[grumpyone]

The other nite I was going to take a picture of the moon,I put on my vivitar 120 - 600 zoom,f stop 5.6-32 and a 2x converter,all full manual,went out set up turned on,and the f stop warning was flashing,f-stop 1600,took the 2x converter off and all was fine.Tried to look it up in the book and I could not fine anything.Let me guess does it have to do with manual lens on a k 30.It is set u to the way Adams article says to.And should I not pay much attention too.Thank You,Gary

[Just1MoreDave]

Probably the meter was out of range. The K-30 meters down to Ev 0. Then it isn't accurate so the display flashes. You can see if you get the same thing by trying to get a meter reading with the lens cap on.

Metering is not that great with the full moon anyway. The moon itself is pretty bright - you can see it in the daytime. At night it's surrounded by space, really dark. All of the meter modes have trouble with that extreme contrast, depending on how much of the frame is taken up by the moon. The camera will still take a shot with whatever settings you use in M mode. I just use that and some basic starting points for my longer lenses. When you get it right, remember it for next time.

[spinno]

Use the sunny 16 rule for shooting when the moon is filling the frame. It's in bright sunlight.

[Na Horuk]

Those numbers usually get red if you have some automation set, and the automation cannot get enough light. For example, if the camera is supposed to select the aperture, but no available aperture is bright enough for the photo (or more accurately, for the metered light). This happens in the automatic modes when the scene is either really bright or really dark. You can fix it by making different choices for the options you have, for example if you are in Av mode you can raise the ISO.

With moon photos I would recommend you use M mode and dial in the settings yourself. The moon is lit by the sun, so it actually needs "daylight" settings. Unless you have spot metering enabled, the camera's meter will probably overexpose so much that the moon becomes pure white / no data. Also, for extreme telephoto moon shots, you should set the frame slightly ahead of the moon and use 2 sec timer, bonus points for remote shutter

[grumpyone]

Thanks ,and when I took my picture it was pure white.I will use all your info for the next time,and will post it,and have you give it a once over.thanks again

[rickc1970]

i recently took some moon shots. I fiddled with the f-stop and shutter speed till i got the results i wanted. I'm pretty green still even tough i bought my k-50 2 years ago but have stuck mostly to the manual mode when taking pictures.

[grumpyone]

having coffee in the morning and look at this,not to bad

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