Moon shots

[saywhuut]

hey everyone, quick question.

I was takin pics with my 300D and 75-300mm tryin to get the moon tonight b/c it was looking real good...how do you get good pics with the moon not coming out just as a big white blob? ill post an example here (not best quality but you get the drift of my dilemma)

I was of course using a tripod..this was IS 100 1/25 F8 300mm


Thanks for the help,
Stephen

[RichardtheSane]

Use a faster shutter speed.

Think of the moon as an object that is illukinated by daylight (The sun...) so expose it as an object illuminated by daylight. The 'sunny 16 rule' can apply quite nicely.

Here is my moon shot. As a variation of the sunny 16 rule I opened up to F11 and set my shutter at 1/125th sec. IS off (because on a tripod it is not recommended) and also set mirror lock up.

Your shot is over exposed and also seems a bit blurry. Remember that the moon is also a moving object and you need to expose to freeze it's motion... even at 1/25th sec you will get motion blur!

[saywhuut]

Use a faster shutter speed.

Think of the moon as an object that is illukinated by daylight (The sun...) so expose it as an object illuminated by daylight. The 'sunny 16 rule' can apply quite nicely.

Here is my moon shot. As a variation of the sunny 16 rule I opened up to F11 and set my shutter at 1/125th sec. IS off (because on a tripod it is not recommended) and also set mirror lock up.



Your shot is over exposed and also seems a bit blurry. Remember that the moon is also a moving object and you need to expose to freeze it's motion... even at 1/25th sec you will get motion blur!

thanks for the help! how do i set mirror lock up exactly? and what is its main purpose, ive read about it but still arent sure when to really use it. thanks again


On a similar note: when is the good time to get the moon when it is "big" like the shot you took?

[RichardtheSane]

Mirror lock up is only available on the 300D when the wasia hack is installed.

If you don't have it don't worry too much, correct exposure is the key here and at 1/125th sec then the mirror won't cause too much of a problem. Essentially the slap of the mirror as it flips up is known to cause camera shake, especially evident at shutter speeds from 1/30th second doen to 1/2 second but it can effect more...

THe moon in the shot I took is no bigger than the one in the shot you took. The size of it never actually changes, but it looks smaller when it is higher in the sky. I used a 400mm lens here and I have cropped the frame too.

Once you grab a shot where the exposure is right then you will see much more detail, enough to crop the frame :)