Fly Me To The Moon

[peteste]

As I just bought a Pentax 55-300mm telephoto lens and a nice Manfrotto tripod, I thought I'd share my first experiment - the Moon, shot from our backyard in the late evening.

[ressalg]

Very nicely done. Just goes to show what a tripod and the right lens can accomplish.

[peteste]

Yes, I'm surprised by how well it came out, although I had to wrestle the camera into manual mode as it was consistently over-exposing the moon so it came out looking like a lightbulb lol.

This shot was taken through the very heavy light-pollution and smog where I live in the eastend of London too - I'm going to be in deepest darkest, west Wales next week where the night is as black as your cat, so I'm hoping to get better ones, including the Milky Way if I can

[ressalg]

Originally Posted by peteste

Yes, I'm surprised by how well it came out, although I had to wrestle the camera into manual mode as it was consistently over-exposing the moon so it came out looking like a lightbulb lol.

This shot was taken through the very heavy light-pollution and smog where I live in the eastend of London too - I'm going to be in deepest darkest, west Wales next week where the night is as black as your cat, so I'm hoping to get better ones, including the Milky Way if I can

If that's the case, you may find this information useful:

Exposure Tables

It recommends lenses and exposures based on what you want to take pictures of. Be sure to share any you get.

[Bugette]

Originally Posted by peteste

Yes, I'm surprised by how well it came out, although I had to wrestle the camera into manual mode as it was consistently over-exposing the moon so it came out looking like a lightbulb lol.

This shot was taken through the very heavy light-pollution and smog where I live in the eastend of London too - I'm going to be in deepest darkest, west Wales next week where the night is as black as your cat, so I'm hoping to get better ones, including the Milky Way if I can

Very well done. Could I ask what settings you used?

[peteste]

Of course - EXIF data as follows, and I used manual focus with the moon in the centre to get it just right, and then panned slightly to the left so it was no longer centred (maybe it's me but I prefer it a little off to the side, so to speak ) It's a bit of a shame that the moon wasn't full but it does allow you to see some of the crater detail over on the left as it emerges from shadow:

ISO100
300mm
f5.8
1/30 sec

One pass of sharpening in Lightroom2, about a 50% crop so it wasn't lost in the blackness, and that's it

Oh and thanks ressalg, I'll be printing out that table - how interesting that at ISO100, it recommends an exposure of 1/30 second, just like I shot. It was quite hazy so I guess that accounts for the larger aperture.

[Bugette]

Originally Posted by peteste

Of course - EXIF data as follows, and I used manual focus with the moon in the centre to get it just right, and then panned slightly to the left so it was no longer centred (maybe it's me but I prefer it a little off to the side, so to speak ) It's a bit of a shame that the moon wasn't full but it does allow you to see some of the crater detail over on the left as it emerges from shadow:

ISO100
300mm
f5.8
1/30 sec

One pass of sharpening in Lightroom2, about a 50% crop so it wasn't lost in the blackness, and that's it

Oh and thanks ressalg, I'll be printing out that table - how interesting that at ISO100, it recommends an exposure of 1/30 second, just like I shot. It was quite hazy so I guess that accounts for the larger aperture.

thank you for the info. Will be a full Moon here tomorrow night. Going to give it a try.