focusing on the moon: I have a Nikon D7200. I tried shooting the moon last night using the back screen to focus with a 10X loupe. I think it is called Live View. The moon was so bright...

bobburk3 Loc: Maryland

I have a Nikon D7200. I tried shooting the moon last night using the back screen to focus with a 10X loupe. I think it is called Live View. The moon was so bright I could not see any detail to focus on. In addition, when using the loupe to focus, the texture of the screen is so pronounced, it is difficult to see detail of the subject (even when focusing on other objects besides the moon). I am open to ideas on how to use the back screen to focus.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

I would assume if you go to infinity it will be OK. Or at least close

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Raise the shutter speed until the screen brightness dims to a workable level for focusing.

Use the built-in magnifier, never use a separate loupe.

Tape the focus ring and the zoom ring in place ... and remember to go back to the proper shutter speed for exposure.

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Picture Taker wrote:

I would assume if you go to infinity it will be OK. Or at least close

With a pre-AF prime, usually true. Otherwise not even close.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

bobburk3 wrote:

I have a Nikon D7200. I tried shooting the moon last night using the back screen to focus with a 10X loupe. I think it is called Live View. The moon was so bright I could not see any detail to focus on. In addition, when using the loupe to focus, the texture of the screen is so pronounced, it is difficult to see detail of the subject (even when focusing on other objects besides the moon). I am open to ideas on how to use the back screen to focus.

Does your camera provide a "focus peaking" capability in LV?

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

bobburk3 wrote:

I have a Nikon D7200. I tried shooting the moon last night using the back screen to focus with a 10X loupe. I think it is called Live View. The moon was so bright I could not see any detail to focus on. In addition, when using the loupe to focus, the texture of the screen is so pronounced, it is difficult to see detail of the subject (even when focusing on other objects besides the moon). I am open to ideas on how to use the back screen to focus.

You don't tell us what lens you were using, but many times, when focusing on the full or nearly full moon, especially when using a longer lens, it is completely possible to use autofocus when photographing the moon. The trick is to be able to capture the limb (edge) of the moon in your autofocus zone, because there is generally not enough definition in the surface detail to reliably drive the autofocus systems of most cameras. The moon itself is bright...roughly the same brightness as earth at noon. So unless it is very small in your viewfinder, you may be able to simply manually focus through your viewfinder.

Finally...atmospheric conditions can significantly impact the amount of detail that is even viewable on the lunar surface. If there was a lot of haze in the air, it may have been the case that there was simply nothing visible to focus on when you were out.

Quixdraw Loc: x

I use a D7200 and most recently, Nikon 200-500 5.6. I set to Aperture, Spot, in this case, F11 at 1/800, ISO 3200, hand held and autofocus using the viewfinder. I am fortunate to live where skies are generally crystal clear (unless, of course there is some major astronomical event!) Oh, and I shoot JPEG. I certainly have better moon shots than this, but it is one of the most recent set. I just don't find taking moon pictures particularly complicated or difficult. I suppose it is like Clausewitz on war "Everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult."

bobburk3 Loc: Maryland

rehess wrote:

Does your camera provide a "focus peaking" capability in LV?

I have never heard of focus peaking. What is it?

bobburk3 Loc: Maryland

Picture Taker wrote:

I would assume if you go to infinity it will be OK. Or at least close

My lens does not show distance. Even if it did, those distance settings are not very accurate. I am looking for more precise focusing.

bobburk3 Loc: Maryland

quixdraw wrote:

I use a D7200 and most recently, Nikon 200-500 5.6... (show quote)

Thanks.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

bobburk3 wrote:

I have never heard of focus peaking. What is it?

Sharp edges {presumably those in focus} are shown

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/what-focus-peaking

Grahame Loc: Fiji

bobburk3 wrote:

I have a Nikon D7200. I tried shooting the moon last night using the back screen to focus with a 10X loupe. I think it is called Live View. The moon was so bright I could not see any detail to focus on. In addition, when using the loupe to focus, the texture of the screen is so pronounced, it is difficult to see detail of the subject (even when focusing on other objects besides the moon). I am open to ideas on how to use the back screen to focus.

Focus on the diameter edge which gives you a high contrast difference between light and dark. The DoF available will ensure all is in focus.

Bill_de Loc: US

From "Tips for shooting the moon" from B&H

Guess what? This is usually a part of lunar photography that isn’t challenging at all because the moon is bright and modern autofocus systems should have no problem locking good focus on the moon. For manual focus, use electronic focus guides, viewfinder prisms, and/or live view and focus peaking.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/14-tips-for-shooting-the-moon

--

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

bobburk3 wrote:

I have never heard of focus peaking. What is it?

To the best of my knowledge, Nikon has not put this feature on DX bodies. I know it's not on my D500. While it is usually a mirrorless thing it is on my D850 dslr. It works in manual focus mode (put the camera and lens in mf), go to live view, press the i button and use the multi selector pad to go down to PEAK and hit the center button on the multi selector pad. It will give you the options of off, peak level 1 (lowest sensitivity), level 2 (standard sensitivity) and level 3 (highest sensitivity). Press the i button again to exit the menu and manually focus the lens. Things that are in sharp focus will get a red highlight around or next to them (you can change the color). So you can see what the camera thinks is in focus. Adjust the manual focus until you are happy then snap the pic.

It is a very useful feature for when it's hard to get a lock in the view finder or live view AF mode or when you don't want to focus on the closest part of your subject.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Strodav wrote:

To the best of my knowledge, Nikon has not put thi... (show quote)

Both of my “APS-C” Pentax cameras can provide focus peaking when in LV mode; this is under menu control, where the default is “off”.