Shooting the moon with a SX530 HS

The Moon is a basic sunlit scene, so you can use the "Sunny 16" rule-- shutter speed of 1/your ISO, aperture f/16 (for example, at ISO 100 use 1/100 second)... trade off one setting against another if needed to stay within your camera's capabilities and tweak as necessary for a pleasing shot.

Use the TV setting. Set the shutter speed to 1/100. The camera will select aperature.

My 2 cents... Are you having trouble with exposure or focus? If focus you can focus on the edge of the moon if using AF so there is some contrast for it to get a fix or just use manual focus at infinity. Make sure your camera is set so that it does not continuously try to focus. You want to get the focus and then not focus again. I'm not familiar with sx530 so check owner's manual if you don't know how to do that.  I find manual focus the easiest.

As far as exposure others have recommended some methods that will work and I would add that I have the best luck shooting in M mode and then just adjust your shutter speed until you get the exposure you want. Aperture will probably be already set as you will be zoomed in all the way (just use lowest aperture number it will let you choose at 1200mm equivalent, f.e. f/6.3 or whatever).

Make sure to use a long delay on your self timer so as to avoid the vibrations, etc. in the camera/tripod. Try not to walk around (ground vibrations) while it is settling down in the time between when you press the trigger and when it takes the shot. Hanging some weight on the bottom of your tripod may help also but isn't needed if it's a heavy tripod probably. Avoid shooting on a windy night if possible.

Also keep in mind that atmospheric distortion is the biggest enemy you are dealing with. Shooting on a night after a hot day may give you blurrier results than if you shoot on a cool early morning f.e.

Lastly shoot the moon when it is half full (or at least 1/4 or 3/4) vs. full. You will get a lot more contrast and clarity that way as the sun's rays are going across the moon's surface (just like golden hours here on earth).

Also just an FYI you can also shoot Jupiter and Saturn with your 1200mm camera. Start with moon first as those are harder to get though. For planets, the exposure should be more like 1/25 vs. as others said above the moon is a very bright object an completely different exposure wise.

FuriBee wrote:

Hello,

I just purchased a PowerShot SX530 HS and I'm having difficulty photographing the moon (I'm using a tripod).

Can someone recommend iso, speed, & aperture settings I should be using or at least starting point settings?

Thanks...:-)

I used the following settings on my SX540: ƒ/5.6 1/400 171.564 mm ISO160. You might want to try setting the light metering to "spot".

Just remember to turn OFF image stabilization if you are using a tripod!  Otherwise IS can induce vibrations and make the image out of focus.

Also, focus the camera at infinity.  Otherwise, the image won't be crisp.

Finally, the point about what amateur astronomers call *seeing* is important.  Many. Ugh ta conditions in the atmosphere are turbulent and images will be, too.  Photographing over concrete,driveways, or buildings — e.g., where heat is coming off during the winter — will mess up the images, too.

lorenzo wrote:

Just remember to turn OFF image stabilization if you are using a tripod! Otherwise IS can induce vibrations and make the image out of focus.

Also, focus the camera at infinity. Otherwise, the image won't be crisp.

How can you do this? In manual focus the lens may overrun infinity and i would have thought a lot of these cheap cameras leave leeway in case the focusing with normal manufacturing tolerances has the end stop falling short of infinity which would be a major problem.

Even with a scene mode for infinity it is still using AF I would have thought.

Finally, the point about what amateur astronomers call *seeing* is important. Many. Ugh ta conditions in the atmosphere are turbulent and images will be, too. Photographing over concrete,driveways, or buildings — e.g., where heat is coming off during the winter — will mess up the images, too.

AllFlawed wrote:

lorenzo wrote:

Just remember to turn OFF image stabilization if you are using a tripod! Otherwise IS can induce vibrations and make the image out of focus.

Also, focus the camera at infinity. Otherwise, the image won't be crisp.

How can you do this? In manual focus the lens may overrun infinity and i would have thought a lot of these cheap cameras leave leeway in case the focusing with normal manufacturing tolerances has the end stop falling short of infinity which would be a major problem.

Even with a scene mode for infinity it is still using AF I would have thought.

Finally, the point about what amateur astronomers call *seeing* is important. Many. Ugh ta conditions in the atmosphere are turbulent and images will be, too. Photographing over concrete,driveways, or buildings — e.g., where heat is coming off during the winter — will mess up the images, too.

Manual focus works just fine for this. Here is Jupiter with 4 of its moons and Saturn with the pocket camera sx730is using MF.  900million miles is too far for AF

Sx730

Great shots but presumably there is no infinity to set to and you are presumably assessing the shot for focus which will be at infinity. It was setting the lens to infinity that perplexed me which I suppose can be done on an expensive lens marked for infinity.

The power of this little lens is pretty amazing really.

AllFlawed wrote:

Great shots but presumably there is no infinity to set to and you are presumably assessing the shot for focus which will be at infinity. It was setting the lens to infinity that perplexed me which I suppose can be done on an expensive lens marked for infinity.

The power of this little lens is pretty amazing really.

Fwiw I tried at maximum allowable manual focus, and then just a hair under that, and then just a little under that. The max allowable focus was best.

Well, on the digicams I own, I simply go into the Focus setting, and it lets me select the distance.  I push it all the way to the end, to Infinity, and that works fine for night sky shots. One of my much older digicams even has a dedicated Infinity button on the top of the camera.

It's when I don’t do that and leave the focus setting on the default Normal (or, forget that the last time I used the camera I had picked Macro) that the photos come out blurry.

Cameras with a dedicated custom mode can be great for this.  Set all the parameters you want, in advance, including shutter speed, ISO, and focus distance, and simply turn the dial to C when doing constellation shots. Works like a charm.   However, there are some cameras with a C mode that forget certain settings — e.g., the Panasonic ZS40!

A bit late for the OP, but I just tried the same thing with my SX530HS and the result is here

http://starrydave.com/?p=1071

Maybe the settings will help others.

Not too shabby for a second hand camera on an old tripod.