How to use my enormous lens?

[WackfordSqueers]

I have inherited a large Nikon lens. About 500mm in length, this extends to about 650mm. I know I must use it on M outside of that, I am jiggered. Whenever I manage to get the moon in the viewfinder, the merest speck of wind makes it shake so that the moon flits past the vf and bounces back. It is just a mess. If I dare to use the two extensions in addition to the basic lens, the problem is further throttled. I have a decent tripod, I have considered putting a sandbag on the bottom of the centre pole. I have seen them online, but my local photo shop has never heard of one?
Any suggestions?

 

[Sharpshooterr]

I have inherited a large Nikon lens. About 500mm in length, this extends to about 650mm. I know I must use it on M outside of that, I am jiggered. Whenever I manage to get the moon in the viewfinder, the merest speck of wind makes it shake so that the moon flits past the vf and bounces back. It is just a mess. If I dare to use the two extensions in addition to the basic lens, the problem is further throttled. I have a decent tripod, I have considered putting a sandbag on the bottom of the centre pole. I have seen them online, but my local photo shop has never heard of one?
Any suggestions?

Wack, you don't say what lens you have or what camera you have. You mentioned VF, does that mean the lens is a VF lens?
As to your question, a weighted bag, whether full of sand, stones or camera gear will definitely help.
When taking a not so critical shot and weight is necessary, I hang my camera backpack, my tripod has a hook made for that purpose on the bottom of the center column.
If I need extra stability I hang the strap from my backpack over the top of the camera and I get MUCH better stability. In the first method you are just stabilizing the tripod which helps. In the second method you are actually stabilizing the camera itself and the tripod. Ultimately you want to stabilize the camera itself. just don't overload the tripod! Good luck...
SS

 

[petrochemist]

I have inherited a large Nikon lens. About 500mm in length, this extends to about 650mm. I know I must use it on M outside of that, I am jiggered. Whenever I manage to get the moon in the viewfinder, the merest speck of wind makes it shake so that the moon flits past the vf and bounces back. It is just a mess. If I dare to use the two extensions in addition to the basic lens, the problem is further throttled. I have a decent tripod, I have considered putting a sandbag on the bottom of the centre pole. I have seen them online, but my local photo shop has never heard of one?
Any suggestions?

You don't mention the focal length of your lens, but I'll guess it's not more than 600mm, in which case my experiences will be relevant.
You claim you have a decent tripod but don't mention the model or the head. There are many 'decent' tripods that won't hold a heavy load stable (the same is also true for heads)
On my heavy weight tripod I have held 1000mm & longer lenses/telescopes steady in moderate breezes, but my normal tripod certainly couldn't cope with my MTO1000mm lens a couple of weeks back in strong wind.

FWIW my heavy weight tripod is a Manfrotto 058B which weighs 6.7kg (so never goes more than 1/4 mile from the house/car. The Gitzo G2380 fluid head fitted to this is also heavier than normal.

Shooting the moon at reasonable magnification subjects movement will be significant, I doubt it took more than a minute or two for the moon to completely cross the lens's FOV at 1000mm.

The following photo was taken using my 650mm f/5 telescope prime focus (body directly on the telescope tube) on a 2x crop body in a moderate wind (the lifeboat was rolling heavily) NB. That's a 1300mm FF equivalent FOV
prime focus small by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

Using an a-focal set up with both eyepiece & a 200mm lens the optics become about 5x more powerful (I think it was a 40mm eye piece used) This gives significant diffractive softening, difficulty in focus & magnifies any movement further. Not much camera movement even here:
Afocal 3 (eyepiece & 200mm lens) by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

I've had reasonable success using a cheap gimbal head on budget legs when using long lenses for evening shooting, If you don't want to take up body building a head like this might be the way foreword.

Most often if using only a lens around 500mm I'll end up handholding, that worked for this (450mm on APSC):
Wind power - old & new by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

and when well braced even for this (a 600mm mirror lens via a focal reducer on MFT for a 900mm equivalent FOV):
Supermoon pre-eclipse by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

 

[Soocom1]

Stability is the ONLY recourse.
If you look at it like a long stick, the longer that stick, the more subject to vibration. The movement that is unnoticeable on a 50mm prime will amplify proportionally the longer the lens. This falls into the Variation Cone in mathematics.

anyway, the reality is that you have to find a way to decrease the amount of natural and induced vibration (yourself or wind). typical small and lightweight (especially carbon fiber) tripods will actually transfer vibration horribly on long lenses.

So as previously mentioned, sand bags is a partial solution, you need to find a way to absorb the vibration overall. A lower center of gravity 9ergo having the lens and tripod set much lower to the ground, a thicker tripod, and additional weight (mass) will dramatically lower that issue.
Another possibility is to use something similar to this set up:

SZ Super Tele Finder Lens

The SZ Super Tele Finder Lens assists photographers using long focal length lenses to track subjects such as birds, planes or other moving objects while shooting for faster and easier movements.

tokinausa.com

Its basically a tactical gun red dot sight adapted for camera use. Then set the camera and lens on a set of sand bags. Then set the camera in line with the mood and wait for it to come into field.

I have done this several times and works wonders for tack sharp images. Just requires practice.

I use to do that with film given its expense at the time. With digital, you can shoot to your hearts content.

( camera on sand bag - Bing)

 

[NS: Nikon Shooter]

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I use for my 600 ƒ4. a series 5 Gitzo tripod and a top end gimbal.

 

[Strodav]

The moon is constantly moving and I have seen articles that say you need 1/250 sec shutter speed to freeze the motion. I shoot the moon at 1/1000 and with a remote trigger, which stops the motion of the moon, but also helps with camera shake due to wind and / other factors. You can use your camera's timer instead. You mentioned you have a decent tripod. Does it have spiked feet? I recommend using spikes, especially on dirt or grass, but even on rocky surfaces as it gives you much more bite. Weighing down your tripod is a good idea, but not if your weight has enough surface area to be blown around by the wind.

The following was taken with a crop sensor camera equipped with a 600mm f/4 lens and a 1.4x teleconverter (1260 mm equivalent), ISO 900, f/8, 1/1000 sec. Minimal post processing, mainly just a crop, tried to get the color right, and a touch of sharpening.

 

[wfooshee]

Every Nikon lens (well, every, lens, no matter who made it, actually...) has a label on it somewhere that identifies it. The label will include the focal length and the maximum aperture, as in 400mm 1:4. (We read that 1:4 as f:4.) If it's a zoom lens, the focal length will be 2 numbers, as in 70-200mm. It may have other information, like AF, AF-D, AF-S, or AF-P if it's an autofocus lens, it will have VR if it's got vibration reduction in it. If it's newer it will have either DX or FX to identify whether it's intended for crop-frame or full-frame digital cameras, With no DX or FX it would be a full-frame lens.

Newer lenses with CPUs in them will have contact points around the lens mount so the lens and camera can "talk" to each other. If it's an older lens those won't be there, but the lens, with few exceptions, will still mount on modern Nikon digital SLRs (but not the mirrorless cameras.)

Find that label and let us know what it says, and we can be a bit more helpful. As for vibration, though, you have to have a good, very stable tripod, or some other method of keeping the camera rigidly fixed, like the sandbags shown earlier.

 

[weepete]

That sounds like a stabiity issue to me. Are you using a lens collar? what kind of head do you have on your tripod?