Crash = Tears

[ik631]

The last photo before my lens ate concrete. This was my first semi-successful attempt at a moon shot. I exposed for the moon. I shot on a tripod with a cable release and even had to lock up the mirror to get any amount of detail. Played around with the levels in ACR to make the moon appear more white than orange/yellow and black out the sky.

I was wondering how to get a little more detail out of the moon?


Also on another note since my lens is now dead and I think the required mourning period has passed any thoughts on the Tamron 70-300mm di vc as a replacement? Would this lens help give me more detail in the moon with the increase in length?

Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Canon EF-S 55-250 f/4-5.6 is
1/4
f/18.0
250 mm
iso 200

Thanks

[EOBeav]

If you need a good quality zoom, and you do mostly landscapes, you might consider the Canon 70-200mm f/4 L. It can be had for <$700US, and you're going to get some outstanding sharpness/detail for the price.

[Doug Sundseth]

1/4 second is awfully long, even at f/18. Was the moon down on the horizon when you were shooting? FWIW, I've had decent luck at 1/200 and f/11 or so.

1/4 second is right in the range where mirror slap or shutter press movement is worst. In addition, the moon moves pretty quickly across the sky, so you might be having motion blur issues. Finally, I don't know where you are, but if it's a warm night, you can get hot air related blurring as well. All of those would be helped by a shorter exposure.

[ik631]

Originally Posted by EOBeav

If you need a good quality zoom, and you do mostly landscapes, you might consider the Canon 70-200mm f/4 L. It can be had for <$700US, and you're going to get some outstanding sharpness/detail for the price.

While I'm tempted by an L lens I need a more general purpose telephoto. I find it really useful for getting in close with my kids without disrupting what they are doing and the IS version almost doubles the price.

Originally Posted by Doug Sundseth

1/4 second is awfully long, even at f/18. Was the moon down on the horizon when you were shooting?

The moon was on the horizon and was a sickly orange color in reality but I tried to make it more white in ACR. The darker color of the moon was probably part of what caused the long time as well. In the last 9 months since I bought my camera this was only the 2nd night where the sky was somewhat clear. The first time was 2 weeka after I bought it and the moon came out like a big gray blob so I wasn't passing up this chance. I thought since it looked bigger on the horizon it would be better. I'll have to be a bit more patient next time. Looking back the best one is the one with the shortest exposure. Thanks.