Shooting the moon

[arnica]

These moon shots are really providing me with motivation to go out and capture it.

However i've just had a go at it tonight, and all I get is a white circle. Im using a 70-200 lens, tried different iso and shutter combos .. but still get the same thing.

Would it be because of the 200mm not being long enough? or is there something else I am missing.

I'm going to google some more, but I wanted to hear what our members thought about it first.

[ricktas]

what settings are you using ISO, aperture and shutter speed details?

[arnica]

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4737844905_6b8ab742a9_b.jpg

Exposure: 0.125 sec (1/8)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

[Borg2000]

I took some shots of the moon last night with the partial eclipse

i used
Exposure: (1/5)
Aperture: f/36
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

And i was fairly happy with the results

[ricktas]

OK, go to about f8 and use manual focus to make sure you lens focuses on the moon surface.

[Charbuque]

Hi, Phil - I was out experimenting with the full moon last night - Initially all my pictures were of blown-out orbs. I figured the camera was exposing for the dark sky and eventually switched to shutter priority and sped up the shutter until I got shots that actually showed details. All hand held - I was quite amazed what you could get (and I was only using an 18-55m). So - with the full benefit of my 1 weeks experience I suspect a shorter exposure may help.

(Hey, Rick - is any of this valid or am I talking rubbish? :o I'll be out tonight to try again with your aperture advice - Cheers.)

[gerry]

The problem you have is over exposure, try switching to spot metering, if your in manual mode just keep dialling up the shutter speed until you start to see definition in the moon, at the moment it is blown out.

[milspec]

From memory I was using 1/60 at about F8 with a 70-200.

I can check later if you like .. my PC is getting a tuneup :p

[arnica]

Thanks everyone, I'll give this a try when I get home tonight.

[OzzieTraveller]

G'day Phil

Good on yer mate for giving it a whirl :)
As has been said on other postings ... you are shooting reflected sunlight so you need the shutter speed to be the same as sunlight
I suggest ...
1- zoom to max
2- manual focus if you can
3- shoot at 1/250 to 1/500sec x f4 -f5.6 -ish


May I show you a very old moon pic of mine to demonstrate...
Settings used -> 1/250 x f6.3 @ ISO-200 ... cropped to show 640x480pixels
Camera was my old Fuji 5000 10x zoom job, lens out at max zoom
http://i45.tinypic.com/qzqhsh.jpg

Hope this helps a bit
Regards, Phil-2

[arnica]

Look look!!!!

Something worked !!!! Thanks to everybody here at AP!!!


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4742406064_1055b25bde_b.jpg

Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

[Bella]

Nice work :th3:

[Brian M]

I took a moon shot earlier tonight before I even knew this thread existed.

It took me ages to figure out I had to use a very fast shutter speed, I couldn't understand why the moon was coming out as nothing more than a blurry blob of light. I opened the aperture up all the way (at least, I think that's what turning the "f" numbers on the display all the way down does, I'm new at this) and turned the ISO up to maximum to compensate for the fast shutter speed, but the image still looks under-exposed.

It doesn't help that I'm only using a 55-250mm lens that came with the camera because I don't have an actual telephoto lens. I only got one half-decent shot (all the rest were either blurred or out of focus). I don't need to reduce its size to post it here, just crop it. This as big as the moon gets through the best lens I have for the job. Are those actually outlines of craters I can see near the dark side, or are they artifacts from the camera?

[Charbuque]

They are craters. The edge between the dark side and the light side is the best place to spot them because that is where the setting sun is on the moon and the shadows/contrast shows up the craters well.

[cupic]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2464/3909100458_14bd3316b9_o.jpg

1/125s f/8 (can go to f/11) 100 iso and camera in full manual, manual focus and M mode on camera

cheers

[OzzieTraveller]

G'day all

While we're on the topic of moon-pix ....
Couple of days ago I visited the privately-run Warrumbungles Observatory and enjoyed a 2-hr view & chat about the stars run by a very knowledgeable fellow called "Starr, Peter Starr" !!!

His main scope is a "14-inch reflector" [the astro people on site can deduce more about that] with "an effective aperture of f10"

So Peter Starr advises me that it comes in "at about 3500mm of f10 lens" and thus the image below is from that optical system

http://i34.tinypic.com/2q3vqy1.jpg

Hope you enjoy it
Regards, Phil

[mikew09]

I find this quite strange - I have never taken a photo of the moon but have been thinking about it for some time,to be honest I have been so busy with work I have not pulled my new 50D out for about a week and a half.

Late this afternoon for no reason I just had the urge to try a shot of the moon to get a feel for settings. Tonight I see this thread discussing shooting the moon and it seems two or three others had the same urge, seems a little more than co-incidence - Ithink anyhows.

Like I said, haven't really done much with the 50D yet, love the camera but struggling to get a feel for dealing with the noise with low light - did not seem to be as much of an issue as I have with the 50D but there is no matching the detail and superior IQ the 50 gives me.

Anyway - enough waffle. After reading the thread it is obvious my settings were all wrong. The photo was taken about 5:50 this arvo - about a 50% crop

70-200 L @ 200mm, Shutter 1/1000, f/4.5 iso 640

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4912908618_e9547d037e_b.jpg

[mikew09]

Look look!!!!

Something worked !!!! Thanks to everybody here at AP!!!


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4742406064_1055b25bde_b.jpg

Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

Well done on this photo arnica - well captured.

[ctorry]

Hi All

Reading your thread last night encouraged me to take some pics of the full moon tonight.

I used a shutter speed of 1/125 aperture f11 on a 250mm lens. I got some nice shots of the craters etc but would have ended up with a plain white orb if I hadn't read this last night.

I thank everybody that contributed to thread.

[Ged]

Fantastic thread.

A great example of communal learning for the benefit of all.

[Kerro]

Now I know what I'm doing wrong. Thanks AP.

[ooaoo]

Nice shot arnica, now I am itchy to give it a try as well, thanks.

[yongkun]

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5220/5466066903_15f1849e64_z.jpg

I think one of the most important thing is to use Spot metering. Attached a shot of mine with a Pentax kit lens, handheld it at a pretty low ground level. Of course you will have to extract more details during the post processing.

[Bear]

Just happened on this thread and am really pleased I did.

All of my shots of the moon had turned out blobby white nothings and was incredibly frustrating getting poor results.

Considering that the 19th of march has the moon at it's closest point then looks liek I might get some usuable pictures..

Thanks again guys for providing so much detail about camera settings. Great appreciated.

[Kym]

From 2011-01-14 all manual on tripod 500mm + 1.4 TC

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5202/5354387246_b6fd9934b3_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cypheroz/5354387246/)
Moon 2011-01-14 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cypheroz/5354387246/) by cypheroz (http://www.flickr.com/people/cypheroz/), on Flickr

[Patagonia]

Some nice shots here...I like shooting the moon so I have experimented a bit, don´t think its nessesary to change metering or anything else, the clue is that you have lots of light from the moon!!! just shoot manual with:
- Lowest ISO available (don´t need to pump ISO)
- F/7 to F/11 or something like it, were your lens is better
- Try different speeds till you get the desired result, could be something 1/60 to 1/1000, it will depend on which fase the moon is
...enyoy!!!