 Pete H |
How to Photograph the Moon I've recently attempted to photograph the moon with the Nikon D-70, 70-300mm zoom, and using a high-quality tripod. It appears there is camera shake (I'm assuming it is due to mirror slap?). The photos are not too sharp, although I can see some larger craters, seas, maria etc... Question: Is the cause of this a crappy lens or more likely "mirror slap?" Any suggestions appreciated.
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Ric Henry |
Pete, I think you will need to use a cable release. Just pressing the shutter button with your finger will make the camera shake.
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Jon Close |
Lack of sharpness could be due to subject motion. The earth and moon are both moving pretty fast. What shutter speed(s) did you use? A rule of thumb I've found for longest shutter speed that still freezes the moon's motion is: 5 x (film frame diagonal) รท (lens focal length) So with a D70 (diagonal = 28mm) and 300mm lens, the shutter speed should be 5 x 28/300 = ~1/2 second or less.
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Gary Gray |
Pete, I've been practicing this same thing all summer throughout the various moon stages. I have found that the best shots are at less than a full moon, on nights when the moon is high in the sky. I try to adjust using the aperture priority mode for the sharpest spot on the lens. Exposure times vary, but aren't that long (1 second or less most often). Using mirror lockup will help, and I recommend it. You'll also want to use a earth ground to minimize vibration - not a wood deck or sidewalk/driveway/pavement. Using a 300mm telephoto (480 mm digital) is about as short as I'd attempt. If you can get your length up to 800mm or better effective, you'll see a good improvement over a 300mm. My 500mm (800mm digital) fixed does a pretty good job, but it's a cheap lens.
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Andrew Laverghetta |
If you're wanting to take a picture of the moon, you should expose it more for daylight. So, try something like ISO 200, 1/320 second at f/13. As long as the moon is pretty bright in the sky, you would do best exposing as if you were taking a picture in broad daylight. This is because the sun is lighting the moon. I have a picture in my gallery using my Canon 20D with 200mm (320mm Canon x1.6) lens at this setting. It's not the superclose image but the other one. Hope this helps! Also, bracket, especially since you have digital. While it's always good to use a tripod, you don't NEED one to shoot the moon.
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Pete H |
I have been tripod mounted and have tried various speeds and aperatures, none over 1 sec. I use self timer so as not to touch the cam. As a amateur astronomer, I am very aware of our planets rotational speed, (1,000 MPH) As I mentioned earlier, I can indeed see some of the major craters, seas & maria. Somehow I feel it's either mirror slap, or more simply, the 300mm Nikor will just not shoot sharp enough. I have also considered the possibility of "atmospheric thermals." I'll include a pic here, maybe this will help. Perhaps I am expecting too much from a 300mm.
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Pete H |
ps..Ignore the left edge of the moon pic..I roughly cut it out from the black sky.
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Andrew Laverghetta |
The picture looks pretty good. Have you tried the Unsharp Mask in Photoshop or some similar image editing program? Like I said, I've taken a picture of the moon at shutter speeds over 1/300 second and even over 1/500 second exposed properly. There's no vibration from mirror slap at that speed to what I know. If there is, it's not noticable. Since the lens is it's sharpest probably around f/8 or f/11, try using those apertures, then sharpen in an image editing program. Hope this helps.
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Jack E. Bennett |
For shooting the moon, I use 1/500 of a second at 5.6 f-stop. This setting seems to produce great results for me.
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Nicholas I. Hull |
One alternative to the cable release is to use the self-timer. I have a Digital rebel and have taken many low-light shots with a tripod (or just setting the camera on a surface) and using the timer function. Works great!
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Dieter J. Bieler |
I had good result with a f-8 and 1/30-1/60 of a second. on tripod and cable release.This is on slide film ISO 100.
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anonymous |
You don't need a tripod to photography the moon, that is why you are getting shake, because the exposure is long, and the moon is so tiny on all this black, that with also a long lense doesn't help. It doesn't have to be so complicated. What is with all the technical jargon guys!!! Seriously..... I took several shots of the moon hand held, I can't remember my ISO setting, but it was shot at 1/180 at f8. Give it a go, obviously you will have to test ISO speeds (cause I can't remember)I think it was either 200 or 400, and then bracket a little, but get rid of the tripod and the slow shutter speeds, you need a nice quick shutter, the moon is BRIGHT, you wouldn't use a slow shutter on something bright normally, so don't use it on the moon. Don't concern yourself with the "black" sky, that isn't what you are exposing for. I hope this helps and simplifies it a little for you.
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Rene P. |
I tried to take pictures of the moon last week (full moon) but was not able to produce the photo that I wanted. I have seen a picture of the moon on one of the forums and it seems that the moon was so close that you can see the mountain shadows. I used a 70-200 f/4 L, Av, and I tried a couple of aperture f8,f11,f16,f22. Can you kindly let me know what should be the setting, so that next month I can try again.
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Andrew Laverghetta |
You won't be able to use any mode except full Manual, maybe unless you have spot metering. The moon doesn't have to be totally full when you take the picture. Do what Natalie said, it should work. I have a picture in my gallery that seems really close. That's only because I used my telescope and held a $99 digital point and shoot up to the lens although you can do this with an SLR if you have the proper hook up equipment. Anyway, just try what people have been suggesting. Expose for the moon at night just as you would expose broad daylight. Something like f/16 1/100 second at ISO 100. Although, you will have to change that around because you will have camera shake with your lens set at 200mm. You will probably need to open the aperture and use a shorter shutter time to get the exposure you are looking for. You won't be able to get too close with that lens though. It just won't happen unless you have a 2x teleconverter.
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