Some Astrophotos

[steph]

Took a pic of the moon last night
Tamron 28-200mm at full zoom, then cropped.

After that, a 12min bulb exposure @ 5.6, 200ISO for some star trails. The colours came out nicely.

Sorry these are only low res.

http://members.shaw.ca/stephsdigitals/images/temps/moon1.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/stephsdigitals/images/temps/startrails1.jpg

[critter]

Nice shot of the moon....like it!!

[Dennis]

Great pictures, Steph.
What exposure did you use for the moon picture ?

I have tried this several times and have yet to get anything worth keeping

Dennis

[steph]

I believe it was 1/100s at f11

[Tom V]

When you determine your exposure, I would think that you could use the spot meter, and use its reading (assuming you want the moon to come out 18% gray). A lot of people mistakenly think you have to use a long exposure time, wide aperture or fast film, because it is dark out. The moon is lit directly by the sun and is bright enough to be seen in daytime - so it really is not a dark subject at all. And you have to remember that it is a moving subject. Through a long lens (1000mm?), that sucker can move across the frame in several seconds.

With the digital camera's x1.5 lens factor, now your longest lens will be able to determine with which kind of cheese the moon is made of.:p

[Tim]

I've always had pretty good luck using the Sunny 16 rule for the moon- if it's full. If it's half full, open a stop, and at 1/4 full, open 2 stops. That's the starting point and very little bracketing is usually required.

Tim

[Ron Green]

Per Tom's comment about the moon moving when viewed through long lens, here's a small jpeg copy of the moon taken with a 1200mm (800 x1.5) Nikkor. And, it didn't move even slightly, alas though a small depth of field problem at f16.
Stats: S2, ISO 100, f16 @ 1/125 (Rule of 16, manually set). Raw unsharpened 300dpi file, reduced in size to 800 pixel wide Jpeg at 72dpi.
Ron

[Dennis]

Many thanks to all you guys for the information about moon photography. I am all keyed up ready to try out your instructions, but the weather has closed in. Here in Scotland, it could be spring before I ever get to see the moon again <g>

Great pictures....thanks again for the help

Dennis

[MrFish]

Steph,

I seem to be unable to view your photos, i would especially like to see your moon shot. Could you post the photo here?

ps. i loved the Britain photos taken with the 4900 on your website. The Fuji 4900z was always a very underrated camera in my opinion.

[steph]

I cleaned out my web folder!