Last night's moon

kdog · September 22, 2005

I've been working on my moon shots.
Taken with a Canon 20D and 100-400L zoom, at 400mm, ISO200.

Thanks for looking, and please let me know what you think.

-joel

Higgmeister · September 22, 2005

Hi Joel,
I think I'm getting hungry for some cheese:D. Nice capture, the sharpening looks natural and not overly done. There have been several nice moon shots lately and this is one of them.

Thanks for sharing,
Chris

kdog · September 22, 2005

Thanks Chris!

andymillson · September 22, 2005

drool!!

Darn fine shot there! And I thought the one I took was good! Time to try again

D

kdog · September 22, 2005

Thanks Andy! :andy

DRT-Maverick · September 23, 2005

Now I've found a good reason to get that 50-500mm EX Sigma lens. hehe. I want to get photos of the moon too!

cabbey · September 23, 2005

WOW.

Was that a quick wide open shot? or a stopped down long exposure? (I've never gotten anywhere near that quality with either approach.)

kdog · September 23, 2005

Thanks, Cabby. I've tried it a few ways. That shot was f8, 1/80s. I have one shot that's just as nice although with some different characteristics that was taken wide-open at f5.6, ISO800, 1/640s. So there's no magic bullet, just standard techniques. Keep trying things and I'm sure you'll see incremental progress. My biggest problem is that I have a really crappy tripod. I'm in analysis paralysis trying to decide what I want. I'm also thinking about maybe investing in a TC. That's the problem with this hobby. You take one or two good photos and then you start thinking about all the other expensive toys you need to go to the next step.

cabbey · September 23, 2005

kdog wrote:

So there's no magic bullet

HAHAHA, that's an understatement.

Thanks for confirming that thought.

kdog wrote:

My biggest problem is that I have a really crappy tripod.

Hmm... yet you have L glass. I think we have the opposite problems, I'm really thinking my old 75-300 USM is the root of a number of my problems... yet my tripod is one of my best investments lately. I'm not sure it's quite hefty enough that I'd put $1.5K of L series glass on it without thinking really hard about it though... but it is light enough that I can take it darn near anywhere.

kdog wrote:

I'm in analysis paralysis trying to decide what I want. I'm also thinking about maybe investing in a TC. That's the problem with this hobby. You take one or two good photos and then you start thinking about all the other expensive toys you need to go to the next step.

Heh, yeah... perpetual analysis paralysis on the next neato toy. That describes just about all of my hobbies actually.

gus · September 23, 2005

Lovely shot K !!

Guys just passing on some advice i got in this forum from ian..

think it was ian.
Try using the sunny 16 rule, ie shutter = ISO..i gave it a whirl & wow ...how much easier was it.

I dont know if you are using RAW but this was shot at about 5pm in the afternoon & adjusted in RAW. Not exactly 'sunny 16' but every time i try the moon i always find it works the best these days.

Give it a try.

Gus

mereimage · September 24, 2005

Nice shot ....I've shot the moon with that same lens and I like your version, mine was a full moon and appearred a bit flat. I think the shadow/contrast along the R border creates an apparent sharpness that my shot lacked................................Mereimage

kdog · September 25, 2005

Humungus wrote:

Lovely shot K !!

Guys just passing on some advice i got in this forum from ian.. think it was ian.
Try using the sunny 16 rule, ie shutter = ISO..i gave it a whirl & wow ...how much easier was it.

I dont know if you are using RAW but this was shot at about 5pm in the afternoon & adjusted in RAW. Not exactly 'sunny 16' but every time i try the moon i always find it works the best these days.

Give it a try.

Gus

Gus, thanks a lot for the compliment. I hadn't seen your shot. If I had, I probably wouldn't have bothered posting mine. It's interesting to compare the two shots though. The texture of the surface of the moon in between the craters is very smooth on yours. Whereas the texture on my shots looks rough. On the other hand, my shot seems to expose more craters than yours. I wonder if the difference is the lighting, or the lens? It appears that my zoom seems to hold up pretty well to your prime.

Funny we both used crappy tripods, eh? Did you get a replacement yet? Cabbey's Manfrotto setup seems to be an very good value. I wish I'd gone that route from the get-go.

Just for grins I'll post both your shot and mine here for comparison.

First one is your shot:

Next one is one of mine. This is actually my f.5.6, ISO800 shot.

Similar, but so different, eh? I'd be hard pressed to say that either is better. I think it's a matter of the angle of the sun and probably the viewing angle from the earth that gives the different looks. Thoughts about that?

I did some looking into that sunny 16 rule. Evidently it only applies at f16 (that's what the '16' in the name means.) The rule was intended for folks that might be shooting film without a light meter. Simply set f16, shutter=ISO, and you're good to go. Or maybe you knew that. Not sure what it buys you with a digicam though.

So I sprung for a TC1.4 and remote shutter release. Can't wait to see if I can get some improvements. I bet that 400 prime of yours would love a TC.

gus · September 25, 2005

I have found the sunny 16 to be most accurate for me....its just a guide but it saves me a lot of shooting.

yep...that tripod is gone & have a new manfrotto 190 pro now with a manfrotto 222 grip ball head & i am in total amazement of how it moves & locks. I cant see me owning anything eles for my type of shooting.

I wont use TC's (tried andys at yosemite)...my shots are hard enough for me to get sharp without putting a TC into the equation. If i cant get it with 400mm then i dont want it. I will take a 500mm or 600mm though if you have one on a shelf under some dust in the garage.

Gus

gus · September 25, 2005

Now youve just cost me a few hours shooting the moon again tonight

Its a great subject.

grimace · January 26, 2009

That 1st shot is awesome!! Great detail!!

kdog · January 27, 2009

Dude, you've really been dipping into the archives.

It's funny to look at that old shot now. Embarrassing really. I've come a long way since then.

PS: How'd this end up in the MACRO forum?

Cheers,
-joel

Candid Arts · January 27, 2009

How were you able to get such detail? Aside from the obvious L glass...

I shot this photo using a 50-500mm Sigma at 500mm, 1/400, f/6.3, ISO 200, Canon 50D. Cropped from original 4152 x 3164 down to 1698 x 1132. This is all I could get... Is it cuz Sigma isn't that great? I have a very sturdy tri-pod, remote shutter release...

kdog · January 27, 2009

Hi Candid Arts. I'm pretty confident you can do better with your setup. Here are some thoughts.

Assuming your tripod is as stable as you say it is, here are a couple of things that will help stack the deck in your favor.

Shoot at F8 or F10, as it's unlikely that lens is sharpest at F6.3. Try to use the center of the lens. Might as well use ISO100 to get as clean a shot as possible (although it's the least of your worries on the above shot.)

Manually focus using live view instead of depending on the AF. Zoom in so that you'll see crater detail. This will eliminate any AF calibration issues, and locks up the mirror which is important at the lower shutter speeds you'll now be shooting at. You should end up somewhere around ISO100, F8, 1/100s.

For that shot, I used a Canon 400mm F5.6 lens, with two TC1.4X extenders. One was the Canon, and the other was a Kenko. I've had better photographers than me tell me that you can't get good results with stacked TC's. But good technique seems to prevail.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.
-joel

ian408 · January 27, 2009

Wow. I'm going to scoot this elsewhere--it's not a macro shot. That's for sure

Also note that moon will be pretty spectacular come Thursday and Friday. It'll be visible at sunset along with Venus.

Candid Arts · January 27, 2009

kdog wrote:

Hi Candid Arts. I'm pretty confident you can do better with your setup. Here are some thoughts.

Assuming your tripod is as stable as you say it is, here are a couple of things that will help stack the deck in your favor.

Shoot at F8 or F10, as it's unlikely that lens is sharpest at F6.3. Try to use the center of the lens. Might as well use ISO100 to get as clean a shot as possible (although it's the least of your worries on the above shot.)

Manually focus using live view instead of depending on the AF. Zoom in so that you'll see crater detail. This will eliminate any AF calibration issues, and locks up the mirror which is important at the lower shutter speeds you'll now be shooting at. You should end up somewhere around ISO100, F8, 1/100s.

For that shot, I used a Canon 400mm F5.6 lens, with two TC1.4X extenders. One was the Canon, and the other was a Kenko. I've had better photographers than me tell me that you can't get good results with stacked TC's. But good technique seems to prevail.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.
-joel

Thanks for the tip. I just had that lens as a rental, so next time I got a long telephoto lens, I'll give that a try. I was much more happy with these results versus results previous, but I couldn't get anything good on this one with anything less than like 1/320th (had to stop that motion of the earth moving). It was my first time photographing the moon though. Now I'm back in the city (these were taken in Alaska) so that freakin city light sucks and I don't have the long lens.

Thanks for the ideas though, something to try next time I can.

Last night's moon

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