I have a Nikon D40, trying to take a photo of the moon, I have tried several shots, ISO of 200 up to 1600, incandescent and cloudy, 18-55 lens, I get a blur, a horizontal white line or a little dot. I have one len size 18-55, Any suggestions? Thanks
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Photo of the moon
- Thread starter kathyb
- Start date
Clint F
Forum Enthusiast
Hi Kathy,
Unfortunately, an 18-55 isn't going to be nearly long enough to get a decent moon shot. This was taken at 300mm and is heavily cropped. You really need at the very least 300 to get a decent shot.
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clintf.smugmug.com
'learning one pic at a time'
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Unfortunately, an 18-55 isn't going to be nearly long enough to get a decent moon shot. This was taken at 300mm and is heavily cropped. You really need at the very least 300 to get a decent shot.
=======================
clintf.smugmug.com
'learning one pic at a time'
=======================
MotorCityJim
Veteran Member
and you shoot at the lowest ISO (200), and remember, the Moon is a very bright object...like a mini Sun...so if you use 'spot metering' and f/8 'aperture' you can get away with 'shutter speed' of around 350-500 sec. (if a 'full moon'), and if a gibbous moon, a little slower shutter speed...and, if a half or three quarter moon, you will be shooting at more like 200-250 sec. speed.
All that said, unless you have a VR (vibration reduction) lens on your camera, a tripod is usually considered standard fare--when you are zoomed to 200 or 300 or 400-500mm, any camera movement will result in a blurred Moon.
Now Kathy, are u still interested in 'shooting the Moon'? If so, yer gonna have to put out some $$$...yes? :=)
--
Jim K...just outside Detroit, MI
DeeFifty; CeeTwentyOneHundred; EffZeeFiveK
http://www.pbase.com/jkorsog ...Pbase supporter
http://motorcityjim.fotopic.net/
All that said, unless you have a VR (vibration reduction) lens on your camera, a tripod is usually considered standard fare--when you are zoomed to 200 or 300 or 400-500mm, any camera movement will result in a blurred Moon.
Now Kathy, are u still interested in 'shooting the Moon'? If so, yer gonna have to put out some $$$...yes? :=)
--
Jim K...just outside Detroit, MI
DeeFifty; CeeTwentyOneHundred; EffZeeFiveK
http://www.pbase.com/jkorsog ...Pbase supporter
http://motorcityjim.fotopic.net/
MotorCityJim
Veteran Member
--
Jim K...just outside Detroit, MI
DeeFifty; CeeTwentyOneHundred; EffZeeFiveK
http://www.pbase.com/jkorsog ...Pbase supporter
http://motorcityjim.fotopic.net/
Jim K...just outside Detroit, MI
DeeFifty; CeeTwentyOneHundred; EffZeeFiveK
http://www.pbase.com/jkorsog ...Pbase supporter
http://motorcityjim.fotopic.net/
strikerx98
Senior Member
Awesome shot! Can you share your settings please?
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http://www.ticopuppy.com
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/gallery.asp?memberID=214435
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http://www.ticopuppy.com
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/gallery.asp?memberID=214435
Ray_man
Senior Member
Agreed. Moon is a very bright object. Choose spot metering and you can shoot from inside a moving car like I did...
This was shot at f/6.3 @ 1/500 sec. w/ a 300mm lens. It's the cropped version. Here's what it looks like straight out of the camera...
--
Primary Camera: Nikon D70 & lenses
Point N Shoot: Samsung NV-11
Backup Camera: Olympus C-8080WZ (in my sister's 'caring' hands)
This was shot at f/6.3 @ 1/500 sec. w/ a 300mm lens. It's the cropped version. Here's what it looks like straight out of the camera...
--
Primary Camera: Nikon D70 & lenses
Point N Shoot: Samsung NV-11
Backup Camera: Olympus C-8080WZ (in my sister's 'caring' hands)
Clint F
Forum Enthusiast
ISO 400
F6.3
1/200
300mm (70-300mm VR2)
=======================
clintf.smugmug.com
'learning one pic at a time'
=======================
F6.3
1/200
300mm (70-300mm VR2)
=======================
clintf.smugmug.com
'learning one pic at a time'
=======================
Clint F
Forum Enthusiast
Thank you for the kind words btw.....
=======================
clintf.smugmug.com
'learning one pic at a time'
=======================
=======================
clintf.smugmug.com
'learning one pic at a time'
=======================
Clint F
Forum Enthusiast
Good point Jim. Forgot to mention.
=======================
clintf.smugmug.com
'learning one pic at a time'
=======================
=======================
clintf.smugmug.com
'learning one pic at a time'
=======================
gonzalu
Forum Pro
... if you're looking for an artistic shot with the moon in the image, or an actual, full frame, detailed Full Moon image.
For the latter, everyone has chimed in that you need long glass... no way around it, the moon is a tiny disc... to fill a 35mm frame, you need to go out to about 1200mm for a proper image. In a crop sensor, 800mm may be sufficient. With a good high mega-pixel camera, you can probably crop and still get a decent shot at 500mm
But this does not mean you can't get ACCEPTABLE images with only 300mm and a crop sensor and then cropping further
This shot was taken hand held, with a cheap Sigma 28-300mm and it is not half bad for me, with what I had at the time.
Here is another one
And of course, there is nothing wrong with a picture INCORPORATING he mood as a creative element.
I think in your case, you're better off with the "including" rather than just the moon by itself since your 55mm will not be very rewarding in the end.
This was shot at 70mm
another one a little later...
Enjoy what you have for now... Invest in a good 30mm lens and get better images of the moon if you like. I like the 70-300VR, super lens. When you are ready to invest big bucks, go for the 80-400mm or the Sigma 50-500 or Tamron 200-500mm... all fine lenses.
For dedicated images of the moon, a Telescope will be better suited and less expensive than a long tele from Nikon or Canon or even Sigma/Tamron and much more rewarding.
Cheers!
--
Manny
http://www.pbase.com/gonzalu/
http://www.mannyphoto.com/
FCAS Member - http://manny.org/FCAS
For the latter, everyone has chimed in that you need long glass... no way around it, the moon is a tiny disc... to fill a 35mm frame, you need to go out to about 1200mm for a proper image. In a crop sensor, 800mm may be sufficient. With a good high mega-pixel camera, you can probably crop and still get a decent shot at 500mm
But this does not mean you can't get ACCEPTABLE images with only 300mm and a crop sensor and then cropping further
This shot was taken hand held, with a cheap Sigma 28-300mm and it is not half bad for me, with what I had at the time.
Here is another one
And of course, there is nothing wrong with a picture INCORPORATING he mood as a creative element.
I think in your case, you're better off with the "including" rather than just the moon by itself since your 55mm will not be very rewarding in the end.
This was shot at 70mm
another one a little later...
Enjoy what you have for now... Invest in a good 30mm lens and get better images of the moon if you like. I like the 70-300VR, super lens. When you are ready to invest big bucks, go for the 80-400mm or the Sigma 50-500 or Tamron 200-500mm... all fine lenses.
For dedicated images of the moon, a Telescope will be better suited and less expensive than a long tele from Nikon or Canon or even Sigma/Tamron and much more rewarding.
Cheers!
--
Manny
http://www.pbase.com/gonzalu/
http://www.mannyphoto.com/
FCAS Member - http://manny.org/FCAS
larry wfu
Member
This is with a telescope (Meade ETX-90) that cost less than some of my Nikon lenses. The camera was a Sony 1.3 megapixel DSC-S30.
P
Patco
Guest
I have to agree with Jim, and he is conservative at 200mm.
Here's 2 of mine, with a 70-300VR, but I've seen lots better from other posters:
1/200s f/8.0 at 280.0mm iso400
1/500s f/5.6 at 300.0mm iso100
Patco
A photograph is more than a bunch of pixels
Here's 2 of mine, with a 70-300VR, but I've seen lots better from other posters:
1/200s f/8.0 at 280.0mm iso400
1/500s f/5.6 at 300.0mm iso100
--
Patco
A photograph is more than a bunch of pixels
GaryDeM
Veteran Member
to take a picture of the moon you need-
long lens 1000mm(35mm equivelent) about.
high iso(800?) to force afaster shutter speed.
exposure-the moon, odd as it sounds is hign noon sunlit. just like noon on earth. we are 240000 miles to moon, BUT earth or moon is 93000000 miles to sun. that determines exposure. as other replyer stated use sunny 16 rule. that is for a full moon 1/iso at f16. then bracket like crazy. shoot a very hign shutter speed to start, take more than 1 shot at each shutter speed(3) then go down to about 1/30sec.
use stong tripod.
use cable shutter release or self timer. if self timer this will take a while, and you will have to keep adjusting moon in viewfinder.
Use mirror lockup if your camera has it.
Turn IS,VR,SR off, your camera is on a tripod.
DO NOT TRUST LIGHT METER IN CAMERA. it is being fooled by all the black sky. even spot meter, if available will not help, it won't go small enough to get moon only. moon is only 1/2degree wide, smaller than any spot meter.
get away from city. turbulance and lights are bad news.
if 1000mm or so not available, use biggest available. crop in post-processing.
not as good as big lens but will work.
shoot many pics, you can always delete later.
happy moon pics. good luck.
also-
sunny 16 rule-
i/iso is shutter speed. if iso is 100 then shutter speed is 1/100about.
fstop is 16.0.
the f stop is f16. this a starting point. any lens is not at max sharpness at f16, so adjust fstop to f8 or f11, and move shutter acccordingly.
check moonrise times in your area. you want about 3 hours after moonrise to start your pic taking. this gives the moon time to get far enough above the horizon to clear the horizontal atmosphere and turbelance.
you also need crystal clear skys. NO rpt NO haze, clouds, or humidity. humidity is noticable if you have corana around the moon, this could also be haze. in which case shoot on another night.
happy moon pics.
gary
second reply-
on the subject of lenses-
i use the bigma(sigma50-500+1.4converter). a smaller lenses will work, you just have to crop. but, if cropping heavily do not expect a lot of detail, you just won't get it. though remember any lens is multiplied by the crop factor. so your 135 becomes about 200-205mm.
i shoot at iso800 and at f8.0 end up at about200th-400th of a sec. when start taking the shot i start at 1/1000 and go down to about a 1/30. i also should three shots at each shutter speed, thus increasing the odds of getting a good one somewhere in the bunch. i expect to hit the good shots as stated at about 200th-400th.
do not shoot if high humidity or haze or any kind of atmosspheric turbelence. it just is a waste of memory and time. i shot originally in a park in Detroit michigan on what i thought was a clear night, forget it. i actually got some good pics 200 miles north on the shore of Lake Huron. much better.
0ne thought, if available you can try putting a 2X converter on the lens, that would get to over 400mm. there are also several moon pic takers that use more than i converter. 2 2Xs or a 2X and a 1.4. it sound odd but the results are worth it. they are better than the crop heavy method.
do not underestimate how bright a 3/4 or just under full is in terms of brightness. it equal to highnoon on a cloudless day in the summer.
focus-
put lens on manual focus. then put it on infinity(assuming lens does not focus past infinity,some do) or manual focus.
f16.0 comes from the rule of 16. it is the starting point. if you want f8.0, as i use, then you move the shutter speed accordingly to get back to the EV. it is 1/iso for shutter speed under rule of 16. for f8.0 and iso500, for example, you move 2stops or 1/125. at iso500 the shutter speed is 1/500.
by the way, the above set of instructions work, i just got back from oscoda michigan, i live in detroit, used the same instructions, it worked.
also, with my setup: pentax *istD, bigma50-500 at 500, 2x converter, this gives 35mm equiv of 1500mm. the moon's size is almost exactly 1/2 of the short side of the frame. in other words, you need all the telephoto power you can get.
long lens 1000mm(35mm equivelent) about.
high iso(800?) to force afaster shutter speed.
exposure-the moon, odd as it sounds is hign noon sunlit. just like noon on earth. we are 240000 miles to moon, BUT earth or moon is 93000000 miles to sun. that determines exposure. as other replyer stated use sunny 16 rule. that is for a full moon 1/iso at f16. then bracket like crazy. shoot a very hign shutter speed to start, take more than 1 shot at each shutter speed(3) then go down to about 1/30sec.
use stong tripod.
use cable shutter release or self timer. if self timer this will take a while, and you will have to keep adjusting moon in viewfinder.
Use mirror lockup if your camera has it.
Turn IS,VR,SR off, your camera is on a tripod.
DO NOT TRUST LIGHT METER IN CAMERA. it is being fooled by all the black sky. even spot meter, if available will not help, it won't go small enough to get moon only. moon is only 1/2degree wide, smaller than any spot meter.
get away from city. turbulance and lights are bad news.
if 1000mm or so not available, use biggest available. crop in post-processing.
not as good as big lens but will work.
shoot many pics, you can always delete later.
happy moon pics. good luck.
also-
sunny 16 rule-
i/iso is shutter speed. if iso is 100 then shutter speed is 1/100about.
fstop is 16.0.
the f stop is f16. this a starting point. any lens is not at max sharpness at f16, so adjust fstop to f8 or f11, and move shutter acccordingly.
check moonrise times in your area. you want about 3 hours after moonrise to start your pic taking. this gives the moon time to get far enough above the horizon to clear the horizontal atmosphere and turbelance.
you also need crystal clear skys. NO rpt NO haze, clouds, or humidity. humidity is noticable if you have corana around the moon, this could also be haze. in which case shoot on another night.
happy moon pics.
gary
second reply-
on the subject of lenses-
i use the bigma(sigma50-500+1.4converter). a smaller lenses will work, you just have to crop. but, if cropping heavily do not expect a lot of detail, you just won't get it. though remember any lens is multiplied by the crop factor. so your 135 becomes about 200-205mm.
i shoot at iso800 and at f8.0 end up at about200th-400th of a sec. when start taking the shot i start at 1/1000 and go down to about a 1/30. i also should three shots at each shutter speed, thus increasing the odds of getting a good one somewhere in the bunch. i expect to hit the good shots as stated at about 200th-400th.
do not shoot if high humidity or haze or any kind of atmosspheric turbelence. it just is a waste of memory and time. i shot originally in a park in Detroit michigan on what i thought was a clear night, forget it. i actually got some good pics 200 miles north on the shore of Lake Huron. much better.
0ne thought, if available you can try putting a 2X converter on the lens, that would get to over 400mm. there are also several moon pic takers that use more than i converter. 2 2Xs or a 2X and a 1.4. it sound odd but the results are worth it. they are better than the crop heavy method.
do not underestimate how bright a 3/4 or just under full is in terms of brightness. it equal to highnoon on a cloudless day in the summer.
focus-
put lens on manual focus. then put it on infinity(assuming lens does not focus past infinity,some do) or manual focus.
f16.0 comes from the rule of 16. it is the starting point. if you want f8.0, as i use, then you move the shutter speed accordingly to get back to the EV. it is 1/iso for shutter speed under rule of 16. for f8.0 and iso500, for example, you move 2stops or 1/125. at iso500 the shutter speed is 1/500.
by the way, the above set of instructions work, i just got back from oscoda michigan, i live in detroit, used the same instructions, it worked.
also, with my setup: pentax *istD, bigma50-500 at 500, 2x converter, this gives 35mm equiv of 1500mm. the moon's size is almost exactly 1/2 of the short side of the frame. in other words, you need all the telephoto power you can get.
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