First try at moon-shots
- Thread starter wolfcry91
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wolfcry91
New Member
i think it was auto.. i was juz trying out so didnt really adjust WB or shoot RAW.. thanks!
spheredome
New Member
The moon is over exposed, blur and soft.
Look for a clear sky. Use manual focus if auto is not sharp and spot metering. Use tripod (IS disabled).
Shoot with higher f-stop but maintain at least 1/125 or above shutter as moon move quite fast in high zoom. Take a couple of shots with different lower EV.
During PP, use black and white, that will remove the color noise. And sharpen it.
Look for a clear sky. Use manual focus if auto is not sharp and spot metering. Use tripod (IS disabled).
Shoot with higher f-stop but maintain at least 1/125 or above shutter as moon move quite fast in high zoom. Take a couple of shots with different lower EV.
During PP, use black and white, that will remove the color noise. And sharpen it.
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wolfcry91
New Member
spheredome
New Member
On good day, you can shoot a pretty clear moon like this one which I have taken. Full moon are harder to take because it is very bright compared to 3/4 moon.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a110/spheredome/moon-1may2009640x457.jpg
And sometime, the moon rising on the horizon can be golden orange.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a110/spheredome/orange_moon-10May09.jpg
Some months, moon rise early, like this one at 6pm.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a110/spheredome/moon-3May09-6pm.jpg
I almost forgotten, camera shake from mirror slapping and VR can be problem too. No point using teleconverter as it degrade the image.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a110/spheredome/moon-1may2009640x457.jpg
And sometime, the moon rising on the horizon can be golden orange.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a110/spheredome/orange_moon-10May09.jpg
Some months, moon rise early, like this one at 6pm.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a110/spheredome/moon-3May09-6pm.jpg
I almost forgotten, camera shake from mirror slapping and VR can be problem too. No point using teleconverter as it degrade the image.
Valjean
Senior Member
Love your moon shots - very detailed! :thumbsup:
What aperture do you recommend for such shots? And how do we deal with mirror slapping vibration?
What aperture do you recommend for such shots? And how do we deal with mirror slapping vibration?
limwhow
Senior Member
Spheredome bro, I would like to ask when you use 1/125 at max zoom to freeze the movement of the moon, and at say, f/8 or f/11, it becomes almost necessary to increase the ISO.
What is your usual ISO for shooting the moon at the above setting, and are you not worried about noise for say ISO of 1600 and above?
What is your usual ISO for shooting the moon at the above setting, and are you not worried about noise for say ISO of 1600 and above?
spheredome
New Member
One method is to use mirror lock function. Liveview focus mode + self timer will work too as mirror don't slap.
Another way is to turn VR/IS ON, hold camera mounted on tripod and shoot at 1/125-1/180 (more zoom more speed) but you choose the comfortable speed. The trick is VR works when there is shakes, by gripping we prevent vibration but creates shakes instead. Unfortunately, handheld does not work well with high zoom as we tend to whirl around the subject high vertical.
Another way is to turn VR/IS ON, hold camera mounted on tripod and shoot at 1/125-1/180 (more zoom more speed) but you choose the comfortable speed. The trick is VR works when there is shakes, by gripping we prevent vibration but creates shakes instead. Unfortunately, handheld does not work well with high zoom as we tend to whirl around the subject high vertical.
spheredome
New Member
First you have to test on your own if high f-stop is good or bad, my experience is not always, f8 just nice for me. Some zooms like the Zuiko 70-300mm are too soft to take moon.
High iso may be needed at 50% or less moon but above 75% is pretty bright (thus is always EV-), more zoom more bright. If there is too much color noise, just make it black/white during PP. You may need to do low grain noise reduction. Sharpening is always required. I cannot comment on the ISO for APS-C as I am using full-frame testing at iso800-iso1600 but I don't think you will to go beyond iso1600. Last time when I tested using Olympus dSLR, I don't recall using that high iso1600 at 300mm.
So you really have to try it out as I am not that knowledgeable on details.
The grain around the moon can be remove be reduce shadow but gets more visible with overexpose moon and/or sky is not clear. There are few occassion when I tried taking, it is always abit fuzzy, I read that it is may be due to atmosphere gas.
For lower zoom say 200mm, the attention will be exposure and focus as the details are less visible. Spot metering must be used.
One more thing, there is always a max zoom for "whole moon" picture where further zoom factor will not increase viewing quality at 800x600 or 640x480. Unless you crop a section for the moon surface (like long telescope) which is upsize, almost all the time is downsize the image as a whole during resizing.
High iso may be needed at 50% or less moon but above 75% is pretty bright (thus is always EV-), more zoom more bright. If there is too much color noise, just make it black/white during PP. You may need to do low grain noise reduction. Sharpening is always required. I cannot comment on the ISO for APS-C as I am using full-frame testing at iso800-iso1600 but I don't think you will to go beyond iso1600. Last time when I tested using Olympus dSLR, I don't recall using that high iso1600 at 300mm.
So you really have to try it out as I am not that knowledgeable on details.
The grain around the moon can be remove be reduce shadow but gets more visible with overexpose moon and/or sky is not clear. There are few occassion when I tried taking, it is always abit fuzzy, I read that it is may be due to atmosphere gas.
For lower zoom say 200mm, the attention will be exposure and focus as the details are less visible. Spot metering must be used.
One more thing, there is always a max zoom for "whole moon" picture where further zoom factor will not increase viewing quality at 800x600 or 640x480. Unless you crop a section for the moon surface (like long telescope) which is upsize, almost all the time is downsize the image as a whole during resizing.
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