This is the MOON? (Page 2): If the moon nearly filled your viewfinder at 55mm when you first looked through it, it was most likely because it was way out of focus.

Mark L

arkitekt2 wrote:

I REALLY want to photograph the moon.

So i went outside this evening to try photographing the moon. When i set up my shot, the moon nearly filled the view, then the camera automatically refocused and this is what I got. HELP???

Nikon D3200
VR 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G
Focal length 55mm
Focus mode AF-A
AF Area mode Single
VR On

Aperture F/5.6
Shutter Speed 1/5s (I was stabilized on a fence)
Exposure comp 0EV
ISO 800

Thanks in advance.

If the moon nearly filled your viewfinder at 55mm when you first looked through it, it was most likely because it was way out of focus.

arkitekt2 Loc: Warwick, NY

The Saint wrote:

55mm is no way a long enough reach to get to the moon. 400mm would be better suited f/11,iso 100, 1/6ss, -2ev, tripod, mirror lockup, manual focus. !39,000 + miles away.

see, now THAT is the image I am looking for.

creativ simon Loc: Coulsdon, South London

arkitekt2 wrote:

I REALLY want to photograph the moon.

So i went outside this evening to try photographing the moon. When i set up my shot, the moon nearly filled the view, then the camera automatically refocused and this is what I got. HELP???

Nikon D3200
VR 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G
Focal length 55mm
Focus mode AF-A
AF Area mode Single
VR On

Aperture F/5.6
Shutter Speed 1/5s (I was stabilized on a fence)
Exposure comp 0EV
ISO 800

Thanks in advance.

Longer lens required

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

arkitekt2 wrote:

I REALLY want to photograph the moon.

So i went outside this evening to try photographing the moon. When i set up my shot, the moon nearly filled the view, then the camera automatically refocused and this is what I got. HELP???

Nikon D3200
VR 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G
Focal length 55mm
Focus mode AF-A
AF Area mode Single
VR On

Aperture F/5.6
Shutter Speed 1/5s (I was stabilized on a fence)
Exposure comp 0EV
ISO 800

Thanks in advance.

No, it's pixels on a screen.

busted_shutter

Bloke wrote:

Your distance is a bit off... The moon's average distance from Earth is close to 250,000 miles!

He said +...lol...just a real big +. :-D

pjreed Loc: Tonopah, Arizona

arkitekt2 wrote:

see, now THAT is the image I am looking for.

You can get a good image with a kit 55-200mm lens.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

arkitekt2 wrote:

I REALLY want to photograph the moon.

So i went outside this evening to try photographing the moon. When i set up my shot, the moon nearly filled the view, then the camera automatically refocused and this is what I got. HELP???

Nikon D3200
VR 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G
Focal length 55mm
Focus mode AF-A
AF Area mode Single
VR On

Aperture F/5.6
Shutter Speed 1/5s (I was stabilized on a fence)
Exposure comp 0EV
ISO 800

Thanks in advance.

Yep, that is the moon and that what it's looks like when shot at 55mm. Why shoot the moon with such a focal length? That's almost an wide angle lens? !! You also mentioned that the camera automatically refocused, I guess you magnified, using Live View for focusing? That is just a focusing aid, it does not zoom, you're still shooting/focusing a 55mm lens.

Croce Loc: Earth

arkitekt2 wrote:

I REALLY want to photograph the moon.

So i went outside this evening to try photographing the moon. When i set up my shot, the moon nearly filled the view, then the camera automatically refocused and this is what I got. HELP???

Nikon D3200
VR 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G
Focal length 55mm
Focus mode AF-A
AF Area mode Single
VR On

Aperture F/5.6
Shutter Speed 1/5s (I was stabilized on a fence)
Exposure comp 0EV
ISO 800

Thanks in advance.

Unless you managed to get within a few feet of the moon that is what you will get with a 55mm lens. You need at least 400mm to get any detail at all on the moon.

arkitekt2 Loc: Warwick, NY

250K, eh? Thats about how many miles I had on my Mazda when I finished college.

perri cooper

A beautiful shot to be sure.

blackest Loc: Ireland

Apart from use a longer lens and a tripod, the obvious fact (which isn't obvious because we are in the dark) is that it is sunny on the moon! big aperture, long exposure is going to give a white spot. Thanks to this thread I learned.

Currently there is Comet Ison speeding towards the sun and in theory visible to the naked eye in the east about an hour before dawn.

Any suggestions for capturing the comet?

There were enthusiastic predictions of it being brighter than the moon in magnitude but I think it will be less. It's fairly small in size a bit less than a mile across and may break up.

Nikon_Bill Loc: South Florida

I shot this with a 300mm lens. I find that a more 'normal' lens just can't pull in the view enough. I shoot at 1\500th sec. and f/11 and ISO100. The moon is like a beach in the day time. All that black space throws the in camera meter off. Editing is also as important to crop and make final adjustments.
Don't give up easy. Look at some of the Youtube clips and see how others have been doing it. You'll get there. :)

Loony shoots1

blackest Loc: Ireland

This was my attempt it's cropped down. iso 100 f5.6 1/125th sec
used a 300mm manual sigma with a 2x teleconverter and it was still about a stop under. I think the teleconverter makes the f-stop effectively f11. It was just after midnight on a tripod and the moon was very high in the sky.

Nikon_Bill Loc: South Florida

To use a teleconverter, or crop in the computer...which renders the best final result? I would think the computer crop better, but have not tried both to compare with the same equipment on the same shot. That is one I must do next, and I'm sure you will want to know too.
I will share a shot of Jupiter that I shot at the same time as the moon shot you see above. That involved major cropping but used the 300mm lens only. A real surprise.
I pushed the exposure, and contrast in Photoshop. It looked like only one pixel of white when viewed at first. A very small area around the dot on my screen produced this after the exposure and contrast were maxed up greatly.

Pushed processing with 300mm lens

blackest Loc: Ireland

well here are 2 jpgs with and without the teleconverter and as rendered by the camera, iso 100 1/500th at f11 renders black for me