joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

I've had my best results using manual focus and being careful to set the lens focus ring on or slightly to the right of the infinity mark. Some lenses allow the focus ring to be turned slightly beyond the infinity mark, you don't want to go there. Tripod and remote shutter release, if you don't have a release, set camera to 2 second delay release.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I will make this simple for you. The majority of the problems we have using focus, manual or AF is almost always due to our own errors.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Hi, John. My wife has this camera.

Use Daylight White Balance — It’s 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 camera’s *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 (ETTR—expose to the right).

There is an EXCELLENT review of the D3300 at this address:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d3300

Also 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.)

dlmorris Loc: Loma Linda, Ca

A couple of quick comments. For the moon, 300mm is still kind of small. Don't expect to see fine detail when you crop the image. You can only get so much resolution from a given size and power of a lens. To help, you can stop it down a stop or two. Another thing, when shooting the moon (or any astronomical object) you should try to get it as high in the sky as possible. When it is near the horizon, you get a lot of atmospheric distortion, which will soften any image.

OldNotMold Loc: Just North of

Bill and others, when shooting the moon and perhaps other very distant objects, would you agree that it is best to manually set focus (spot focus on moon) at infinity or very slightly short of it and leave it there? That seemed to work best for me, one less thing to fool with as well.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Short of infinity is usually good. Infinity is really, really far. :D

WALL

The moon is at infinity. There is no focusing to be done. Set the lens to infinity. Using the auto focus is sure to bring errors.
Exposure for the moon is in the sunny 16 area. Full or half moon are the same. Small changes in exposure are what you should use. Auto bracketing would help.

Jim Bob

It's you. Try using a tripod or an extremely high ISO.

James R. Kyle Loc: Saint Louis, Missouri (A Suburb of Ferguson)

++++++++++++++++++++

YES! :-)

This is the way that I do it as well....

Manual exposure...

Manual focus....

Stabilization off...

And set the timer for 2 or 10 Seconds = No Wind with any lens Over 100mm.

I recently got some really good shots of the "Blood Moon" with a Tamron 150 - 600 (@600) With a 2X Tele-Extender.

I did have to set the timer to 10 seconds. They were good but No One can get the detail as with a Clear Moon (Regular Moon) The earths atmosphere with the Light bouncing twice from moon to earth with reflected light from the sun naturally does that.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Without seeing a sample image or two or three (with the EXIF intact), we're just guessing here. A couple more things...

The moon moves faster than most people realize, so too long an exposure will result in subject movement blur, no matter how good camera-holding techniques you use.

As mentioned, turning the focus ring manually as far as it will go won't work in most cases. Most modern auto focus lenses focus can travel beyond infinity. This is done for a couple reasons. One is that it allows for some shifting of elements and their relationship with each other inside the lens, such as might happen at different ambient temperatures. Another is that with auto focus it's just not necessary to have a precisely adjusted hard infinity stop, and adding it for lenses that will rarely (if ever) be manually focused would add to the cost of manufacture and the price you'd have to pay for the lens.

jrodenhuis Loc: Southeast NH

My apologies, it's the D3300

jrodenhuis Loc: Southeast NH

Brought the pics to work to upload but didn't bother to crop and they're too darn big to upload. will reduce and send.

THANKS to everyone for the comments and suggestions.

oh... yes i did use a tripod and remote trigger.

Thanks again,
John

jrodenhuis Loc: Southeast NH

Yes, set to single point. Tried to make all settings specific to center of pic.

jrodenhuis Loc: Southeast NH

Agreed, 300mm isn't optimal but you gotta shoot with what ya got. Looked at some better lenses but got "That" look from my wife. Maybe a christmas item....

jrodenhuis Loc: Southeast NH

Here we go....

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