The Official Shoot the Moon Thread

Day late for the wolf moon

Super Blue Moon over Sao Paulo, Brazil
The Azul Linhas Aéreas pilot kindly cooperated

Last nights moon.... Single exposure. Sony A77ii + Minolta 400/4.5 + 2X TC

IMAGE LINK: https://photos.smugmug​.com …/O/i-SBxngnP.jpg&lb=1&s=A

Whilst waiting for Jupiter and Mars to rise, I pointed the telescope and Canon 5D Mk IV at something a little closer; our very own Moon.

Cheers

Dennis

PS - ignore the Canon 800mm lens in the meta data - I used a telescope with efl of 3860mm

Photo from nardes's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (893912)

Photo from nardes's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (893913)

nardes wrote in post #18535283
Whilst waiting for Jupiter and Mars to rise, I pointed the telescope and Canon 5D Mk IV at something a little closer; our very own Moon.

Cheers

Dennis

PS - ignore the Canon 800mm lens in the meta data - I used a telescope with efl of 3860mm

Gallery photo (hosted):
posted by nardes originally in forum: Canon Digital Cameras

Gallery photo (hosted):
posted by nardes originally in forum: Canon Digital Cameras

Wow! Very nice!

What telescope did you use for this? I would love to be able to do this if I can find enough cash in my wallet!

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18535320
Wow! Very nice!

What telescope did you use for this? I would love to be able to do this if I can find enough cash in my wallet!

Thanks - warning: astronomy is a hobby that eats cash perhaps more so that photography!

The telescope is a Takahashi Mewlon 210, which has a mirror diameter of 210mm and a focal length of 2415mm. I used a x1.6 Extender to give me 3860mm. The design of the 'scope is known as a "Dall-Kirkham" which gives a sharp, sweet spot in the centre with coma increasing towards the edges.

I would recommend dropping by your local astronomy club to have a look at the different 'scopes there and chat with members about telescope selection before you consider purchasing one.

Cheers

Dennis

nardes wrote in post #18535338
Thanks - warning: astronomy is a hobby that eats cash perhaps more so that photography!

The telescope is a Takahashi Mewlon 210, which has a mirror diameter of 210mm and a focal length of 2415mm. I used a x1.6 Extender to give me 3860mm. The design of the 'scope is known as a "Dall-Kirkham" which gives a sharp, sweet spot in the centre with coma increasing towards the edges.

I would recommend dropping by your local astronomy club to have a look at the different 'scopes there and chat with members about telescope selection before you consider purchasing one.

Cheers

Dennis

Thank you Dennis. Your scope is a bit pricier than I was hoping to get for my first telescope.

Thank you also for the tip to contact an astronomy club.

I just googled astronomy club, and came up with a club in the next county over from where I live, 17 Miles from where I live, it would be doable. They meet on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 7:00PM

Problem is, I work 2nd shift 4PM to Midnight.

Unfortunately, I live too far away from any astronomy clubs.

No telescope for me yet so I have to make do with my Sony FE 100-400 lens + 2x extender.

Heavily cropped Waning Gibbous Moon from tonight.

That's the same set up (100-400 and 2x converter) I use on my 7D2...

Your image is pretty spot on, focus wise; better than most of mine, i think.

This is one of my cleanest ones...

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/UK87​oy

STICKY2 wrote in post #18535358
That's the same set up (100-400 and 2x converter) I use on my 7D2...

Your image is pretty spot on, focus wise; better than most of mine, i think.

This is one of my cleanest ones...

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/UK87​oy Moon 31.5.17 crop by Flick R Sucks, on Flickr

Nicely exposed shot. An advantage you enjoy is the crop sensor of the 7DII and the advantage my camera has is the 42mp sensor which allows for heavier cropping.

I have the new Sony a7rIII and the Focus Magnify feature in MF is a great help. I can magnify the view in the viewfinder x6.2 times while focusing manually and the higher resolution viewfinder screen is much better at showing detail than my a7rII was at that magnification.

I do this in live view too, but I hand hold all mine and it's a bit wobbly...

Incredible images, nardes!

navydoc wrote in post #18535451
Nicely exposed shot. An advantage you enjoy is the crop sensor of the 7DII and the advantage my camera has is the 42mp sensor which allows for heavier cropping.

I have the new Sony a7rIII and the Focus Magnify feature in MF is a great help. I can magnify the view in the viewfinder x6.2 times while focusing manually and the higher resolution viewfinder screen is much better at showing detail than my a7rII was at that magnification.

Actually... for shooting the moon, or any distant object, the 7D2, or most current crop frame cameras are MORE crop-able than the A7rii or my A99ii which has the same sensor. That is why I shoot the moon with my A77ii. 24mp.... compared to the 18mp in the same sensor area of the A99ii when using crop mode.



EDIT: It just occurred to me that you probably know this and are comparing the two cameras in a general way rather than specific to shooting the moon. If so, my apologies - and we shall just let the above statement stand for those who don't!! lol

WestCoastCannuck wrote in post #18535898
Actually... for shooting the moon, or any distant object, the 7D2, or most current crop frame cameras are MORE crop-able than the A7rii or my A99ii which has the same sensor. That is why I shoot the moon with my A77ii. 24mp.... compared to the 18mp in the same sensor area of the A99ii when using crop mode.



EDIT: It just occurred to me that you probably know this and are comparing the two cameras in a general way rather than specific to shooting the moon. If so, my apologies - and we shall just let the above statement stand for those who don't!! lol

Just to point out, for all parties here, the resolution of your sensor won't pull anything more than the aperture size of the instrument used can allow, as its the determination of actual resolution before you even begin to try to capture the image. So at the end of the day, whether you're using 10MP or 50MP or any sensor size with pixel sizes ranging from 5.8um to 2.5um, you'll not have optimal sampling in most cases because of the pixel size match to focal-ratio and all of which is being captured through, at least in these examples, small aperture instruments, which means the detail is limited to that scale where you're way oversampled. This is why you can't resolve detail in craters or around structure on the surface with these smaller aperture lenses, whether you're using an A7S or a 5DSR, because a lot of these lenses being used have barely between 2.5 to 3 inches of actual aperture which is the limit of resolution here.

If you really want to get detail on the moon, you need aperture, not megapixels, and sensor size doesn't matter (pixel size with appropriate focal-ratio does matter to achieve ideal sampling). Sensor size tells you surface, and number of pixels on that surface determine's pixel size. It will effect field of view with the instrument, but if you want to capture detail, matching the pixel size to the focal-ratio for sampling is what's important, second to simply having a large enough aperture to resolve what you even want to resolve. The whole system is about optimizing the physics of light and the limitations of reducing blur sources in the system.

+++++++++++++++

For example, the camera used to capture the following detail was only 6.4MP (3096 x 2080, with 2.4um pixel size for surface) and it was much, much smaller than an APS-C sensor (1/1.8"), and a fraction of the cost of a dSLR/mSLR (ASI178MC, $350). The reason I was able to resolve detail within a small crater (gassendi Crater) to show mountains, craterlets, and other small surface details was because the aperture of the instrument used was 150mm (6 inches). This a humble $399 new instrument (Celestron C6). But the physical principles here are being used for the purpose. Bigger aperture is how you resolve detail, it's the beginning of resolution. Good seeing is the absolute limit of magnification (which limits focal length). Sampling ideally will go much farther too (and here, I'm not ideally sampled, I pushed the system only because I had good seeing and could risk it):

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/PxjZ​Ns