I am stupid

[vinnyveez]

Ok so I am a newbie. Last night i went out to shoot a half moon and could get the camera to fire. It kept hunting for a focus and wouldnt shoot. I had it set to 30 secs on t mode, no luck. I then picked Night scene mode, no luck. How do you shoot a picture in the dark if the camera will never be able to focus on a poorly lit subject? :o

[sid]

You say the camera kept hunting for focus: that makes me think that you used auto focus only. I'd suggest trying manual focus in these conditions

[tim]

Use manual focus, and you're probably going to want to use M mode as well. Moon shots aren't too hard, but they take a bit of trial and error to capture all the detail of the moon. A 300mm lens or longer is nice too.

[IndyJeff]

A 30 second exposure on the moon will probably not be very good as the moon is moving. In that 30 seconds it will move enough to give a soft image.
Do a google search on astro photography. You will find lots of good information on how to shoot the moon (no not that way) and the stars.

[pcasciola]

I use autofocus on the moon with no problems. If you had it set to 30 seconds though, that's way too long of an exposure. The moon is pretty bright. I shot this one handheld at f/4, 1/1250th. Try that as a start on M mode.

http://www.casciola.com/pics/moon300mm.jpg

[tim]

I tried the DOF calculator for the moon - the DOF is infinite so don't worry about that ;) Camera motion blur, the moon moving, and the aperture at which your lens is sharpest are probably the main factors in moon shots. Oh, and focus, of course!

[vinnyveez]

hey pcasciola i live next door to you in robbinsville. Know of any good photo clubs nearby?


The question i had was how to get the picture to take. i pushed and pushed and the shutter would not trip.

[mbze430]

set your lens to MF. When in AF, the shutter will not release till the system has comfirm a AF point. Being so dark at night, the AF system usually will fail to focus.

[pcasciola]

Not sure of any photo clubs around here. A couple of friends of mine were talking about starting one up.

There are no problems using autofocus at night on bright objects like the moon. The AF system will work just fine.

Still not sure about why you can't take the picture, but it does sound like a focusing problem. With the center focus point on the bright part of the half moon, there's no reason it should not focus. I've even used autofocus for Jupiter with my 300mm, just for the hell of it. Try it on M with the settings I gave you, and put the center focus point on the bright part of the half moon and I'll bet it will focus and fire just fine. What lens are you using?

[cactusclay]

:p I know, I know, I've used this before, but I just can't resist. Use manual focus and buy a 58000 EX and bounce the light off the moon. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Hellashot]

hey pcasciola i live next door to you in robbinsville. Know of any good photo clubs nearby?
The question i had was how to get the picture to take. i pushed and pushed and the shutter would not trip.

Which camera are you using? For a moon you'd be best off using manual exposure and looking at the histogram to get a good result.

[vinnyveez]

i have a canon drebel. I didnt try the manual focus. i am somewhat curious, how would i abe able to focus in the dark if the camera cant. the moon was probably slightly less than half a moon so it wasnt too bright. but i thought if i set my exposure time long enough it would get enough light to expose it properly, no? great shot of the moon posted here by the way, really nice detail

[Monito]

You are not stupid. Never say you are stupid. You may be inexperienced.

[Andy_T]

Vinny,

when you look at the distance scale on your lens (1 m, 3 m, 5 m, 30m, 50m, infinity), you will most likely come to the conclusion that with an average distance to the moon of 384,403,000 meters (ok, give or take a few), the setting for 'infinity' might not be a bad first guess :wink:

As for the exposure ... the moon is actually an object illuminated directly by the sun, so the settings for a sunny day shot apply. Try using something like ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/250 as a starting point and look at the pictures you get on the LCD.

Best regards,
Andy

[Steven M. Anthony]

If you set the AF point (as opposed to letting the camera decide which point to use) and put that point where the white of the moon overlaps the black of the sky (a high contrast area) your AF should work just fine.

[Jon]

:p I know, I know, I've used this before, but I just can't resist. Use manual focus and buy a 58000 EX and bounce the light off the moon. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Why? It's already in full, bright sun. Just use "sunny 16" and get the 12000 EF L. You know you want to!

[Ikinaa]

:p I know, I know, I've used this before, but I just can't resist. Use manual focus and buy a 58000 EX and bounce the light off the moon. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Why not just use the internal flash as fill-in-flash, go to AV, set f/5.6, x-synchro to 1/250, ISO100, and you'll get a pretty pic of the moon :cool:

[intechpcx]

What lens are you using, that actually has a lot to do with it. I use my 300mm and have no problem getting the autofocus to lock in. However, I'm thinking if you're using the kit lens, and the only things in you frame are the moon and a lot of black sky, there may not be enough light and contrast for the camera to get a decent focus on. One thing you could try is setting the camera so the focus point has the border of the moon to the black sky running through the middle of it (will make the moon a little off-center in your frame but you can crop if you want it centered). That might give it enough to focus on. Otherwise your best bet like others mentioned here would be to simply go manual focus.

[Deckyon]

When using Manual Focus on the moon, remember this, put your focus scale on the lens to infinity. Also, your eyes see at roughly f/5.6, so set your camera at that. It should give the most visibly appealing result.

[jfrancho]

This may help:

Date Taken:2005-03-19 17:20:18Date Modified:2005-03-19 17:41:40Make:CanonModel: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL Size: 796x1194 Bytes: 367707 Aperture: f/20.0 ISO: 100 Focal Length: 300mm Exposure Time: 0.0333s (1/30)Exposure Program:ManualExposure Bias:0ColorSpace:sRGB

http://plan-b.smugmug.com/photos/17939928-S.jpg