My first moon shot

maxmonster · Nov 8, 2008

I was bored tonight at school and decided to go out and take pictures of the moon. It was ALOT harder than i thought it would be. This shot took me literally 20 minutes to get... could not to save my life get the moon in the frame... this was with a tripod too...

please comment!:thumbup:

pete_6109 · Nov 8, 2008

Not bad for your first moon shot. I had alot of trouble taking moon shots, but I finally got this one. I used a 400mm lens on a Sony A100 with a tripod and used the self timer so I wouldn't shake the camera. This photo was cropped and sharpened a little in photoshop.

SlimPaul · Nov 8, 2008

400mm? I didn't realize how far the moon is. haha.

guess I can forget about taking photos of the moon with my 55mm :neutral:

maxmonster · Nov 8, 2008

pete_6109 said:
Not bad for your first moon shot. I had alot of trouble taking moon shots, but I finally got this one. I used a 400mm lens on a Sony A100 with a tripod and used the self timer so I wouldn't shake the camera. This photo was cropped and sharpened a little in photoshop.

yeah i used a timer but the 500mm lens i have is pretty effing long with an 2x magnification tube even the shutter made my camera move a little. the pic was touched up a little on ps. just adjusted contrast and brightness and slight manupulation of color. no sharpening and cropping tho.:thumbup:

IvyJade · Nov 8, 2008

I love the moon period, so this, to me is a gorgeous picture without even attempting to pick it to death if need be.

Good job....I like it a lot, very gorgeous

pete_6109 · Nov 8, 2008

SlimPaul said:
400mm? I didn't realize how far the moon is. haha. guess I can forget about taking photos of the moon with my 55mm :neutral:

The 400mm lens actually becomes a 600mm on my digital SLR because of the lens factor which is 1.5X. I tried using a 1.5x and a then a 2x teleconverter, but they made the image look a little blurry to me.

astrostu · Nov 8, 2008

Depending upon your widest possible aperture, going to a 600mm (effective) focal length x2 -> 1200mm is not a good idea. This is because the moon moves. Generally at such long focal lengths, your shutter speed will be too slow to freeze the motion of the moon, unless you have a tripod/mount that will compensate for the moon's motion. That could be why the image looked a little blurry ... assuming you focused properly.

Markw · Nov 8, 2008

I would love to be able to do a moon shot like this. How did you do it? What focal length did you shoot from? 400mm? What was the ISO setting, the aperture time etc? Beautiful shot.

Mark

greyhoundman · Nov 8, 2008

Keep practicing. It takes a while to get everything figured out. I started on a tripod, then moved on to using my 8" scope for a lens.

maxmonster · Nov 8, 2008

haha shoot pete i didnt see that picture i guess my school blocked it. nice shot i get what you mean by the sharpening now.

greyhoundman AMAZING shot. thats beautiful. everything is so clear... what do you mean by a 8 inch scope? i need a better tripod btw...

greyhoundman · Nov 9, 2008

The photo was shot with my istDS connected to an 8" reflector telescope. That turns the scope into a 1200mm, 8" diameter, F6 lens.

pete_6109 · Nov 9, 2008

Markw said:
I would love to be able to do a moon shot like this. How did you do it? What focal length did you shoot from? 400mm? What was the ISO setting, the aperture time etc? Beautiful shot.

Mark

Hi Mark,
I checked the file info on my moon shots and it says "manual, ISO 200, f:9.0, but no shutter speed was recorded for some reason. I probably just experimented with the shutter speed until I got an acceptable exposure. The lens is a 400mm autofocus Sigma originally for my Minolta Maxxum which fits my Sony A100. I also used a tripod and the self timer. The reason I like to use the self timer is because it locks up the mirror right before taking the picture so you get less camera shake.

pete_6109 · Nov 9, 2008

greyhoundman said:
Keep practicing. It takes a while to get everything figured out. I started on a tripod, then moved on to using my 8" scope for a lens.

greyhoundman, this is an awesome shot. I think I need to buy a telescope!! lol

greyhoundman · Nov 9, 2008

Thank you.
I built the scope that I use. But there are some wonderful scopes that are designed for photography. Orion has the 4.5" and 6" that work very well.

mrodgers · Nov 9, 2008

greyhoundman said:
Keep practicing. It takes a while to get everything figured out. I started on a tripod, then moved on to using my 8" scope for a lens.
[picture removed for quote size]

Fantastic shot! I love the detail!

I am kicking myself because we have a catalog at work that we get to select a gift for 5 and 10 year anniversaries. I was going to grab the spotting scope, but then saw on the internet site a home theater surround system. Since I don't have a home theater system, and it isn't something I'd spend money on because the kid's bedrooms are right behind the wall the TV is on, I figured I'd grab one for nothing. It turned out to be a piece of junk. I should have gotten the spotting scope.

But you don't need huge lenses, scopes, or expensive cameras for the moon. This is my moon shot. Not too bad for a point and shoot camera....