Technique for moonshots ?

[madbrain]

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.

[CSoars]

Because the earth & moon are in motion, it's best to use relatively quick shutter speeds to capture detail on the surface. Try spot metering off the moon, then compensating the exposure a bit (+1 or so). Also, the best time to take the shot is early evening or morning when the moon is low in the horizon and the sky isn't dramatically darker than the moon.

This article talks about it and there are some good handheld samples in the 'comments' area.

The Online Photographer

[Buddha Jones]

ISO100, F/11 @ 125 or faster

[pasipasi]

Filters can cause ghosts in the picture, when shooting directly at a source of light. Shooting through a window does the same sometimes.

[madbrain]

Originally Posted by CSoars

Because the earth & moon are in motion, it's best to use relatively quick shutter speeds to capture detail on the surface. Try spot metering off the moon, then compensating the exposure a bit (+1 or so). Also, the best time to take the shot is early evening or morning when the moon is low in the horizon and the sky isn't dramatically darker than the moon.

This article talks about it and there are some good handheld samples in the 'comments' area.

The Online Photographer

Thanks! I will try again tonight if it's clear enough. The moon should still be near full.

[madbrain]

Originally Posted by pasipasi

Filters can cause ghosts in the picture, when shooting directly at a source of light. Shooting through a window does the same sometimes.

Thanks. I was shooting directly indeed. I will take off the filter for my next attempt.

[Wheatfield]

Originally Posted by madbrain

What kind of lens and settings do you use to take moonshots ?

I use an A 600mm f/5.6 on a Zone VI standard tripod with a Wimberley Gimbal head.
The last moon stuff I did ended up being shot at ISO 400, f/6.3 for between 1/3 and 1/10 second. There was a slight amount of movement visble, but as the moon was in eclipse, I took what I got. and oversharpened it a bit.

[madbrain]

Thanks for all the advice. I took off the UV filter, and no more ghosting in any of my shots.

I ended up taking about 15 shots, some in auto, some in manual.

My best result was in manual at ISO 100, 1/180, F9.5, hand-held with shake reduction, at 200mm with the DA 50-200 . The moon was focused dead center.

The shot was taken around 2am Pacific. I didn't have an opportunity to shoot earlier as I stayed in the office late and then had my birthday dinner with a friend earlier.

This is a 1:1 crop, otherwise completely unprocessed. I wish I had a bigger zoom now ... or more pixels.



Wheatfield, I love your shot. Was the moon really that color ?
You said you have a 600mm lens - which one ?

[pentkon52]

Originally Posted by madbrain

Thanks for all the advice. I took off the UV filter, and no more ghosting in any of my shots.

I ended up taking about 15 shots, some in auto, some in manual.

My best result was in manual at ISO 100, 1/180, F9.5, hand-held with shake reduction, at 200mm with the DA 50-200 . The moon was focused dead center.

The shot was taken around 2am Pacific. I didn't have an opportunity to shoot earlier as I stayed in the office late and then had my birthday dinner with a friend earlier.

This is a 1:1 crop, otherwise completely unprocessed. I wish I had a bigger zoom now ... or more pixels.



Wheatfield, I love your shot. Was the moon really that color ?
You said you have a 600mm lens - which one ?

He has the one i want, and can't afford.

Dave

[Wheatfield]

Originally Posted by madbrain

Wheatfield, I love your shot. Was the moon really that color ?
You said you have a 600mm lens - which one ?

I have an A series 600mm f/5.6. Every now and again I think I'd like the FA600/4, but I can carry the 600/5.6....

Yes, the moon really was that colour.

[boren]

Photographing the moon isn't all about magnification. The light amount of light you can pull is in very important. I'm not sure trying to get 1/125 is really all that required at the magnification you guys are using. Photographing the moon at full moon also results in the least contrast and texture.

Here's a couple of scaled down shots from my old k100d with the 18-55mm at between 70x to 160x, click on the photo for the 100%. These haven't been retouched except for scalling them down:

]



The last lunar eclipse:



These were all shot through a 10" telescope using afocal projecting from the eyepiece into an DA 18-55mm+k100d. The biggest problem I have is getting the focus right because it's very very thin, and that's a lot of equipment hanging off the telescope. I hope liveview with 8x magnification on my new k20d will help. Too bad the sun sets and moon doesn't rise till 11:30pm at the moment.

[madbrain]

Hi,

Originally Posted by Wheatfield

I have an A series 600mm f/5.6. Every now and again I think I'd like the FA600/4, but I can carry the 600/5.6....

Yes, the moon really was that colour.

Argh. A $6000 lens ?
How much does your A series run ? It doesn't seem to be available new.

[madbrain]

Originally Posted by boren

Photographing the moon isn't all about magnification. The light amount of light you can pull is in very important. I'm not sure trying to get 1/125 is really all that required at the magnification you guys are using. Photographing the moon at full moon also results in the least contrast and texture.

I made several attempts. At 1/125 I couldn't quite keep the shots sharp. But at 1/180 they were.

I had to use F9.5 instead of F11 which was recommended earlier. F11 was underexposing with the DA 50-200.

Here's a couple of scaled down shots from my old k100d with the 18-55mm at between 70x to 160x, click on the photo for the 100%. These haven't been retouched except for scalling them down:

Nice shots. It sure looks like the magnification helped !

These were all shot through a 10" telescope using afocal projecting from the eyepiece into an DA 18-55mm+k100d. The biggest problem I have is getting the focus right because it's very very thin, and that's a lot of equipment hanging off the telescope. I hope liveview with 8x magnification on my new k20d will help. Too bad the sun sets and moon doesn't rise till 11:30pm at the moment.

How much does that telescope cost ?

[Wheatfield]

Originally Posted by madbrain

Hi,



Argh. A $6000 lens ?
How much does your A series run ? It doesn't seem to be available new.

I think now you'd have to go with either the FA600 f/4 (mondo $$$), or the new 300mm lens with a 2x converter, and hope the combination gives decent results. I think I paid about half street price for my 600.

[SpecialK]

If you look at the moon-image gallery it should have all the info you ask for.