How to photograph the moon.

westmill

Banned
The longest you can ! It's also going to depend on how big the moon is in the sky, etc. etc. etc., so it's an impossible question to answer in a way.
Samyang do a couple of good performing 500mm lenses. Only about £100. That's prob about 150 dollars ?
It's also quite bright, I would use a spot meter and you may have to use + one or two stops. No problem with digital:D
You can buy telescopes and all sorts. The Tamron 150-500 if you're getting serious. A 500mm on APSC = 750mm.
Needless to say, a good heavy tripod will be very useful. Possibly a right angle viewfinder, too, to save your leg or neck lol
You can check out Samyang lenses on Ebay. Don't be fooled by their low price either. From what I've seen of their shorter line up,
the lenses are stellar performers. ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:

shibang

Senior Member
What lens do you already have?

When I first tried to shoot the moon I used a D5100 with a Sigma 70-200mm lens.

I can't remember the exact settings but it was probably something like f11, iso 100 and shutter around 1/200.

I was shooting raw so I could edit more and I was pretty surprised at the results after a good crop.

All this depends on how serious you are, if you just want a few shots just to try or if it is something that will be regular then westmill offers decent advice.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

eurotrash

Senior Member
Longest reaching lens you can get, basically. Makes sure the moon is large in the sky too. I did this one on my D5100 with a cheapo Tamron 70-300. All I remember is that it was fully extended to 300mm the rest I totally forgot :/

Moon.jpg
 

gfinlayson

Senior Member
This one was shot with a 500mm with a 1.4TC on a tripod in live view with MUP, manual focus and a cable release. It was also spot metered to compensate for the brightness of the moon and post processed in Lightroom:

6472766713_5c9c4d7e41_o.jpg

You also want to photograph it when the moon's not quite full - that way the shadow reveals the relief detail of the moon's surface.
 
Last edited:

WhiteLight

Senior Member
This one was shot with a 500mm with a 1.4TC on a tripod in live view with MUP, manual focus and a cable release. It was also spot metered to compensate for the brightness of the moon and post processed in Lightroom:




You also want to photograph it when the moon's not quite full - that way the shadow reveals the relief detail of the moon's surface.

Now that is one AWESOME photo :)
i like the fact i started being a photographer
and more so after seeing this one ;)
 

Pierro

Senior Member
This one was shot with a 500mm with a 1.4TC on a tripod in live view with MUP, manual focus and a cable release. It was also spot metered to compensate for the brightness of the moon and post processed in Lightroom:
You also want to photograph it when the moon's not quite full - that way the shadow reveals the relief detail of the moon's surface.

Great info - this is almost exactly how i shoot moonshots.

Tewy, you have to remember that the Moon is always moving, so 1/180th or 1/200th is about right. Use the lowest ISO you can get away with, F8/F11 is best for aperture. Tripod, Mirror up and remote firing will all help, as will Live View if you have it. If you shoot RAW, leave WB on auto. If you shoot JPEG, use daylight WB, because the Moons' light is merely reflected sunlight

If you have a TC, may as well use that too.

My first ever decent moonshot ( there were plenty of failures ) was with a really old 1970's Manual Focus Tamron 70-350 zoom and Pentax DSLR and the 2nd Crescent Moon photo was again the Pentax but this time with a dedicated Astro Scope which I adapted to mount on the body
 

Attachments

  • BigMoon.jpg
    BigMoon.jpg
    82.9 KB · Views: 277
  • Big Moon crescent.jpg
    Big Moon crescent.jpg
    54.2 KB · Views: 273
Top