[jstillion]

I was able to get this picture using k20d, and Bower 500mm f8 Mirror Lens. It costs around $130.

K20d + Bower 500mm f8 + Tripod & remote trigger
I had an ND filter, which thinking ruined having a sharper / more detailed shot.

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Last edited by jstillion; 09-07-2014 at 09:28 AM.

[tootall]

My lens is......55 Sigma Zoom, 100-300mm 1:4.5 - 6.7 DL got no idea on what this means.

Sounds like the sigma I've got, never got a good shot of the moon with it. But it pushed me to work out what I needed, was it the lens, was I doing something wrong etc (in my case all above).

From my experiences, 300mm is good, you wouldn't want to go any lower. I've used 2x TC a few times only to dump the images because the IQ was no where near as good as the 300mm without the TC cropped.

Other factors to take into account is the weather and moon position, wait till its directly over head (less atmosphere to shoot through).

A few examples

Pentax K3 with a Pentax-A* 645 300mm shot free hand (This shot surprised me because of Saturn) 100% Crop

Saturn and the Moon by Pete's Point of View, on Flickr

Pentax Q with the same lens (tripod mounted) no cropping

Pentax Q V K5 and the Moon (2/3) by Pete's Point of View, on Flickr

Same Image with the Pentax Q with 100% Cropping

Pentax Q V K5 and the Moon (3/3) by Pete's Point of View, on Flickr

[Wild Mark]

This is my best for this evening. I agree, a 1000mm lens would be better. Not cropped.

[gyromike]

New guy here, with a fairly new K-50 (had it a month).
I used the 55-200mm kit lens for this shot this evening.
ISO 200, F11, 1/200th, @ 200mm. RAW picture run through Silkypix.

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

[Ex Finn.]

Up close and personal, a telescope...and good seeing.

[csa]

No one.

Sky-Watcher Pro 100 ED APO Refractor Telescope - OPT Telescopes

Well, is not a 1000mm, only 900, but for moon photos, is a real killer.

Don't forget, one would need a sturdy tripod that would support this telescope!

[gyromike]

Here's another that I took last night.
A 41 image stack.
K-50 on a Celestron C-90, ISO 800, 1/400th, with a little brightness and contrast adjustment in GIMP.

[MadMathMind]

You also need to nail the focus.

This is by far the biggest challenge, I'd say. Longer lenses let you scale the image down while still getting a big view.

I went out the other night and played around with my DA*300 + 1.4x TC and 2x TC. The 2x TC will not autofocus with the DA*300, so nailing the focus is like trying to hit a pinhead with a syringe from a few feet away. Sure, you can hit it ok, but everything else gets wet too.

My experience was best with the 300 and 1.4x TC. Autofocus still works, so it came out the best. It wasn't razor sharp, but it wasn't bad.

For the fun of it, I stacked the 2x and 1.4x to make for a 840mm lens. Image degradation make the end result not terribly much better than with a single TC.

It's clear again tonight, so I think I'll take the Sigma 70-200 with the TCs out. I think the focus may be a bit easier to nail.

[formercanuck]

There are some low cost lenses out there as well as refractor lenses for taking moon shots. Some models can even be had with a 2x teleconverter.

Samyang 500mm F6.3 DX Lens Reviews - Samyang Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

Walmart sells a kit (Cameta Camera actually)

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Samyang-500mm-f-6.3-Mirror-Lens-White-with-2x-Tele...meras/39612434

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rokinon-800mm-Multi-Coated-Mirror-Lens-with-2x-Tel...al-SL/39797116

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Polaroid-900mm-f-8-Mirror-Lens-2x-Teleconverter-18...R-Cam/39612475

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Samyang-650-1300mm-f-8-16-Telephoto-Lens-White-wit...l-SLR/39611983

[Sandy Hancock]

DA*300 + 1.4xTC on the Q
Hand held, and uncropped.


Blue moon

Same setup, but stacked images shot from a tripod.


Friday 13th Full Moon

[Arjay Bee]

K20 + novoflex 600 + 2x tc tripod and cable release Moon travels really quickly across frame at 1200mm so you tend to spend more tome wrestling the tripod than taking pictures.

[Arjay Bee]

Same lens without TC but on K3 tonight about 9:15pm Australian EST. Uncropped.

[chardie]

hello all
here is a pic of the blood moon on the 08/09/2014 canon 60d 200mm m42 screw mount. i love these takumar lenses on my canon just won a tak f4 300 mm one with the 18 blades cant wait for it to turn up

[SpecialK]

There are a couple current moon threads going. You can check out or ask what people use there. Here's the most recent:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/26-mini-challenges-games-photo-stories/27...your-moon.html