First time shooting the moon

[scsurfdad]

Full moon tonight so I thought I would give it a shot. Using 70-200 at many different settings just to figure it out. Not sure these are sharp enough but at 200mm I had to crop to 100%. Please let me know what you think and any ideas to make them sharper...other than buy another (bigger) lens.

Thanks for looking...

[TheBigDog]

That's a great start, in my opinion they look a little overexposed, exif is showing 1/160 at f/8 ISO 200. I would try it on ISO 100, 1/125 at f/11 and see how you like the results. Especially a full moon you have so much light to work with don't be afraid to close the aperture a bit, goto ISO 100 and fiddle with the shutter at that point.

[scsurfdad]

Thanks, I also forgot to mention I was using my video tripod which doesn't really support the camera very well, so maybe a little shake when pressing the shutter. I may just have to get myself a new tripod and stick it under the xmas tree for a couple weeks. I would assume at that distance, even the slightest shake would cause some blur. I don't know if IS helps with this type of shot.

Not sure what I did wrong but I kept trying to get ISO at 100 and it wouldn't let me. Anything below 200 went to auto which set it to 400. I tried with IS off and on. Shooting RAW. I have a few at f/11...I actually tried some all the way up to f/22, just tinkering trying to figure it out.

Thanks again for the input,

[tjaudet829]

I like to use the timer to eliminate any induced shake from pressing the shutter.
I have also read that you should not use IS when mounted on a tripod.
Here is an example of one I took the other night with my 70-200 with 2x telecon.
I think the settings were iso 100 f8 and 1/320. This was also handheld.
Probably not the best example of a moon shot but I kinda like my results.
Bigdogs setting are a great place to start by the way.

[scsurfdad]

The timer...can't believe I didn't think of that one. Thanks.

I tried both with and without IS and the shots came out nearly identical, but my thought was that on a tripod the IS might actually cause some blur (except that my tripod could not even hold up my camera with the 70-200 on it and was shakey to begin with).

Great shot! I did some handheld and they were ok but not as good as on the tripod.

[TheBigDog]

yeah definitely shut IS off and use the timer to eliminate the shake. Here is one that I shot with the 400mm lens, ISO 100, f/10, 1/125
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2541/4156119831_381a29af50_b.jpg

And a tighter crop:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2505/4156881878_170d236d80_b.jpg

Just play around with the settings and see what details you can bring out