Not sure what I am doing wrong? More mooning!

[daveinoz]

I posted yesterday and got some great advice to improve my moon shots - heres old and new version for comparison:

As you can see a lot more detail and texture but still not as crisp as I would like.

I am using a Nikkor 70-300mm lens, ISO 200 (tried 100 and 200 about the same effect), F/11 , 1/250 with 10s self timer and tripod. I was using Autofocus. you can see its soft in the bottom right hand corner and just not as sharp as I would have expected.

One problem I had was that I was setting the lens at infinity with autofocus off but the shots were slightly out of focus and I have NO idea why. I had to resort to autofocus to sharpen the picture.

I tried tweaking with the f/stop and aperture but not much difference.

Haven't even thought white balance or anything like that. Not quite up to speed with the more technical stuff.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[amolitor]

Set the camera to "Live View" and the lens to Manual Focus. Then zoom in on the live view as far as it'll go, and focus by hand.

 

[KmH]

If you have an inexpensive 'protective' filter on the lens, remove it.

Earth's atmosphere is about 50 miles thick and it's aways moving. That could also be part of your problem.

Focus on the moon, not infinity. Use live view on the rear LCD of the camera to manually focus the lens. You can use AF (auto focus) to get you in the ball park, and then manual focus to fine tune it.

Do not use f/11. Use a larger lens opening, like f/8 or f/5.6 so you can increase the shutter speed.

 

[daveinoz]

If you have an inexpensive 'protective' filter on the lens, remove it.

Earth's atmosphere is about 50 miles thick and it's aways moving. That could also be part of your problem.

Focus on the moon, not infinity. Use live view on the rear LCD of the camera to manually focus the lens. You can use AF (auto focus) to get you in the ball park, and then manual focus to fine tune it.

Do not use f/11. Use a larger lens opening, like f/8 or f/5.6 so you can increase the shutter speed.

Thanks KMH. As I sad I was tweaking with f/stop and aperture and I DID go down to F8 and higher shutter speed but th difference was negligible. I was finding it hard to focus manually in live view as the moon was coming through so brightly tweaks on focus seemed to make no difference. I'll just keep working on it I guess.

 

[cgipson1]

I do not recommend autofocus for moon shots... and I never use live view for this. But I guess you could.

What Keith said about the filters is correct.. remove any and all.

 

[daveinoz]

I do not recommend autofocus for moon shots... and I never use live view for this. But I guess you could.

What Keith said about the filters is correct.. remove any and all.

Yep have stopped using filters.

Considering the equipment I am using could I expect to get the same kind of incredible shot of the moon you posted on my last thread through continuing to work on it or do I have to be content with what I have? Just wondering if the equip you use is far superior to mine and therefore I can't expect a much better shot?

Cheers

 

[cgipson1]

I do not recommend autofocus for moon shots... and I never use live view for this. But I guess you could.

What Keith said about the filters is correct.. remove any and all.

Yep have stopped using filters.

Considering the equipment I am using could I expect to get the same kind of incredible shot of the moon you posted on my last thread through continuing to work on it or do I have to be content with what I have? Just wondering if the equip you use is far superior to mine and therefore I can't expect a much better shot?

Cheers

You should be able to duplicate that shot without a problem.. clarity, detail, exposure, etc.. with that equipment! Hopefully you have a decent tripod? Almost any tripod will work, but a good quality solid tripod REALLY helps.

The 70-200 with the TC is probably close to the same IQ as your 70-300. I even have decent shots with a 28-300... which I like, but many put down as having too wide a range.

First moon shot I ever did.. with the 28-300 and D7000

 

[Rwsphotos]

You should be able to duplicate that shot without a problem.. clarity, detail, exposure, etc.. with that equipment! Hopefully you have a decent tripod? Almost any tripod will work, but a good quality solid tripod REALLY helps.

The 70-200 with the TC is probably close to the same IQ as your 70-300. I even have decent shots with a 28-300... which I like, but many put down as having too wide a range.

First moon shot I ever did.. with the 28-300 and D7000

<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=19269"/>

Nice shot love it.

 

[Rwsphotos]

Daveinoz take notes from this and the other moon threads the last day or two and practice, practice, practice. Keep making minor adjustments and you'll get there.

 

[cgipson1]

If you use spot focus.. you would be able to AF on on the moon... did you try that?

 

[daveinoz]

If you use spot focus.. you would be able to AF on on the moon... did you try that?

Spot focus? I was making sure I had the moon centered in the focus frame "square" or do you mean spot metering (which I have been reading about the morning). I think I had the camera on matrix metering (recharging at the moment, man it chews up battery in these situations, should be getting a second delivered today) as I didn't know about metering but from what I have read it seems like I should have had spot matrix metering turned on?

 

[PlanetStarbucks]

So one other thing I don't think has been mentioned...where and when are you shooting? If you're near a city the light pollution in the air will ruin the image. Also, if shooting with the moon low on the horizon, you're shooting through a lot more air and distortion that you would be with the moon high in the sky.

 

[tirediron]

Are you using Mirror Lock-up??????

 

[daveinoz]

Are you using Mirror Lock-up??????

No. Funny you should ask I was just reading about that a few hours ago! Will try it for my next moon shots. What does it actually do?

 

[cgipson1]

If you use spot focus.. you would be able to AF on on the moon... did you try that?

Spot focus? I was making sure I had the moon centered in the focus frame "square" or do you mean spot metering (which I have been reading about the morning). I think I had the camera on matrix metering (recharging at the moment, man it chews up battery in these situations, should be getting a second delivered today) as I didn't know about metering but from what I have read it seems like I should have had spot matrix metering turned on?

Spot FOCUS allows precise focusing on a particular subject.... which you would want for this shot!

Spot METERING allows precise metering on a subject.. which you would also want on this shot!