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Can someone tell me what I need to take great moon shots?
Right now I have a Nikon d70s with an 80mm and a 300mm
Do I need extenders or bigger lens, or both?
Thanks
Can someone tell me what I need to take great moon shots?
Right now I have a Nikon d70s with an 80mm and a 300mm
Do I need extenders or bigger lens, or both?
Thanks
michmoldman,
kdog is the resident expert... and somewhere on here (probably a page or two back) he explains moon shots pretty well. But in lieu of the expert I can offer what I have learned by trial and error. As far as the number before the 'mm' on your lens... the bigger the better. I use a 300mm with a 2 x tele extender. That gets me to 600 mm and I would like to get to 800 mm or so (I am thinking of getting a 400 mm lens soon [500 mm on wish list]). Shutter speed should be around 1 over your focal length, if I remember correctly. For me, right now, thats 1/600 of a second. Adjust hole size (aperature) accordingly. Sturdy tripod is a must.
Thats all I got... but I suggest you dig back a couple of pages and read what the experts have to say. It'll be worth it. Good luck... and show your work!!!
kdog is the resident expert... and somewhere on here (probably a page or two back) he explains moon shots pretty well. But in lieu of the expert I can offer what I have learned by trial and error. As far as the number before the 'mm' on your lens... the bigger the better. I use a 300mm with a 2 x tele extender. That gets me to 600 mm and I would like to get to 800 mm or so (I am thinking of getting a 400 mm lens soon [500 mm on wish list]). Shutter speed should be around 1 over your focal length, if I remember correctly. For me, right now, thats 1/600 of a second. Adjust hole size (aperature) accordingly. Sturdy tripod is a must.
Thats all I got... but I suggest you dig back a couple of pages and read what the experts have to say. It'll be worth it. Good luck... and show your work!!!
Ok, thanks a lot. I guess I am hoping someone who may have the same, or close to the same camera as I have will come forward.
Thanks for the great info though!
kdog is the resident expert... and somewhere on here (probably a page or two back) he explains moon shots pretty well. But in lieu of the expert I can offer what I have learned by trial and error. As far as the number before the 'mm' on your lens... the bigger the better. I use a 300mm with a 2 x tele extender. That gets me to 600 mm and I would like to get to 800 mm or so (I am thinking of getting a 400 mm lens soon [500 mm on wish list]). Shutter speed should be around 1 over your focal length, if I remember correctly. For me, right now, thats 1/600 of a second. Adjust hole size (aperature) accordingly. Sturdy tripod is a must.
Thats all I got... but I suggest you dig back a couple of pages and read what the experts have to say. It'll be worth it. Good luck... and show your work!!!
A tripod is not always necessary. I did this shot with a monopod, which was only because my 300mm lens is so heavy. Of course at only 300mm, I did have to crop this down and even then, it does not fill the frame. But slapping an extender on would not mean I have to use a tripod, I could still use my monopod.
Can someone tell me what I need to take great moon shots?
Right now I have a Nikon d70s with an 80mm and a 300mm
Do I need extenders or bigger lens, or both?
Thanks
You have what you need already to take great moon shots with your 300. Get and post some great sharp exposures with that lens and show us the results. Once you've exceeded the capabilities of that equipment, that would be the time to start thinking about future purchases.
I don't have your camera or the lenses, so no help there... But it helps to shoot the moon:
1) on a tripod
2) with the camera mirror lock up
3) either remote or wired trigger
4) I haven't used the "Live View" (if your camera has the feature), but I heard many moon shooters, along with macro shooters, using it for better focused results
You have what you need already to take great moon shots with your 300. Get and post some great sharp exposures with that lens and show us the results. Once you've exceeded the capabilities of that equipment, that would be the time to start thinking about future purchases.
Bulldawnfan also gave you some good advice.
Ok thanks. last week I took some and it did not turn out. Just a round blurry ball. Didnt even seem to be magnified much. Ill try again.
I don't have your camera or the lenses, so no help there... But it helps to shoot the moon:
1) on a tripod
2) with the camera mirror lock up
3) either remote or wired trigger
4) I haven't used the "Live View" (if your camera has the feature), but I heard many moon shooters, along with macro shooters, using it for better focused results
If all you're getting is a bright blurry ball, then you're overexposing the moon. That is the most common problem folks have when shooting the moon. Shooting manual exposure is best. I've pretty much settled on ISO100, F8, 1/80s. You should be in that ballpark. If you want to shoot hand-held, you can bump your ISO up to ISO400 or 800, which allows you to increase your shutterspeed by the same factor. In doing so, you'll eliminate need for a shutter remote as well as mirror lockup. If your lens doesn't have image stabilization, then you may want a tripod for best results. I've taken many shots with my 20D/100-400 hand-held that look just like SYS's shots (those are darn good, btw).
Lately I've been playing with a 400mm prime lens and TC's. Here's the moon from the other night, taken with the 400 plus a Canon TC1.4x. This is slightly downsized from the original for display.
Regarding the small moon size in your images -- we all get that. You need to closely crop around the moon before you resize it for display. If your moon is nice and sharp, you won't even need to resize it at all after you crop (also known as a 100% crop).
Here's a 100% crop of the full moon taken with the same setup.
Here's one more. This is a half-moon taken with the 400 F5.6, plus TWO TC1.4X converters, for a combined focal length of just under 800mm (or 1200mm full-frame equivalent).
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