moonshot tips?

[tlittleton]

Had a nice clear sky tonight with a half-moon staight overhead. I thought I'd take some shots of it. At first my main problem was following the metering too close which lead to an overexposed moon. So I started going up a stop or two and increasing the shutter speed. I even used a polarizer. I got to the point where the exposure was fair, but I started noticing the picture was just out of focus. I was using manual focus for the shots, and everything looked clear through the viewfinder, so I was thinking maybe I need to increase shutter speed more.:dunno

Anyone have any tips or tricks for taking night shots of the moon?

[pathfinder]

Had a nice clear sky tonight with a half-moon staight overhead. I thought I'd take some shots of it. At first my main problem was following the metering too close which lead to an overexposed moon. So I started going up a stop or two and increasing the shutter speed. I even used a polarizer. I got to the point where the exposure was fair, but I started noticing the picture was just out of focus. I was using manual focus for the shots, and everything looked clear through the viewfinder, so I was thinking maybe I need to increase shutter speed more.:dunno

Anyone have any tips or tricks for taking night shots of the moon?

There have been several extensive threads here on dgrin about moon shots - every one seems to want to give it a try.

Google or search photgraphing the moon or some such and you should find them - I posted on several of them. Basically the exposure of the moon is the same as for any other sunlit object. Meters misread the moon because it is such a small portion of the image, unless you have REALLY long glass. So put you camera on manual exposure , and set it for f16 and 1/ISO - the Sunny 16 rule of manual exposure. Oh, and definitely use a good tripod.

You should get something like this

http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/3258135-L.jpg


http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/7964502-L.jpg

Through binoculars with a hand held Nikon cool Pix - Binocs on a tripod
http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/8041859-L.jpg

[ginger_55]

Don't you all just love that little place on the moon that looks like it is where you check to see if a cantalope is ripe.

g (Because of atmostphere, like haze, or something, the moons I shoot vary a bit in exposure, so I try one or two, check that, then do some more, check, etc.)
Like he said, the moon is in the sun, unless, it is hazy, or an "invisible" cloud cover, whatever. So there is, IMO, no definite exact setting for the moon. But if you get the idea........I take bunches of shots, because of the focusing. Manual focus bothers me now (spoiled I am). It seems like I go just past the sweet point. So I take bunches. Most of them are now in focus. That is a better percentage than a year ago.

[tlittleton]

Thanks for the replys pathfinder and ginger...

And speaking of long glass...pathfinder, what did you use to shot the shots you posted above? I was working with a Canon 75-300 set at 300. Think I might need a bigger lens.

[ginger_55]

I get the same clarity with 300 and an extender to make it 420mm.

Last year I used the 70-300, a non L lens. It was clear. We were all getting different contrast, I think it was how we worked them up.

Rutt was involved. You could use search to find the thread. Kind of a teaching shoot out.

g