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Trying to capture the moon

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Remmelt Mastebroek

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Hi,

Can anyone tell me how I can make a decent picture of the moon, by night. Here the sky is clear. I do not use any supplements, just the magnificent A1 itself. I've tried a few things but I am not satisfied yet. Please sent me some usefull tips !!!
Thanks.

Remmelt
 
Remmelt,

Remember the light from the moon is reflected from the sun's, so it's far brighter than you or your TTL meter thinks. For 100 ISO start with 1/125 at f8 and work around that. As it's a digicam you don't have to worry about wasting film anyway, just experiment.

--
m.
 
Hi,

I just uploaded the moon-pictures to my PC and I was a bit amazed !! They were not bad at all !! (no craters visible but anyway (just kidding)).The best one was at ISO100 and a shutterspeed 1/160 sec (all automatic in P-mode).

Now I wil try to interpolate the image in PS and see what becomes of it when I zoom into it.

Remmelt
 
Remmelt Mastebroek said:
Hi,

Can anyone tell me how I can make a decent picture of the moon, by
night. Here the sky is clear. I do not use any supplements, just
the magnificent A1 itself. I've tried a few things but I am not
satisfied yet. Please sent me some usefull tips !!!
Thanks.

Remmelt
Click to expand...
Use spot metering and point very well to the moon. The moon is so bright that it requires daylight exposure. Normally you will get 1/400s or something, even with ISO50. But then, 200mm zoom will probably not give you a lot of detail.

Here is the best shot I could make yesterday with 650mm zoom:



Good luck!
Steven
 
Well Steven,

Since I do not have those kind of tele-mm's I should be happy with my own results !!
What kind of lens are you using ?? Is it on an A1 ??

Remmelt.
 
Remmelt Mastebroek said:
Well Steven,

Since I do not have those kind of tele-mm's I should be happy with
my own results !!
What kind of lens are you using ?? Is it on an A1 ??

Remmelt.
Click to expand...
I use a Z1 with the Olympus TCON-17 1.7x teleconverter. The Olympus works great on the A1 too. It sells for $99 new and a little cheaper on eBay. Then again, with a teleconverter your A1 5MP/12bit resolution should get you a similar or better result!

Groeten,
Steven
 
A fast lens is nice to get enough shutter speed to freeze the moon. It actually moves pretty fast, epecially when you are zoomed way in. Also, quarter moon show craters better because the light is not direct so there are shadows.

I think I took this on a borrowed digital rebel or d60 or 10d, a 1-400 lens plus 1.4 and 2x teleconverter. I think ISO was 400 or 800 to freeze the moon with such a slow lens (F16, after conversion, or I may have stopped down for sharpness to F/22+) So the focal length was about 1800mm, and there still just isn't a huge amount of data. People seem to have better luck shooting through telescopes, but I don't know how that works.


Remmelt Mastebroek said:
Hi,

Can anyone tell me how I can make a decent picture of the moon, by
night. Here the sky is clear. I do not use any supplements, just
the magnificent A1 itself. I've tried a few things but I am not
satisfied yet. Please sent me some usefull tips !!!
Thanks.

Remmelt
Click to expand...
 
Remmelt Mastebroek said:
Hi,

Can anyone tell me how I can make a decent picture of the moon, by
night. Here the sky is clear. I do not use any supplements, just
the magnificent A1 itself. I've tried a few things but I am not
satisfied yet. Please sent me some usefull tips !!!
Thanks.

Remmelt
Click to expand...
--You have some good advice in this thread already. I will add that at 200mm - D7 through A2 - you should be thinking of taking a picture with the moon IN it, not just a picture of the moon.

Imagine a shot like this with the moon in a suitable place. Since it wasn't available that night, I settled for some stars. Anyway, you can see my point.



Jim Rickards



Photo critiques are always welcome.
 
Steven Oostdijk said:
When you do that, please use the "highlight" option in PhotoShop,
then you do not get the black box around the moon...
Click to expand...
LOL - okay, I got lazy...it looks fine on my poor old monitor, guess it really is time for a new one! Any recommendations for a reasonably priced 21" or 22" CRT?

--
Tricia
 
Steven Oostdijk said:
Tricia said:
...but once you have the moon and a good scene,
Click to expand...
When you do that, please use the "highlight" option in PhotoShop,
then you do not get the black box around the moon...

Click to expand...
Steven,

That is not a bad idea, but I think your monitor is adjusted poorly if you can see the black boxes. I calibrated my monitor using Adobe gamma and had to increase the brightness a LOT from that setting to be able to see the black box around the moon (from about 30-35% max brightness to over 50% max brightness). However, many people probably have their monitors turned up much too bright, so I agree that it makes sense not to introduce unintended artifacts, just in case. :o)

--

 
hmmm, i shot the moon last night, 1/20th of sec at f11, with a X8 ND filter on, this is with the A1 X2 magnify, nothing else, the result is in the challenge section of pbase, for those who want to see it (plug plug) http://www.pbase.com/mtf_foto_studies , it was my first real attempt, i'm pleased with the outcome.
John down under said:
Steven Oostdijk said:
Tricia said:
...but once you have the moon and a good scene,
Click to expand...
When you do that, please use the "highlight" option in PhotoShop,
then you do not get the black box around the moon...

Click to expand...
Steven,

That is not a bad idea, but I think your monitor is adjusted poorly
if you can see the black boxes. I calibrated my monitor using Adobe
gamma and had to increase the brightness a LOT from that setting to
be able to see the black box around the moon (from about 30-35% max
brightness to over 50% max brightness). However, many people
probably have their monitors turned up much too bright, so I agree
that it makes sense not to introduce unintended artifacts, just in
case. :o)

--

Click to expand...
--
Simon

“Minolta A1, if I were an optimist, I’d see the donut, if I were a pessimist, I’d see the hole. It all depends on what you want to see”
 
John down under said:
That is not a bad idea, but I think your monitor is adjusted poorly
if you can see the black boxes. I calibrated my monitor using Adobe
gamma and had to increase the brightness a LOT from that setting to
be able to see the black box around the moon (from about 30-35% max
brightness to over 50% max brightness). However, many people
probably have their monitors turned up much too bright, so I agree
that it makes sense not to introduce unintended artifacts, just in
case. :o)
Click to expand...
Hi John,

My monitor is a Philips LCD with a DVI connectioin, so I cannot change the settings even if I would like to ...on my work, yes if I turn down the brightness setting fromm 45% to 9% I do not see the boxes anymore...

I have tried this Adobe stuff, that is nice if you are professionally editing your pictures, but most people think it makes your settings quite dull...

See, I have calibrated my monitor with the Philips software that came with the monitor for maximum color depth and minimum noise (I also use the VGA connection for another computer). Why would I have to calibrate it again with Adobe? I think only the color temperature settings would make a difference.

Anyhow, this starts to sound like whining, maybe I should not talk about this early morning, rather late evening after a good glass of wine....makes the whole picture so much clearer....

Cheers,
Steven
 
Steven Oostdijk said:
John down under said:
That is not a bad idea, but I think your monitor is adjusted poorly
if you can see the black boxes. I calibrated my monitor using Adobe
gamma and had to increase the brightness a LOT from that setting to
be able to see the black box around the moon (from about 30-35% max
brightness to over 50% max brightness). However, many people
probably have their monitors turned up much too bright, so I agree
that it makes sense not to introduce unintended artifacts, just in
case. :o)
Click to expand...
Hi John,

My monitor is a Philips LCD with a DVI connectioin, so I cannot
change the settings even if I would like to ...on my work, yes if I
turn down the brightness setting fromm 45% to 9% I do not see the
boxes anymore...

I have tried this Adobe stuff, that is nice if you are
professionally editing your pictures, but most people think it
makes your settings quite dull...
See, I have calibrated my monitor with the Philips software that
came with the monitor for maximum color depth and minimum noise (I
also use the VGA connection for another computer). Why would I have
to calibrate it again with Adobe? I think only the color
temperature settings would make a difference.

Anyhow, this starts to sound like whining, maybe I should not talk
about this early morning, rather late evening after a good glass of
wine....makes the whole picture so much clearer....

Cheers,
Steven
Click to expand...
Hi Steven,

I'm with you on that one. I might even grab a glass of red pretty soon and sit down for a good movie! Calibration is handy for consistency between different monitors in different systems and between the monitor, scanner and printer in the same system. I agree it is not essential, but it does provide a frame of reference for consistency. I often read posts from people talking about things they see in the picture that I cannot see on my monitor, so I guess lots of people turn their monitors up much brighter than the 'standard'.

 
John down under wrote:
Not being rude guys & gals,

but i dont have a whopper of a monitor myself (oh and tricia, if you are willing to pay the int. packing, there is a auction house here in australia

http://www.graysonline.com.au that deals with surplus Dell equipment amongst alot of other IT supplies and they recently had auctions for 21" mons going for $600AUD, quite a saving if you have the USD behind you [assumption on my part], furthermore, i do believe there will be plenty more in the future....)

And i can clearly see the black box around the moon, not arguing your monitor isnt calibrated, but perhaps checking it again may be an option, or seeking a second opinion, becuse my mon has brightness max 20% and it stuck out like "dogs balls" to me...

scott.
John down under said:
Steven Oostdijk said:
Tricia said:
...but once you have the moon and a good scene,
Click to expand...
When you do that, please use the "highlight" option in PhotoShop,
then you do not get the black box around the moon...

Click to expand...
Steven,

That is not a bad idea, but I think your monitor is adjusted poorly
if you can see the black boxes. I calibrated my monitor using Adobe
gamma and had to increase the brightness a LOT from that setting to
be able to see the black box around the moon (from about 30-35% max
brightness to over 50% max brightness). However, many people
probably have their monitors turned up much too bright, so I agree
that it makes sense not to introduce unintended artifacts, just in
case. :o)

--

Click to expand...
--
may the photo be that which you want others too see.
 
ozkitemare said:
John down under wrote:
Not being rude guys & gals,

but i dont have a whopper of a monitor myself (oh and tricia, if
you are willing to pay the int. packing, there is a auction house
here in australia
http://www.graysonline.com.au that deals with surplus Dell equipment
amongst alot of other IT supplies and they recently had auctions
for 21" mons going for $600AUD, quite a saving if you have the USD
behind you [assumption on my part], furthermore, i do believe there
will be plenty more in the future....)

And i can clearly see the black box around the moon, not arguing
your monitor isnt calibrated, but perhaps checking it again may be
an option, or seeking a second opinion, becuse my mon has
brightness max 20% and it stuck out like "dogs balls" to me...

scott.
Click to expand...
Thanks Scott. Maybe I'm the one with the incorrect adjustments on my monitor, but I can't see how I could have got Adobe gamma wrong. The concept isn't rocket science and the program is a common standard for calibrating monitors as it comes with all PhotoShop AFAIK. When I turn up my brightness enough to see the black box, other blacks are no longer as black. The Adobe gamma calibration set things up so you can just see the lowest level of black in the test pattern (and does some other things). That black level is meant to be only just slightly brighter than a reference black. There are even darker blacks that are blacker than black and you are not meant to be able to see them. The same principle applies for calibrating your TV, which most people do not do either.

In any case, thanks for telling me about your experience. It may be that your video card is set up to provide a much brighter output than mine or it may be something else. I think I might have to do some more research, including downloading some test patterns (if I can find any) to see what they look like. I just looked at the grey scale at the bottom of a dpreview page and I had to turn brightness up a lot to be able to clearly differentiate between X, Y and Z (the darkest colours), so maybe my monitor or procedure is not so great after all. I'm glad I made my comment to start with to get some feedback that might help me discover the truth. :o) This extra brightness might take some getting used to.

 
dsl said:
hmmm, i shot the moon last night, 1/20th of sec at f11, with a X8
ND filter on, this is with the A1 X2 magnify, nothing else, the
result is in the challenge section of pbase, for those who want to
see it (plug plug) http://www.pbase.com/mtf_foto_studies , it was my
first real attempt, i'm pleased with the outcome.
Click to expand...
Yes it looks nice. Actually a couple of nights ago, I had the same idea for an entry in the Challenge, went to take some handheld photos which didn't work out, so I was planning to go back out with a tripod till I saw your entry. Oh well, I'll work on something else.
 
dsl said:
hmmm, i shot the moon last night, 1/20th of sec at f11, with a X8
ND filter on, this is with the A1 X2 magnify, nothing else, the
result is in the challenge section of pbase, for those who want to
see it (plug plug) http://www.pbase.com/mtf_foto_studies , it was my
first real attempt, i'm pleased with the outcome.
Click to expand...
Why are you forcing such a slow shutter speed? The moon is moving. Are you trying to intentionally blur it or smooth it like some of those waterfall shots that have been posted? I have found that on some nights 1/60 is all I can get with the lens wide open even though I would rather use 1/125 or 1/250. But here you are going the other way.
 
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