Moon Help, Part 2: Last week I sent in this first pic looking for help. Lots of suggestions, unfortunately we've had nothing but cloudy days since. First crystal clear night was the...

capmike Loc: New Bern, NC

Last week I sent in this first pic looking for help. Lots of suggestions, unfortunately we've had nothing but cloudy days since. First crystal clear night was the new moon, then the next with the moon setting before dark. Last night was my first chance to put the suggestions to work, and posted is the result. Is this as good as it gets? This was on a tripod, 1/250, F 6.3, ISO 100. D 850 with 300 PF and 1.4 tele.

Thanks,

(Download)

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

[quote=capmike]Last week I sent in this first pic looking for help. Lots of suggestions, unfortunately we've had nothing but cloudy days since. First crystal clear night was the new moon, then the next with the moon setting before dark. Last night was my first chance to put the suggestions to work, and posted is the result. Is this as good as it gets? This was on a tripod, 1/250, F 6.3, ISO 100. D 850 with 300 PF and 1.4 tele.

Forget all of the darkness because that is not important. The moon is as bright as daylight here and sunny daylight so set your setting like you are shooting a daylight picture here.
The first one is way over exposed. And maybe look at your glass.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Significant improvement.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

#2 is the usual good photo of the moon. However that fact that only a slice of #1 is not blown accents that the man on the moon has acute acne. #1 Shows well and drives home just how scared the surface of the moon is. How lucky we are that we have an atmosphere that burns up most of the space debris that is aimed our way.

ELNikkor

...and then look at Alfie's shots on this site with his Canon 1/2.3 sensor bridge camera...

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

[quote=paulrph1]

capmike wrote:

Last week I sent in this first pic looking for hel... (show quote)

I'm thinking a lot of people here, especially newbies of digital only backgrounds don't know or understand the Sunny Sixteen Rule. In sunlight an average exposure would be at f/16 aperture and 1/ISO sec as a shutter speed. Thus the OP starting point could have been 1/100 s, f/16, ISO 100. Not actually a good choice with a > 300mm Lens. So 1/400 sec, f/8, ISO 100 and also try at f/6.3 and f/9. Yes, make a manual exposure!

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

capmike wrote:

Last week I sent in this first pic looking for help. Lots of suggestions, unfortunately we've had nothing but cloudy days since. First crystal clear night was the new moon, then the next with the moon setting before dark. Last night was my first chance to put the suggestions to work, and posted is the result. Is this as good as it gets? This was on a tripod, 1/250, F 6.3, ISO 100. D 850 with 300 PF and 1.4 tele.

Thanks,

It's not bad for that setup, a 600mm prime lens with that tele converter would be better, or your camera on a telescope would be better, but the images would not be worth the investment required to get them. I have seen some pics taken with some of these small cameras with super zooms that were actually good, but those cameras are no substitute for your D850.

The image below was taken with a 500mm f/4 and a 1.4X Tele-converter, it was probably handheld but, like I said I have seen better from a Nikon P900 but I would never trade my camera for a P900.

(Download)

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Since you are using a D850, you might want to compare with not using the teleconverter and simply cropping. Focus is important. Be sure to use Live View and zoom the image for best possible focus. When the moon is low in the sky, you will need to add exposure...sometimes as much as three stops may be desired. If you've ever had opportunity to see lunar material, it is pretty dark. A realistic image of the moon will not be white, but rather brown/orange tinted gray. White balance should be for sunlight...about 5600K or so.