took of the moon a few weeks ago

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/Beanchimp/newmoon.jpg

[ItsMike]

Here is my attempt I did last month.. Hand held, Leaning against a Sign.
F5.6
1/160th
ISO 400
70-200 F4 + 1.4Xtc


http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd71/mpimage/Misc/Moon3web.jpg

[bibs]

I got a tripod today so thought I'd have a go! Taken from my back garden with a 400d and Sigma 70-300 APO DG :)

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s111/Bibtus/IMG_5753.jpg

[Eggtastico]

may as well post my blur
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/3366/moowd7.jpg
This was shot with a cheap £50 Telescope.
I didnt have release/shutter think at the time so me pressing the button moved everything out of focus :-(

Got the urge to give it another try now I have a remote release.

[TooManyHobbies]

may as well post my blur

This was shot with a cheap £50 Telescope.
I didnt have release/shutter think at the time so me pressing the button moved everything out of focus :-(

Got the urge to give it another try now I have a remote release.

Or you could just use the timer for now.