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C-750 How to shoot the moon?

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eugenejcb

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Hi everyone, I am new to digital photography and I've been trying to shoot the moon but all I get is a bright circle and no definition at all, if you could help me out with this it would be greatly appreciated.
 
I shoot with a UZI and what I do is to use spot metering and have half of the moon "in the spot' and than I use AE lock. Not having IS will probable mean using a tripod too. Others probably do things differently. Look here for tips. eddy http://dpfwiw.com/moon.htm
eugenejcb said:
Hi everyone, I am new to digital photography and I've been trying
to shoot the moon but all I get is a bright circle and no
definition at all, if you could help me out with this it would be
greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
--
UZI + B-300 & 'Shoot to Kill'
 
What have you done or tried ?
Have you gone to manual mode ?
Have you tried spot metering ?

Do you understand the basics of photography ?
http://www.pbase.com/otfchallenge/the_basics

You have to remember that the moon is very bright, you will need a lot less light then you thing you do.

--
Bill Huber
 
Bill Huber said:
What have you done or tried ?
Have you gone to manual mode ?
Have you tried spot metering ?

Do you understand the basics of photography ?
http://www.pbase.com/otfchallenge/the_basics

You have to remember that the moon is very bright, you will need a
lot less light then you thing you do.
Click to expand...
I've tried spot metering and manual mode, but still get the same results, I might be doing something wrong, what do you suggest?
Bill Huber said:
--
Bill Huber
Click to expand...
 
eugenejcb said:
Hi everyone, I am new to digital photography and I've been trying
to shoot the moon but all I get is a bright circle and no
definition at all, if you could help me out with this it would be
greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Hi Eugene,

rather new to digital like you, I tried this moon game 2 weeks ago with the UZI and the TCON-17, too. I used spot focus, was in manual mode (after first checking in P (automatic) to get a rough idea of what shutter speed and aperture values the camera would choose itself (and was surprised about the short shutter speed)), then with the mode dial back to manual I went to manual focus, too, and here I found that I had to go back from "full infinity" several steps (cant remember 5 or 7), to get that moon really in focus.

So I guess my TCON thinks infinity begins way behind the moon. Can´t remember if the 14-B did the same.

I was not to pleased with the results, I did it handheld, just leaning to a tree, guess I should have used a tripod. And right after I was kind of blind on my left eye for a while from looking through the viewfinder at that bright moon (...of Alabama), no, Germany.

René
 
Here is a moon shot, look at the exif data and that should give you a starting point.
Remember that you can take all the pictures you want and it cost no more.

http://www.pbase.com/image/5305513&exif=Y

--
Bill Huber
 
René Schuster said:
eugenejcb said:
Hi everyone, I am new to digital photography and I've been trying
to shoot the moon but all I get is a bright circle and no
definition at all, if you could help me out with this it would be
greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Hi Eugene,

rather new to digital like you, I tried this moon game 2 weeks ago
with the UZI and the TCON-17, too. I used spot focus, was in manual
mode (after first checking in P (automatic) to get a rough idea of
what shutter speed and aperture values the camera would choose
itself (and was surprised about the short shutter speed)), then
with the mode dial back to manual I went to manual focus, too,
and here I found that I had to go back from "full infinity"
several steps (cant remember 5 or 7), to get that moon really in
focus.
So I guess my TCON thinks infinity begins way behind the moon.
Can´t remember if the 14-B did the same.
I was not to pleased with the results, I did it handheld, just
leaning to a tree, guess I should have used a tripod. And right
after I was kind of blind on my left eye for a while from looking
through the viewfinder at that bright moon (...of Alabama), no,
Germany.

René
Click to expand...
Thanks René, I have receive a lot of good feed back, on how to take this kind of shot, you should take a look at it i am sure it'll help you as it defenetly will help me. Thanks again.
 
eugenejcb said:
Thanks René, I have receive a lot of good feed back, on how to take
this kind of shot, you should take a look at it i am sure it'll
help you as it defenetly will help me. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
You are welcome, Eugene! Guess I am to new in this game to be of real help. And I sure will read the links others "longer in the business" suggested here.

Mainly I wanted you to know about that "few steps back from infinity" in manual mode with the TCON-17.

And I just looked at the EXIF of some of my attempts at moon shots, focus was not always on "spot" but also sometimes on "center weighted average" .
One question : What teleconverter do you use with your C-750?

René
 
Eugene:

you'll probably have to use manual mode, because chances are that even with the max -3 EV setting you'll still be way too bright if using Aperture Priority or Program mode. My recommendation is to to set the aperture to f/5.6 (that's just about where your lens is sharpest) and keep reducing the shutter time and snapping pictures. Good thing digital is cheap!!

Also, if manual focus is used you'll need to back of a few notches from "infinity". There's several posts on this forum that tel you that the manual focus does not work at inifinity.

Go to pbase and search for "Moon" and you'll find lots of pictures with EXIF data that will give you an idea.

Hope this helps,
Luc
 
This is a topic that's been done here before, so you might want to check out this thread...

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1008&message=3248617

and one of my personal favorites from the thread...

http://dpfwiw.com/moon.htm

This one gives very good info, including how fast a shutter speed you need to "stop" the motion of the moon across the night sky.

Regards,
Curt
eugenejcb said:
Hi everyone, I am new to digital photography and I've been trying
to shoot the moon but all I get is a bright circle and no
definition at all, if you could help me out with this it would be
greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
 
René Schuster said:
eugenejcb said:
Thanks René, I have receive a lot of good feed back, on how to take
this kind of shot, you should take a look at it i am sure it'll
help you as it defenetly will help me. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
You are welcome, Eugene! Guess I am to new in this game to be of
real help. And I sure will read the links others "longer in the
business" suggested here.
Mainly I wanted you to know about that "few steps back from
infinity" in manual mode with the TCON-17.
And I just looked at the EXIF of some of my attempts at moon shots,
focus was not always on "spot" but also sometimes on "center
weighted average" .
One question : What teleconverter do you use with your C-750?

René
Click to expand...
At this moment I am not using a teleconverter but I plan to get a 2.5x Digital Optics telephoto which I have read good reviews, and as soon as I get it I'll take into consideration the "infinity issue", thanks again.
 
luc614 said:
Eugene:

you'll probably have to use manual mode, because chances are that
even with the max -3 EV setting you'll still be way too bright if
using Aperture Priority or Program mode. My recommendation is to to
set the aperture to f/5.6 (that's just about where your lens is
sharpest) and keep reducing the shutter time and snapping pictures.
Good thing digital is cheap!!

Also, if manual focus is used you'll need to back of a few notches
from "infinity". There's several posts on this forum that tel you
that the manual focus does not work at inifinity.

Go to pbase and search for "Moon" and you'll find lots of pictures
with EXIF data that will give you an idea.

Hope this helps,
Luc
Click to expand...
Thanks Luc, I have seen some EXIF data with the kind of settings you're suggesting, I'll try them for sure.
 
curtisls said:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1008&message=3248617

and one of my personal favorites from the thread...

http://dpfwiw.com/moon.htm

This one gives very good info, including how fast a shutter speed
you need to "stop" the motion of the moon across the night sky.

Regards,
Curt
eugenejcb said:
Hi everyone, I am new to digital photography and I've been trying
to shoot the moon but all I get is a bright circle and no
definition at all, if you could help me out with this it would be
greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Thanks Curt, I'll check out.
 
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