Moon Help...

[FotoMike]

This was my first attempt at shooting the moon. How do I get it sharp? I can't really determine if it is truly sharp in the LCD. In fact I was very surprised when I brought it up that it was this soft. Is there a sure fire technique for this?
EDIT: I'm wondering now if it just simply that I am pushing my lens to the limit and it can't handle f/6.3 at 300mm could that be it? If so, is there a rule for how far to push it?


EXIF:
Camera: Canon EOS 20D
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 300 mm
Exposure: -2.15
Used Tripod as well.

[inkista]

Ok, here's a couple of things you can try that might help you increase your sharpness:

1) Stop down to at least f/8. Somewhere between f/8-f/16 is probably good to try. Most lenses are a lot weaker wide open then they are stopped down by one or two stops. At f/6.3, you're shooting wide open. This will probably do more for sharpness than the following three things combined.

2) Back off from the end of the range a little. Zoom lenses may be at their weakest at the extremes of the zoom range. Sometimes zooms are optimized for one end of the range over another. I'd say just back off a little from 300mm to 290 and see if that helps.

3) Make sure you've got a stable tripod and tripod mount. Longer lenses are going to be more sensitive to vibration. Everything gets magnified. Put your hand on top of the lens and help stabilize it.

4). Eliminate other vibration. If you've got some form of in-lens stabilization turned on, try turning it off. If you're using a tripod, try using a timer or a cable release. Mirror lock-up is a good feature to know about and activate if you're really paranoid about vibration.

[FotoMike]

Those are very good tips. I was kinda thinking that I having the lens wide open and at 300mm was part of the problem so I will keep that in mind for the next time I try it. I also made sure to put it on a timer as I was quite aware of the shake when I tried to just depress the shutter myself. Thanks for the help!