Newbie blow away by the moon!

I know this is very "old hat" for you guys but I tried my hand for the first time at taking a few shots of the moon last night using my 50D and 150-500 Sigma lens. It was amazing to see the moon like that - I had no idea I could get images like this. The moon was low on the horizon and I guess I would get better if it were high in the sky.

First off I tried to get Jupiter but I had not realised how fast it would move across the viewfinder - told you I was new to all this! Jupiter went behind cloud before I got of a decent shot but the moon came up and was clear for a while - hence this shot.

Any hints and tips for an absolute beginner would be very welcome - I am already learning lots from reading all the posts on this forum - thanks for sharing all your expertise.

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Nice shot, well exposed.

Thanks Madweasel. I am looking out at a very cloudy sky just now so unlikely to be a chance of any more practice tonight!

You're off to a great start - that's a fine image. I can tell it was low on the horizon by looking at how rough the limb of the moon is in your shot, but the focus is good. Also, the illuminated features on the moon right now are relatively dull.

That 500 mm lens on your 50D will give you great detail. That's about the minimum to start seeing features on the moon instead of just seeing the moon.

If you haven't already done so, turn your ISO down to maybe 100. There's plenty of light coming from the moon so you might as well do without the noise. I'll be looking forward to seeing more shots from you on the next lunation.

Thanks Rick. My ISO was 400, 1/125 F6.3. I will try turning down the ISO. F6.3 is the widest apperture I can get at the long end of the lens. At what shutter speed would I start getting motion blurr? On a brighter night I guess this would not be an issue.

I have the Siggy as well and I've shot down to 1/80 with a 1.4 attached as well without motion blur. Just used mirror lockup and a remote to stop hand shutter vibration.

I see you are in Hampshire the same as me, there is a Hampshire group https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=679197

This is one of my moon shots

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mlc wrote in post #8472619
Thanks Rick. My ISO was 400, 1/125 F6.3. I will try turning down the ISO. F6.3 is the widest apperture I can get at the long end of the lens. At what shutter speed would I start getting motion blurr? On a brighter night I guess this would not be an issue.

The moon moves its diameter in almost exactly two minutes. At the magnifications you're using (and me too) you won't start to see any motion effects until you get above about 1/4 second or so, so you're a long way from that. You won't need a tracking tripod even at lower ISO.

Same for Jupiter, of course. You might be pushing a second for Jupiter if you try it, because it's much dimmer, and that's the time to increase the ISO to avoid blur if you don't have a tracking mount.

That's a great shot artyman. Was that with the 1.4? I must confess I didn't realise you could use the Sigma teleconverters with the 150-500. Have I missed something here? Grateful for any info on this as adding this to the kit would be great.

Thanks for the lead on the Hants group as well. I will head over there and take a look.

Rick - that's really helpful information - thanks. Looks like we may be having some clearer nights coming up so may be an opportunity to give it a go. Unfortunately I've got an early start tomorrow so no late night tonight!