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madbrain · 06-19-2008, 06:39 PM

What kind of lens and settings do you use to take moonshots ?
I have a K200D . I bought a DA 50-200 last week.

The best shots I got so far were in the full "auto" mode, using SR, handheld, taking an almost full moon on tuesday night (sorry, haven't posted any of them yet).

I made many attempts with a tripod also, and changing the shutterspeed and ISO, but nothing good came out of it. In fact, many shots had two moons ! One green and one white ... I couldn't understand where the reflection came from. Maybe the UV filter I forgot to take off ... Or maybe it was because I forgot to take off the SR. But the rest picture was not blurry so I don't think that's what it was.

It was very hard to focus the camera properly on the tripod since it was pointing upward. I never thought I would say this, but I do miss the live view for this application. I ordered a right angle finder from ebay ...

Another problem was that 200mm was not enough. The moon was too small to have a lot of detail (although it had some).

I am going to get a Tamron 28-300 today for cheap . Should be a better travel lens than what I have today. And hopefully the 300 is nicer for the moon too. But my technique still needs a lot of improvement.

06-19-2008, 06:39 PM	#1
madbrain Senior Member Location: Santa Clara, CA Gallery Photos: 0 Posts: 268	Technique for moonshots ? What kind of lens and settings do you use to take moonshots ? I have a K200D . I bought a DA 50-200 last week. The best shots I got so far were in the full "auto" mode, using SR, handheld, taking an almost full moon on tuesday night (sorry, haven't posted any of them yet). I made many attempts with a tripod also, and changing the shutterspeed and ISO, but nothing good came out of it. In fact, many shots had two moons ! One green and one white ... I couldn't understand where the reflection came from. Maybe the UV filter I forgot to take off ... Or maybe it was because I forgot to take off the SR. But the rest picture was not blurry so I don't think that's what it was. It was very hard to focus the camera properly on the tripod since it was pointing upward. I never thought I would say this, but I do miss the live view for this application. I ordered a right angle finder from ebay ... Another problem was that 200mm was not enough. The moon was too small to have a lot of detail (although it had some). I am going to get a Tamron 28-300 today for cheap . Should be a better travel lens than what I have today. And hopefully the 300 is nicer for the moon too. But my technique still needs a lot of improvement.