Seeing is believing - moon photography

OK, seeing that I noticed so many first time moon photographs popping up in this forum, I thought I shuold try it again. I used to have a Canon AV-1 with a Vititar 70-210mm lens. My move to a 1n and later to a 40D left me without the ability to use the 210mm.

If I remember correct the old rule was that every 100mm will give you 1mm on FF film. With this in mind, I strapped my 28-70mm to the 40D and pointed it upwards.

1/125 and F11 - ISO 400 (only noticed the 400 part in post processing. Thought I had it lower)

I found this guide: http://home.hiwaay.net …ol/Astro/moon/h​owtophoto/

Any comments? Ths looks a lot like SLR information and not DSLR. My feeling is that it should still apply, but the cropped bodies may add a few things to remember.

The shot below is a 100% crop of the 70mm result

Hi David,

Focus may be a bit soft, but it's pretty hard to tell at 70mm - just not enough pixels. A little careful sharpening in Photoshop might make all the difference.

That rule of thumb about 35mm film is pretty close to true, and it applies to digital sensors as well, no matter what the size. The difference is how much of the sensor that 1mm occupies.

Your exposure looks pretty good. The "rule of 11" for lunar exposure calculation is based on the full moon, and states that the correct exposure is approximately 1/ISO at f/11. The quarter moon requires about 4 times the exposure length of the full moon. The moon in your photo is just past first quarter, so the rule of 11 would suggest a little slower than 1/100 at f/11, which is what you used.

It is important to remember that all exposure rules for lunar photography are approximate, as the actual exposure needed depends on the precise phase of the moon, the altitude of the moon above the horizon and the clarity of the atmosphere. So you should always bracket, and check the results on the LCD between shots.

The article by Keith Cooley is well done and contains a lot of good information, but it was written in 2001. The moon hasn't changed much since then, but digital photography has! If you disregard most of the comments he makes about digital photography, you can glean some good information that is applicable to any form of lunar photography from that article.

Don

DonR wrote in post #10230792
Hi David,

Your exposure looks pretty good. The "rule of 11" for lunar exposure calculation is based on the full moon, and states that the correct exposure is approximately 1/ISO at f/11. The quarter moon requires about 4 times the exposure length of the full moon. The moon in your photo is just past first quarter, so the rule of 11 would suggest a little slower than 1/100 at f/11, which is what you used.

Don

Thanks,

Yes, I know that my shot is nothing to go by, because it is a 100% crop of a small moon I just had it in there as an example of futility with 70mm.

I know someone with a 200mm, maybe an F4 L. I am going to see whether it is possible to pay them a visit. We can then have a better attempt.

David

Here is the full pic without any cropping very small moon I doubt if anything will be sharp if cropped to see a respectible size.

I love moon shots.