Lunar Eclipse

[Lazy_B]

ok on the 28th, New Zealand will have a full birds eye view on a lunar Eclipse. Since i have the golden opertunity to shoot such a thing which i've never attempted before. I'm unsure on how to set my camera up.... i have a sony H2 cybershot and wondering what settings i need..... i went out and took a couple of photos of the half moon earlier tonight and no matter what zoom i used... the moon came out very blurry. ISO is on 200 and all the other setting's are on "normal". I've tried turning the dail on top to different settings and they have all came out the same....... any ideas?

cheers
Grant

 

[astrostu]

How fast were you shooting? You should be using a tripod. And perhaps a basic question, but did you have it focused right?

 

[Lazy_B]

shutterspeed was on the fastest the camera has which is 1/1000th, focus was on auto

thanks for the reply, any more thoughts?

 

[astrostu]

(1) What length and f/number lens is this?

(2) Try manual focus.

(3) Where was the moon in the sky when you took the photos?

 

[Lazy_B]

F2.8

Lens is the standard one that comes with the cybershot's. aka Fixed

Where was the moon in the sky when you took the photos?. huh?, ok i'll try to answer this one . apart from being in the sky where it should be....... i'm assuming what postion it was?... approx a 60 degree angle from the ground to the moon... it wasn't straight above me if thats what your inquring

 

[astrostu]

Okay, I find it odd that a 1/1000 sec exposure, even at f/2.8, was properly exposed -- I would think you'd need something more like 1/250-sec.

The reason I asked where the moon was is because if it's somewhat low in the sky, it's going to look much blurrier than if it's straight up because you're looking through a lot more atmosphere that will cause the blurring. 60° altitude shouldn't be that bad, though, unless you're some place where the ground is very hot and radiating heat, or there's a front moving through.

Regardless, any exposure shorter than 1/100-sec (or even up to 1/60-sec) and you shouldn't be encountering blurring because of hand shake, so that's probably not the issue.

Since I don't know what the lens length is on the cybershot (it should say on the front of the lens even if the lens is built into the camera), I can't really guess on what kind of "magnification" you're getting, but if you're shooting at 1/1000-sec (still seems way too fast), that still shouldn't be an issue.

So the only thing I'm left with is for you to try manual focus. And note that even if your lens says it's focused on "infinity" you may need to continue to adjust it slightly.

 

[Lazy_B]

ok understanding your point on the postition of the moon. will take that into account on tonights "have another go" session

the lenses is after i took the filter stuff on it off.... is a Carl Zeiss one and the F-stops start at 2.8 - 3, then again at 7/16 - 72 ( not sure what that bit means)

Ill throw some fresh batteries in it tonight and try what you sugested.. start at 1/60 and sneak it up to say 1/500 or something. once again appreciate your help

 

[Buszaj]

Use a tripod. It will help sooooooooo much.

 

[EljayK004]

My moon pics did the exact same thing. I just stopped it down 3 or 4 stops and they came out awesome. Do you have a manual or aperature mode on that camera? If so set it and underexpose it a few stops and go from there. If it's still too bright, underexpose a bit more, if it's too dark, well you get the idea. Another idea, use your shutter delay to shoot the picture, this way you pressing the shutter has no effect on the photo.