Hi, John. My wife has this camera.
Use Daylight White Balance Its daytime on the visible part of the moon.
Use a Tripod It keeps your camera steady.
Use Mirror Lock Up If your camera supports it, it eliminates shake from the mirror movement. (I don't think the D3300 has this feature, but others with other cameras will read this thread.)
Use a Remote Release It eliminates shutter jab vibrations or shake.
Use Manual Exposure Set the cameras *native* ISO, which may not be the lowest ISO. On Nikons, it is usually 200. DO NOT use AUTO ISO to shoot the moon.
(It's daytime on the moon! Daytime exposure on Earth is 1/ISO at f/16, or any equivalent exposure. So NOMINAL exposure will be 1/200 at f/16, or much better, 1/800 at f/8 (see below). Atmospheric conditions on Earth usually limit this to a lower shutter speed, which is why you bracket exposures (see below).
Use f/8 on that lens. Anything SMALLER (f/11, etc.) will limit sharpness due to diffraction. Anything LARGER (f/5.6) will not optimize sharpness on that lens. With a D3300, 24MP DX sensor, *diffraction limiting of sharpness* starts around f/6.3, but f/8 gives you better overall performance with that lens. (In fact, for the best sharpness on that camera, period, try to avoid apertures smaller than f/8 on all lenses, unless a smart phone depth of field calculator tells you you need a smaller aperture!)
Adjust the Viewfinder Diopter for perfect viewing of a sharp image on the ground glass.
Turn off AF and focus manually! You can use manual focus with AF assist, so long as you use only the center sensor and point it at the center of the moon.
Turn off VR when using a tripod.
BRACKET the shutter speed in 1/3 stop intervals from 1/125 to 1/2000. Make at least one exposure at each shutter speed value in that range (1/125, 1/160, 1/180, 1/200...).
Finally, shoot in RAW. The D3300 uses rather aggressive noise reduction when processing JPEGs at low ISOs, and that robs you of some sharpness. (See the DPReview review listed below for great examples of this...)
Process your images from raw files to JPEGs and apply a sensible amount of noise reduction and sharpening in Lightroom or a similar post-processing package. Use the exposure with a just-full histogram for best results (ETTRexpose to the right).
There is an EXCELLENT review of the D3300 at this address:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d3300Also worth watching is Tony Northrup's excellent YouTube video on the D3300 at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmWBW8aZSS0 (Copy and paste this link into your browser's URL line.)
Hi, John. My wife has this camera. br br Use Day... (