Sigma APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM - Bigmos

jj_glos wrote in post #12219075
View your photo in Flickr, above it will be a little toolbar with an actions menu drop down and icons for email, Facebook and twitter. To the right of the icons is a little arrow, click this and a drop down menu will appear allowing you to select bbcode and the size of picture you want. Select and copy all the text in the box and paste it into your post here

Thank you! It took me a few minutes to find it all, but I think I have it now

Inspeqtor wrote in post #12218784
Allan,

I LOVE your moon shot! I think it is much better from mine. There are so many more craters visible in yours, plus it is sharper. Did you do any PP work on yours? Mine is SOOC. Would your shots be similar to mine out of your camera with no PP?

Please help me. I want to learn to get better!

Thank you

If you are shooting RAW, you NEED to post process, at least sharpen. Raw file sooc and jpeg are very different!

Allan.L wrote in post #12221060
If you are shooting RAW, you NEED to post process, at least sharpen. Raw file sooc and jpeg are very different!

I never got into shooting RAW. Guess I will have to give it a try.

Okay, then shooting raw wont make your images any sharper if you have your sharpness settings in camera in the 'middle' (notch 5) i think. You can try moving it to notch 7.

For moon shots a tripod and remote release is a MUST. Or use the in camera timer set to 10 seconds. I manually focus in live view at 5x digital zoom. The shot that i posted was 1/400, f11, iso 400.

Allan.L wrote in post #12221403
For moon shots a tripod and remote release is a MUST. Or use the in camera timer set to 10 seconds. I manually focus in live view at 5x digital zoom. The shot that i posted was 1/400, f11, iso 400.

Meh, you don't need a tripod for the moon. Shot hand held

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Nmcgrew wrote in post #12222850
Meh, you don't need a tripod for the moon. Shot hand held

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Sure you can get a photo of the moon handheld, if you're not going to IQ then go for it. I handhold lots of things @ 500mm @ 1/250 (nuthatch photos above), just not the moon Quality suffers severely.

Allan.L wrote in post #12221403
Okay, then shooting raw wont make your images any sharper if you have your sharpness settings in camera in the 'middle' (notch 5) i think. You can try moving it to notch 7.

For moon shots a tripod and remote release is a MUST. Or use the in camera timer set to 10 seconds. I manually focus in live view at 5x digital zoom. The shot that i posted was 1/400, f11, iso 400.

Allan,

I have no idea what my sharpness setting is on my XSi or even where to find it. If there is a sharpness setting I forgot all about it. If you can give me an idea of where to look for it?

As for a tripod and remote release.... I totally agree with you and have used both every time I take pictures of the moon. I will try the live view focusing next time.

Thank you

I don't own an xsi but it should be under 'picture style' or something, and you can make your own custom picture style and bump up the sharpness a notch or two. Put contrast 1 notch up too, there are a couple other choices. Search this forum and check your manual.

Thank you Allan. I wondered if it was Picture Styles. Sorry I should have said that in my post.

At last I may actually have one clear enough to post

BTW I was using a monopod at the time, hence the slow shutter speed.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/magsnorton/5627​955319/

John_N wrote in post #12239950
At last I may actually have one clear enough to post

BTW I was using a monopod at the time, hence the slow shutter speed.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/magsnorton/5627​955319/
Sparrow by magsnorton, on Flickr

Nice John. I have found that I can handhold this lens easily at 1/250, could take it lower for stationary subjects but birds move around too much. The OS is superb!

handheld @ 500mm, 1/250 w/ fill flash

Male Goldfinch

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Nice shots, hadn't thought of flash fill at that range - did you use the on camera flash or an external one?

Gotta say I'm impressed at handholding that low too, but perhaps you actually see the sun over there - I got all sorts of rubbish images with mine until I ramped the speed right up (unless I use the monopod), also which OS you using, I'm using setting 1, is that the best one? I never received instructions when I got mine and until I got the image about I thought I had a bad copy.