Full moon fever!!/Lunar "X"/General moon shots

[RHVC59]

... When you say "stay away from wide open", you mean shoot at like 200-225mm and not the full 250mm right? ...

No Wide open means the largest aperture.
ie f4.5 on a Nikkor ED 300mm 1:4.5 lens.
Lenses generally capture a sharper image with a smaller aperture a few stops from the widest aperture, at F8 to F16 with that lens.
F22 or what ever the smallest aperture with the smallest opening or highest F number on your lens has the widest depth of field, but again may not be the sharpest...

 

[gnd]

When you say "stay away from wide open", you mean shoot at like 200-225mm and not the full 250mm right?

No.
What he means is don't use your lens at the widest aperture. At full zoom that lens has an aperture of f5.6, try to close the aperture down to f8 for example.
Wide open aperture means the lowest aperture number that is possible at a given lens zoom. In your example that means f5.6 at full zoom or f3.5 at 55mm ...

 

[maddagascar]

woohoo! wish i didn't over expose the moon, but the picture looks awesome.

but i think that's what brought the clouds out more.

 

[nickXedge]

No Wide open means the largest aperture.
ie f4.5 on a Nikkor ED 300mm 1:4.5 lens.
Lenses generally capture a sharper image with a smaller aperture a few stops from the widest aperture, at F8 to F16 with that lens.
F22 or what ever the smallest aperture with the smallest opening or highest F number on your lens has the widest depth of field, but again may not be the sharpest...

No.
What he means is don't use your lens at the widest aperture. At full zoom that lens has an aperture of f5.6, try to close the aperture down to f8 for example.
Wide open aperture means the lowest aperture number that is possible at a given lens zoom. In your example that means f5.6 at full zoom or f3.5 at 55mm ...

Ahh, thank you both for clarifying. That makes much more sense than what I had thought.

 

[TheReef]

 

[mtbdudex]

Great shot TheReef, I love the way my eye wanders around the spaces just looking and exploring.

 

[103734]

Yep....
Ok I cheated, its a model of the moon

 

[nickXedge]

<image snip>

Yep....
Ok I cheated, its a model of the moon

I was about to say something like, "We need way more than 'Yep....'! What lens/camera did you use?!" But then in quoting, I saw what I didn't see on the thread.

Cheater!

 

[joepunk]

Lots of lovely moon shots abound here. Here's my contribution

 

[M-5]

Lots of lovely moon shots abound here. Here's my contribution

This is a really great shot. The colors are great, and the moon is crisp. I only wish the moon would pick a side and not be in the center.

 

[joepunk]

I wished that as well but I had too much tree branches further to the left and no snow covered mountains to the right.

 

[mtbdudex]

Yep....
Ok I cheated, its a model of the moon

"Well a model of it at least"...........

 

[stagi]

Wow, some great moon shots here! Great job!

 

[mtbdudex]

changed thread title to include general moon shots.
Besides astrophotography, I love the artistic moon shots people are posting.

I have a few more astrophotography shots to add....

I'm trying to capture the Lunar "X", http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Lunar+X ,

I got part of it here on 12-23 on the waxing moon phase, "Phase of the Moon on 23 December: waxing crescent with 40% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated. ":
Orig PP:

Diff PP shows it clearer on the 12-23 shot:

Now I believe I got it here feb 4 early morning on the wanning moon phase, depends on how I PP the picture how clear it is:

Phase of the Moon on 4 February: waning gibbous with 64% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated.
Moonrise 11:49 p.m. on preceding day
Moon transit 5:07 a.m.
Moonset 10:15 a.m.
Moonrise 1:01 a.m. on following day

PP version 1 shows it slighty...:

PP version 2, sorta here:

 

[mtbdudex]

I took this Jan 30th @ moonrise over the tree line in evening from my woodshop 2nd floor open window, about 700 feet away level with me.
I'm not sure if due to a very thin/whispy cloud layer or low to horizon or both, but the moon more yellow than its usual white at this moment.

 

[JNB]

A couple from January 9 & 12, 2009. The second is was at almost 8am of the setting moon.

 

[joepunk]

At some point I will post one of my point&shoot camera through a telescope image of the moon.

 

[mtbdudex]

How about a Lunar "X" challenge, Feb 20th?

How about a Lunar "X" challenge for Feb 20th?

I caught it 12/23/09 @ about 40 % waxing crescent, so looks like coming up tomorrow.

Sun and Moon Data for One Day

The following information is provided for Howell, Livingston County, Michigan (longitude W83.9, latitude N42.6):

Saturday
20 February 2010 Eastern Standard Time

SUN
Begin civil twilight 6:57 a.m.
Sunrise 7:25 a.m.
Sun transit 12:49 p.m.
Sunset 6:14 p.m.
End civil twilight 6:43 p.m.

MOON
Moonrise 9:25 a.m. on preceding day
Moonset 12:13 a.m.
Moonrise 9:57 a.m.
Moon transit 5:33 p.m.
Moonset 1:20 a.m. on following day



Phase of the Moon on 20 February: waxing crescent with 36% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated.

First quarter Moon on 21 February 2010 at 7:42 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Lunar+X

I'll post my shots here.

 

[mtbdudex]

I was not able to get the "X" this time.
I'm trying to pin-point predict it, looks like its just after 40% waxing crescent based on me getting it 12/23/09, last night at 36% waxing clearly not close to being exposed yet.
I got shot 3.5 hours before moonset then clouds came, still not visible. I'm guessing even if no clouds and I took a shot before moonset still not visible.

I was curious if others could help narrow the 3-4 hour span "X" is visible to say 40 or 41% waxing via their capture date/time/location.

7:09:44 PM:

9:53:23 PM (just before clouds came)

Try again next month..

 

[NeGRit0]

Quick Question....

I have this lens, first off, i assume since browsing through a lot of the shots at 200mm were decent that i should have a decent reach..... But how do i focus? I assume AF wont work, and last time i tried to shoot the moon (i think i was using the kit 18-55mm though) i could barely see it in the viewfinder, let alone try to focus on what i was able to see. Or am i just jumping the gun? Should i just wait and see what happens when i go out tonight?

I already planned on heading out tonight to try to get a pano of the LV Strip, so i figured i would give this moon photography a shot while im out as well.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[mtbdudex]

I have this lens, first off, i assume since browsing through a lot of the shots at 200mm were decent that i should have a decent reach..... But how do i focus? I assume AF wont work, and last time i tried to shoot the moon (i think i was using the kit 18-55mm though) i could barely see it in the viewfinder, let alone try to focus on what i was able to see. Or am i just jumping the gun? Should i just wait and see what happens when i go out tonight?

I already planned on heading out tonight to try to get a pano of the LV Strip, so i figured i would give this moon photography a shot while im out as well.

Thanks for any feedback.

I'd try this for focusing with your 70-300:
-Live view
-10x
-move focus window to "contrasty" portion of moon
-hit live view focus button

works great on my 55-250 kit lens, should work on yours.
good luck.

 

[NeGRit0]

I'd try this for focusing with your 70-300:
-Live view
-10x
-move focus window to "contrasty" portion of moon
-hit live view focus button

works great on my 55-250 kit lens, should work on yours.
good luck.

I only have a XTi, so no live preview. Guess i will just have to make due looking through the viewfinder. Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[DaveOZ]

Shot last night.

 

[VirtualRain]

Here's one from tonight...

 

[RHVC59]

Thumbnail moon from the 17th
Lens
Nikkor * ED 300mm 1:4.5 with a Nikon TC-301 2x Teleconverter
ISO 100 F/11 .5 sec, Tripod

Daylight Handheld
Lens
Nikkor * ED 300mm 1:4.5
ISO 320 F/11 1/1000