Moon Shot

[viper42391]

I took this shot about a week ago, and it didn't turn out very clear. The settings for the shot were:

1/400
f/7.1
200

Any ideas of why it didn't turn out very good?

[FlyingPhotog]

Hand held or on a tripod?

[viper42391]

Tripod, with mirror lockup, and a 2 second timer.. It's a cheapy tripod though.. A $30 one i got from my brother who moved up to an expensive setup. I'm only 17, so I don't really have a lot of spare money, but will eventually move up to a more professional tripod setup; could this be the problem?

[Adrena1in]

Still a good picture, but could just be a lack of focus or bad seeing conditions. 1/400th is certainly quick enough to cancel out minor motion-blur.

[ebann]

seems like OOF to me.

[bht-kevin]

It looks OOF to me also. If you are using a body with "live view", 10x mag on the view finder is your friend.

[Nighthound]

No sweat viper, you'll be nailing these before you know it. Smart using the delay timer and lock up. If there was little or no wind and given your method I'd bet you simply missed focus a bit. Be sure to adjust your camera viewfinder dioptric dial for shooting at infinity. It'll effect how well you'll be able to adjust focus effectively. Sometimes I am able to get very close to critical focus by using a bright star(i.e. Sirius) or even Venus by adjusting until the defraction spikes are crisp. Once focused carefully point at the Moon and do a test shot, should be darn close.

You got the exposure very close to perfect. Shoot a bunch next time and make adjustments to exposure too, that way you'll come a away with the perfect exposed and focused image.

[ebann]

put this in front of your lens for focusing aid... don't forget to remove it before you snap a picture:

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=518

[viper42391]

Yeah, i've tried live view, but the tripod i have shakes when i touch the camera, so when I try to focus it, the moon goes out of view.. :rolleyes: Maybe i'll try the remote shooting software on a laptop to focus it without touching it. Would this be the best solution, or would just setting the lens all the way to the infinity side of the focus work? I used auto focus for this shot.

[sherman111]

yes, OOF for me but the potential is all there. Hang in there.

[Julius M.]

hi!
i'm 17 too. i also used a cheap tripod. my camera is a canon eos 400d . for this shot i used the tamron 70-300mm lens.
1/400
f/5,6
iso 100
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/5866/img12391dc7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/img12391dc7.jpg/1/w640.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img61/img12391dc7.jpg/1/)

[jscotti]

I agree about the out of focus images, but as much as focus, you are also running into the limits of your 200mm lens (and 300mm for Julius' image that he just posted). I've taken lots of moon pix with my 70-300mm Sigma lens and I haven't gotten anything much better that these two images. A tripod (the firmer the better) is a must for sharpness.

Jim.