Moon pictures - what went wrong?

Supernova5124

New member
I tried photographing the full moon last night with my D5000 and an 18-200mm lens, at 200. I took some in both modes M and S with remote captures and a tripod for all of them. I had to lower the ev and crop it after, but it is still very blurry. When I focused it to the infinity option (all pics were), I got what appeared to be a clear image of the moon in preview. However, after cropping I got some blurry pictures. Is there anything I can do to make the images sharper, or should I change some settings and reshoot tonight?
Descriptions for each image specs on Imgur:
 

Supernova5124

New member
My settings for shooting the moon start at F9 SS800 (at least).

Are you hand held or tripod?
I use a tripod. Also, I have no clue how to change the f-stop (evident by the 5.6 on each one), is there a specific setting for it or is it coupled with something else?
 

Roy1961

Senior Member
Contributor
the dial in front of the on/off button rotate it one way and then the other will change the F stop, dial at the rear of the camera will change your SS.
 

Roy1961

Senior Member
Contributor
also meant to add i shoot in M (manual mode) where i set all 3 settings, SS FStop and ISO.

What are you shooting in?
 

Supernova5124

New member
also meant to add i shoot in M (manual mode) where i set all 3 settings, SS FStop and ISO.

What are you shooting in?
I’m fairly certain the first 5 were in M and the other 5 were in S, but that could be wrong.

Edit: after going back, I realized none were in M and were all in A or S.
 
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Roy1961

Senior Member
Contributor
btw my first moon shot looked worse than yours, keep at it. Go to the moon page on here and see what everyone's settings are on go from there. This is where you find you will need a 300mm lens for detail, welcome to the world of photography. $$$$
 

BF Hammer

Senior Member
OK, Imgur is filtering out your exif information, so I am unable to read the actual settings. Not that I don't want to believe your settings, but I wonder if you have Auto-ISO activated and forgot to turn it off?

In S mode you can change ISO and shutter speed, camera selects the f-stop. That is an auto-exposure mode and is not recommended for this work.

I recommend you turn off Auto-ISO and set to 200. Set to M (manual) exposure mode. Set the f-stop with the front command wheel to f/8 or f/9. The reason for f/8 is that is where most lenses have their best performance as far as being sharp and optical artifacts. Leave those 2 options alone at that point. Set your exposure compensation back to 0, shutter speed around 1/800 second for a full moon. Adjust the speed faster if over-exposed like that first photo. You have a small bit of room to slow the shutter speed if under-exposed, but don't drop below 1/500. The moon moves fast across the sky, motion blurring comes into play. Slightly under-exposed is far more preferable to over-exposed and is easy to fix in post if you were to shoot Raw images instead of JPG.

We should talk technique. The photo should be taken from a very sturdy tripod. Tripod shots should be taken either by using a 3 second self-timer delay or a remote shutter release button. Any time you push your finger down on the shutter release shakes the camera. Using the 3-second timer gives time for the shake to reduce, best way is to use a remote shutter release. I like to use a wired remote that plugs into the camera. The aftermarket ones are petty inexpensive, but the infrared wireless remotes are also inexpensive. Just a bit limiting. No delay is needed when using a remote release. Focus the lens manually. Point at a star you can see clearly (the North Star is a good choice) and adjust focus until the star is a small on your Live-View screen as possible. It will be highly difficult to get a focus in the viewfinder. Live-View is the way to go if your DSLR does it.

Lastly, don't expect Ferrari performance from a Honda. Your 18-200mm lens is going to be softer than average. At the extremes of 18mm and 200mm it will be even more so. If I put my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens on your camera, there will be a difference. Fogging also happens on lenses at night in the cold, especially shortly after taking a warm lens out of a home on a cold night.

I have collected a lot of gear for astrophotography, and I spent years getting it. I use a very heavy tripod now, I have a star-tracking telescope mount to attach my camera to so I can go to slow exposures without blurring. I can shoot to 600mm. I have a dew-heater that wraps around the lens. But I do still have to do all those tips I give at the beginning.

EDIT: I changed the recommended ISO to 200 after looking up the specs of the D5000. ISO 100 is below the base ISO value and is artificially generated. ISO 200 is minimum native ISO for the D5000.
 
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Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Here's a quick snap from the other night. This is handheld at 200mm You just need to raise the shutter speed...
Moon12232023.jpg
 

Clovishound

Senior Member
As has been talked around, your image is over exposed. The reason for this is that you are relying on the camera to decide the exposure. The camera is averaging everything. You have a large amount that is completely dark, and the subject is brightly lit by the sun. You are going to have to expose for the subject by itself. The good news is that with a digital camera, you can check your exposure immediately after taking it. If it is over or under exposed, you can bring your exposure up or down by increasing or decreasing the shutter speed. This is easiest done in manual mode with manual (fixed) ISO. Alternately, you could use exposure compensation. While you think of the moon as being bright white, a properly exposed image of the moon will be a light shade of gray.

It will likely take a few tries before getting things right.
 

BF Hammer

Senior Member
As has been talked around, your image is over exposed. The reason for this is that you are relying on the camera to decide the exposure. The camera is averaging everything. You have a large amount that is completely dark, and the subject is brightly lit by the sun. You are going to have to expose for the subject by itself. The good news is that with a digital camera, you can check your exposure immediately after taking it. If it is over or under exposed, you can bring your exposure up or down by increasing or decreasing the shutter speed. This is easiest done in manual mode with manual (fixed) ISO. Alternately, you could use exposure compensation. While you think of the moon as being bright white, a properly exposed image of the moon will be a light shade of gray.

It will likely take a few tries before getting things right.
Supernova actually posted a link to an album on Imgur. What you see in the first post is a badly overexposed image, but some of the others are closer to correct. But they either are not focused or have motion blur from not using the self-timer to delay the shutter release. Maybe both. He is using a nice, fast shutter speed so I think the focus was just lost in the sequence. A star is the best thing to find infinity focus on. Adjust it so it becomes as tight of a point of light as possible, it will be a fuzzy ball when out of focus.

I'll post one of the later shots in his album.

yxm8Ciw.jpg


ps: If this photo had to be done with autoexposure, it could be done better with spot-metering instead of matrix. With focal point on the moon the autoexposure puts more emphasis on measuring the bright thing at that point.
 
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Dawg Pics

Senior Member
You were at f5.6, which is too open for full moon shots in general, but the high shutter speeds started compensating. You could see the images getting darker. All of the images looked similar as far as clarity no matter how fast your shutter speed was, so I don't think that was your problem. You were up at 1/3200 on one shot, and for a 200mm lens, I think you were ok on your shutter speeds. I was going to do a test shot for you, but the moon is under cloud cover tonight over here.

First: Check your atmospheric conditions. If it is isn't real clear, that will effect your image. You will get diffused light making it fuzzy. Over exposed will also look fuzzy even on a clear night, but even your dark images were still not clear.

I am guessing you are using Live View with a single focus point.
(This is how I shoot the moon.) Move the focus point to the edge of the moon (or pan the camera if your tripod head will do that), zoom in and focus on the edge of the moon. You can try auto focus too. You don't need to bother setting your lens to infinity for the moon because it is an easy, bright target. I think this might be why you were off. I find trying to locate infinity to be tricky. It will probably be off if you just try to set it using the little marker on the lens.
Aim, zoom, focus, done.
Move your focus point back onto the bright part of the moon. Make sure you are in manual. Set your f-stop to f8 or f11. Set your ISO to 200. Make sure your EV is at 0. Half press your shutter and get a meter reading in your camera. You want to be a little underexposed. Make an adjustment in the shutter speed if needed, but I would keep it least 1/200th just to be safe, but no harm in going faster like BF Hammer suggested, besides the full moon is bright, so no surprise if you need faster shutter speeds. You can increase your ISO if you are too underexposed. Take a test shot and see what you get.

Some people use Looney 11. Set the camera at ISO 200, F11 and 1/200th of a second. Take a look at your meter, make adjustments and take a test shot and see if you need to adjust your f-stop or ISO. I need to add that you should be in spot meter mode or center weighted mode not matrix meter. Matrix takes into account all of the black sky around the subject when determining exposure.

Mostly, I think you just need to use the edge of the moon to focus instead of trying to set your lens to infinity. Check and make sure the shutter speed doesn't go too low for the focal length you are using. You are at 200 mm, so the moon isn't exactly zipping across the field of view. Make sure conditions are clear. You should be good.

Let us know how it goes. Once you get a good image of the moon, it will no longer be a mystery for you. I think we all go through the bad moon shots. I know I did.
 
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Supernova5124

New member
Thanks everyone for the replies! I tried again tonight and used the advice given. I improved some (still not completely there). Sadly it was a bit cloudy, so I was trying to shoot in between them. All images were shot at ISO 200, 0 ev, f9 or f8, and 1/640 or 1/800 ss. I wasn’t really checking the pics in between as I was trying to shoot in the short gaps in clouds, but apparently I was better focused at the beginning (set as high as possible - infinity) than I was later at a tiny bit under infinity. I’ll try taking the focusing tips from Dawg Pics into account tomorrow. I’ll likely be trying this every night as I’m on break right now, so any further advice would still be appreciated. I tried to take note of what settings I used, so I should be able to answer questions. Here’s another Imgur link for tonight’s pictures:
 

Dawg Pics

Senior Member
Supernova5124,
I think that is a much better image. Much sharper. I have a feeling the next try on a clear night will be a winner.
I looked at all of them, and I like the fifth one that has upper right cloud cover.

I did a test shot at 200mm, hand held (which wasn't easy with 150-600mm lens), fog cover, single point focus, spot meter mode.
1/500, f9.5, ISO 800. It is in focus, but diffuse thanks to the atmosphere. Over exposed thanks to the high ISO. The settings are odd because I had such a difficult time keeping my focus point on the moon. I just watched the meter and I took what I could get.
IMG_3971.jpeg
 
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Catherder

Senior Member
This was shot at ISO 64, 1/800 sec, f/6.3. It's at 600mm though not 200mm, on my 180-600. The Z8 has some good vibration reduction combined with the lens. Shot hand held. Edited in DXO 6 Used the clearview slider to bring out the "seas". Also shot it at 10 frames per second for a short burst, got 7 shots in the burst. 3 of the 7 had good focus.

moon shot 1.jpg
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
For proper exposure, I always use the "Sunny 16"rule for moon photos, and only on clear nights. If the sky isn't clear enough to use this rule, I'm just wasting my time.
 
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