MOON: Hand held moon shot taken with a P&S Kodak Z 990...

photosbyhenry Loc: Apple Valley MN

Hand held moon shot taken with a P&S Kodak Z 990

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

Not bad for handheld.
I got this on a tripod.

PhotoArtsLA Loc: Boynton Beach

Here's the moon and Jupiter, not quite to scale. I shot both images this evening, but composited Jupiter a little bit closer to the moon, and at a greater magnification to show it as a planet. The relative angle is about correct between the two.

Oh, the tech:

Nikon D7000, Manual Focus Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 with matched 2x multiplier (FX lens) for 600mm focal length with DX crop, making it about 18x magnification overall.

And yes, focus confirmation DID work on Jupiter.

Manfrotto Tripod with Kaiser Ball Head.

Moon Exposure: ISO 800, 1/100th @ f/16

Jupiter Exposure: ISO 1000, 1/125 @ f/16

Moon and Jupiter

Donaldaq

The Moon and Jupiter were a lovely sight last night.

PhotoArtsLA Loc: Boynton Beach

Here is a shot, again, composited of the Moon and Jupiter. This time, everything is to scale. Each is at 100% of image size. Jupiter was exposed to show moons. There are FOUR moons in this shot.

Unfortunately, the scaling done by UH makes the fourth moon very tiny and dim. It is to the right of Jupiter about three times further than the bright, inner moon.

The Manfrotto tripod and ball head are NOT the most stable things in the world, I have come to find. Unlike a good Gitzo, this tripod (the Manfrotto) has what we call "coffee nerves." At 18x magnification, I find the D7000's shutter can shake this tripod. That is bad. And it is a fairly high end Manfrotto, over $300 as I recall.

This is an odd example of "Shooting After Dark" on my Daylight Stage. There were no models in sight.

January 3, 2012 Moon and Jupiter - four moons total

This is the normal type of shooting "Shooting After Dark" Involves

tmdingle Loc: California

Great shot. Here is an image I captured on 1/2/12. The settings are below:

Sony A580 DSLR
Celestron 6 inch Advanced GT
German Go To Equatorial Mount
ISO - 800
F10
1500mm

PhotoArtsLA Loc: Boynton Beach

tmdingle wrote:

Great shot. Here is an image I captured on 1/2/12. The settings are below:

Sony A580 DSLR
Celestron 6 inch Advanced GT
German Go To Equatorial Mount
ISO - 800
F10
1500mm

Your image is an inspiration. I have always built my telescopes (Newtonian) from scratch. But the world is now too busy, and so I plan to third party CNC together an amazing high precision snap together telescope, James Bond style. It will likely be a 12.5" f/4.5 to f/6 with a latest generation computer controlled mount. My last Newtonian, a 6" f/10, is still around, with an Edmund manual equatorial mount. It is over two decades old...

We have a few good scope areas in California, but few where you will find creme brulee to enjoy and cappucinos to drink. My plan is to go in style. The 30 amp sine wave AC system is soon to go into my vintage Mercedes. It's mainly for location shooting, but will also drive a laptop and a scope and make cappucino with abandon.

PhotoArtsLA Loc: Boynton Beach

I did a little work on the RAW file, shot around 1 a.m. on my Daylight Stage. Just looking into enhancing detail.

Nikkor 300/2.8 with 2x matched multiplier, Nikon D7000, ISO 800
exposure f/16 at 1/100 second.

Another Moon

Donaldaq

That's no Moon!

PhotoArtsLA wrote:

Here is a shot, again, composited of the Moon and ... (show quote)

tmdingle Loc: California

PhotoArtsLA wrote:

quote=tmdingle Great shot. Here is an image I ca... (show quote)

Sounds great. 12.5" f/4.5 should yield many magnificient images. I drive with Stellarium connected to the Advanced Celestron GT and enjoy it very much. Happy shooting and please let me know if and when you find that creme brulee.

Greg in ohio Loc: East Columbus, Ohio

Heres one from the other night. It was somewhat windy, and the moon was directly above. I do not normally use "live view", but in this case, it was necessary.

Shot with a Canon T3i w/ 55-250mm lens, f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 100-obviously cropped.

MtnMan Loc: ID

Given all the moon shots I finally got inspired to drag my nearly 40 year old C8 out from below the house. Then it took another week to locate a key part. I finally did so last night and it clouded up with a promise of snowstorms (finally!) all week. Got up early this morning and it is clear out. So tried my first shots with it.
I need to work on focus, probably try RAW, and use my remote release but here is what it does so far.
No cropping here. So I don't know if there is a way to get the whole thing in.

Donaldaq

Seems that the only way you may get the entire Moon in the frame is a: when there is a crescent Moon (you can rotate the camera to fit it in frame of course) or b: when the Moon is further away from Earth in its orbit (it does vary and it DOES make a difference in how large the Moon appears to us). Looks like a very good first attempt to me. I love the Moon but I despise its difficulty to expose properly, especially on film. Keep up the great efforts.

MtnMan Loc: ID

I was wondering if there is a different length tube to do that. The one I have is from my SLR days...i.e. for a non-cropped "sensor". That would be enough to get the whole thing.

If not I am thinking of trying the Panorma stitcher in Photoshop Elements to get the whole thing.

I think the secret now is getting the focus right. Next time I'll blow up the edge to get it better.

The telescope has a tracking motor which I didn't use this morning. That may help a smidge also.

Donaldaq wrote:

Seems that the only way you may get the entire Moon in the frame is a: when there is a crescent Moon (you can rotate the camera to fit it in frame of course) or b: when the Moon is further away from Earth in its orbit (it does vary and it DOES make a difference in how large the Moon appears to us). Looks like a very good first attempt to me. I love the Moon but I despise its difficulty to expose properly, especially on film. Keep up the great efforts.

MtnMan Loc: ID

I did take some in RAW. Been fiddling with the processing.

Still think I need to work on the focus.