Now, here is the truly useful part. For astro photography there is a basic rule for stopping the movement of things in the sky. It varies depending on whether full frame or cropped sensor and resolution of your body. I use full frame D850 and follow the 300 rule. Take 300 and divide it by the focal length lense in use.
Dave proposes to use about a 850 mm lense. 300/850 is roughly 1/3. That means if he uses any shutter speed over 1/3 of a second there will be apparent movement. To be safe I would shift that to 1/6. Now, take the basic exposures I show above and shift them to this situation.
Let's use the 300mm one to start. Shift aperture from f5 to f5.6 (1/3 stop). Shift exposure from 8 seconds to 1/6 second (5 1/3 stops) This means iso must go up 5 2/3 stops. Which takes it from 200 to roughly 10,000.
Yikes!!! Even if you back out speed to 1/3 that brings iso down to 5000. Fairly dicey for noise.
Now, if you are in any kind of turbulent unstable air the 900 mm is going to give you heat shimmers. Be prepared to ditch the 1.4 converter. That buys you one stop of light for the converter plus a briefer exposure requirement from the 300 rule. I am willing to bet that will be the better compromise.
I hope this helps.
PS If you have any difficulty focusing on the moon, shift into manual focus and focus on a prominent star in live view. Needless to say get out of auto white balance. Use daylight or 5000K. Yes, you should be shooting in RAW.
I shoot Canon 77D rebel in
raw +JPEG. The JPEG can be quick printed to give friends right away. They will snap with cell phones nut we know how that ends up, tiny dots
What tracker do yo use. I have a Celestine AVX. Gem that I can mount a camera on. Would be much much easier to use my tripod with my
Tamron 150-600mm G2.
I did a solar eclipse but happens quick.
Thank you for the clarification. Not sure how to access the older post!!
Orphoto wrote:
Image #2, same camera & tracker but using an older Nikon 600mm f5.6. Settings 8 secs, f11, iso 800
A tracker is the game changer. I see a difference in sharpness between the image I posted and the images in your post. Am I wrong?
For tracking I use an Ioptron Sky Guider Pro mounted on my usual Gitzo tripod. It can handle my d850 and 500mm f4 ai-p lens. Realistically you would not want to put more weight than that on it. To work with this setup requires a 2nd counter weight shaft and sometimes a 2nd weight.
The good news is that the lunar eclipses last for quite a long time, allowing plenty of fiddling with settings and set ups. I try to use 2 cameras, one for combining moon plus terrain and the second one for longer lens on the tracker.
Strodav wrote:
I'm looking forward to it. I have my 600mm f/4, 1.4x, Z9, remote trigger and a very sturdy tripod ready. I'll be shooting manual, shutter about 1/500, f/4, at whatever ISO is needed. When it looks good in Live View Mode, I know the exposure is about right, but I'll probably bracket +/- 1 1.2 stops just to be sure. I love shooting the moon. This should be fun.
I will be at a location that will afford good viewing, so will bring all my gear.
Of course for me, all listings of cool astronomical events are awesome weather predictors: it will likely be overcast:
Go out on any full moon...slap on a red filter...fire away.
Lots of 'Blood Moon' images out there...taken every month.
For what it’s worth my anecdotal experience
Super Blood Wolf Moon Total eclipse
Canon 6D MK II.
Taken in raw format
100-400 L at 400mm
ISO 1600. 2 seconds. f8. White balance 5100k
Live view remotely controlled and adjusted with iPhone paired to camera
Manual focus and sturdy tripod.
Camera set outside 3 hrs before to acclimate to 25 degrees f
If you do Double download you will see I made a mistake or two here with these settings. It was my first attempt. The key mistake was using a 2 second exposure which yielded slight star trails and a slightly blurred moon. I subsequently learned I should have used a one second max exposure at least at 400mm.
You live and learn.
BTW this is a low resolution photograph sized for social media
wdross
Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado
genocolo wrote:
“ Total ‘Blood Moon’ eclipse to rise over US this weekend
The moon will plunge into darkness this weekend to create a celestial spectacle that has not been seen in the sky over the entire contiguous United States since the turn of the decade.”
Suggestions as to how to capture?
NASA has information under a search of "eclipse" for shooting the moon during the eclipse.
wdross wrote:
NASA has information under a search of "eclipse" for shooting the moon during the eclipse.
They are the pros, and their information is quite reliable. Here are a few things to remember that not everyone will consider or mention:
1. A large part of the country is going to be under a very unstable atmosphere. Warm air rising through cold air, moist air mixing with dry air. This is going to create a lot of "atmospheric shimmer" in those areas. Use the shortest exposure possible. One second or even a half second will likely be too long, regardless of lens focal length, to get the sharpest image if you are in this area.
2. There is as much as a three stop difference in the brightness of the moon from a position at the horizon to a position overhead. Your
exposure requirement will change as the evening progresses, even without an eclipse. By the way, it is brightest overhead, not at the horizon, as it often appears.
3. There is as much as a two stop difference between the brightness of the moon in moisture-laden coastal air and clean, dry desert or mountain air. Water vapor scatters or absorbs a lot of light.
This is just a little more detail behind my comment about considering any exposure specifics provided here to be only a starting point. You are going to have to be prepared to try, evaluate, and try again.
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