300mm moon

[MikeBcos]

Taken with my D40 and Quantaray 70-300 lens. 1/640, f8, ISO 200, hand-held.

 

[pugnacious33]

I think it is slightly underexposed and a little less than sharp, probably due to the handholding. Still a good shot though. It takes alot of tries to get a really good moon. Did you try sharpening it?

 

[MikeBcos]

It has had a hint of sharpening, more just made it look unnatural.

The exposure is subjective, I like it as is, the detail is in the dark areas and none of the highlights are blown.

This is my first attempt at a moon shot, I did take some on a tripod but the focus was slightly out on them, that was where I learned that the infinity mark on my lens isn't in quite the right place!

 

[astrostu]

Is there a reason you used f/8? As opposed to something more open?

 

[MikeBcos]

Is there a reason you used f/8? As opposed to something more open?

It's two stops down from the lens' maximum, that is usually where a lens will give its best quality.

 

[astrostu]

It's two stops down from the lens' maximum, that is usually where a lens will give its best quality.

Alrighty. I didn't realize that the lens was an f/6.3 - I figured it was like mine, f/5.6 at that focal length (1 stop = f/6.3, 2 = f/7.1, 3 = f/8.0).

 

[MikeBcos]

Alrighty. I didn't realize that the lens was an f/6.3 - I figured it was like mine, f/5.6 at that focal length (1 stop = f/6.3, 2 = f/7.1, 3 = f/8.0).

Ummm, OK, you're right :mrgreen: However, I will use the excuse that I am just switching from 35mm and none of the lenses I am used to have 6.3 or 7.1 marked on them!

 

[MikeBcos]

Alrighty. I didn't realize that the lens was an f/6.3 - I figured it was like mine, f/5.6 at that focal length (1 stop = f/6.3, 2 = f/7.1, 3 = f/8.0).

OK, I just did some reading, my 35mm days aren't too inaccurate, f6.3 and 7.1 are 1/3 stops, not full stops. The maximum aperture of my lens is f4.5, the closest full aperture to that is f4, two full stops down from that is f8.

 

[astrostu]

Okay, I didn't mean a full stop, I meant, effectively, "one change." My understanding in general was that the sharpest point of the lens was around 1-3 "changes" smaller than maximum, so 1/3 to 1 stop smaller. This is also generally what I've seen in reviews of lenses (like my f/1.4 is sharpest at 1.8 or 2.0 in most reviews).

 

[MikeBcos]

I guess that varies by lens, my understanding was always two full stops down from maximum. Either way, I'm happy with what I got, I'll try and improve on it but if I never get a better one this one looks great on screen.

 

[Parkerman]

Your thing says it is ok to edit.. so.. I introduced the picture to lightroom.

I adjusted the highlights, lights, darks, and shadows... aswell as the clarity.

I removed some of the yellow that appeared around the edges and did a little bit of noise reduction.

 

[MikeBcos]

Thanks Parkerman, I'm on a laptop with a crappy screen right now so I won't comment yet, I'll look again when I get home.