Pictures of the moon

[MxMoney]

Hello,
I was browsing this site last evening and found a thread with pictures of the moon. Tonight I went out and took some pictures of the moon myself and was looking for that thread but I could not find it. I am a novice that just bought an Alpha and have been collecting lenses and learning to shoot manually. Tonight I used the SAL18200 to shoot at shutter 1/2000 auto aperture. Anyone want to contribute night skies to compare settings? I think I will learn a lot by trial and error but some of you guys seem to know what I want to know.
Thanks,
Jimmy in Virginia, USA
PS. I used the paper clip tool bar button to upload my image, it limited my pic to 640 x 480. Is this the best resolution we can upload?

[Canuck935]

Hey Jimmy,

That's a nice shot, but underexposed. A general starting point for shooting a full moon is the "sunny 16" rule since the moon is in full sunlight. You might want to try a simple levels adjustment to brighten the moon up in this image. Thanks for sharing!

If you want to post higher-res photo's you'll have to find somewhere that will let you upload larger res photo's and then just use the [img][/img] tags to link to them in the message.

[MxMoney]

Canuck935, Thanks for the reply. I am googling the "sunny 16" rule now.

[MxMoney]

Hey Jimmy,

That's a nice shot, but underexposed. A general starting point for shooting a full moon is the "sunny 16" rule since the moon is in full sunlight. You might want to try a simple levels adjustment to brighten the moon up in this image. Thanks for sharing!

If you want to post higher-res photo's you'll have to find somewhere that will let you upload larger res photo's and then just use the [img][/img] tags to link to them in the message.

Me again ......

I found the "Sunny 16" rule. Pretty cool!

Sunny 16 rule
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For the EP by Ben Folds, see Sunny 16 (EP)

In photography, the sunny 16 rule (or, less often, the "sunny f/16 rule") is a method to estimate correct daylight exposures without using a light meter.

The basic sunny 16 rule, applicable on a sunny day, is this:

* Set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed (reciprocal seconds) to ISO film speed.[1]

For example, for ISO 100 film, choose shutter speed of 1/100 second (or 1/125 second[2])

The elaborated form of the sunny 16 rule for more general situations is:

1. Set the shutter speed to the setting nearest to the ISO film speed
2. Set the f-number according to the table below:

Aperture Lighting Conditions Shadow Detail
f/16 Sunny Distinct
f/11 Slight Overcast Soft around edges
f/8 Overcast Barely visible
f/5.6 Heavy Overcast No shadows
f/4 Sunset

For example, to shoot ISO 100 film in sunny conditions, set the shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125 and the f-stop to f/16. With ISO 200 film, set the speed to 1/200 or 1/250. For ISO 400 film, 1/400 or 1/500. As with other light readings, the shutter speed can be changed, as long as the f-number is compensated. For example, 1/250th of a second at f/11 would be equivalent to 1/125th at f/16.

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[Clemmie]

Of course, one can also try a shot in P (Program) mode - which seems to compensate better for light/dark extremes than the AUTO mode - to get a baseline to experiment from.

I've been using the ISO 800 setting, and typically add +1/3 or +2/3 stop exposure compensation - getting f/5.6 with exposures of 1-2 seconds.

My yet-unconquered challenge, though, is getting a shot without a 'second moon' in it (getting reflections within the lens). Still working on that.

[pisco]

Clemmie, have you tried without the UV filter (or any kind of filter)?. I was taking night pictures of a x-mass star in a park and the star was reflected in another part of the picture. I though it was the lens, or the camera (I was trying it, they were the 1st shoots), after some thinking went back the following night, removed filters, and problem solved.

[Canuck935]

Good thinking pisco. A good multi-coated filter shouldn't cause any problems, but plain filters can cause weird phenomena with digital. There's the ghosting issue, where the image reflects off the sensor and then reflects again off the back of the filter back to the sensor. I've also seen weird linear patterns in the out of focus areas that seem to be caused by filters. It is likely it is also caused by reflections bouncing back and forth between CCD and filter.

Thus, I have no filters on any of my lenses except for one which has a good hoya MC filter on it.

[payn817]

Another simple solution for the moon shot is to try f/9 and spot meter on the moon, providing you can fill enough of the center with it. Then you can hold down the exposure lock and recompose. I've done this with success.

[Clemmie]

Clemmie, have you tried without the UV filter (or any kind of filter)?. I was taking night pictures of a x-mass star in a park and the star was reflected in another part of the picture. I though it was the lens, or the camera (I was trying it, they were the 1st shoots), after some thinking went back the following night, removed filters, and problem solved.

I haven't specifically tried the Moon shot without a filter, but did consider the possibility of reflections from the filter - even though I use good multicoated filters and they rarely cause a problem.

Experimenting in the house with a comparable lighting challenge - shooting at a light bulb (very bright concentration vs. a much dimmer background) - I was able to duplicate what I have encountered in both Moon and Sun shots, which is a secondary image reflection when the bright point is centered or a bit off center. This occurred both with and without a filter, so is either internal reflection within the lens, or a reflection from the image sensor bouncing back from the rear element of the lens.

It was noticeably less of a problem, when I put the same lens on my Maxxum 7 film camera for comparison - so the image sensor reflection would seem to be the likely culprit. I'll just have to be more mindful of angles of reflection when shooting.

[MxMoney]

I haven't specifically tried the Moon shot without a filter, but did consider the possibility of reflections from the filter - even though I use good multicoated filters and they rarely cause a problem.

Experimenting in the house with a comparable lighting challenge - shooting at a light bulb (very bright concentration vs. a much dimmer background) - I was able to duplicate what I have encountered in both Moon and Sun shots, which is a secondary image reflection when the bright point is centered or a bit off center. This occurred both with and without a filter, so is either internal reflection within the lens, or a reflection from the image sensor bouncing back from the rear element of the lens.

It was noticeably less of a problem, when I put the same lens on my Maxxum 7 film camera for comparison - so the image sensor reflection would seem to be the likely culprit. I'll just have to be more mindful of angles of reflection when shooting.

Speaking of Minolta Maxxum 7000's I bought one on eBay last week and received it today. Funny thing is I used a Nikon N70 for years and when I bought my first DSLR I went with the Alpha. After I bought the Alpha I started buying used "A" mount lenses on eBay. I bought the "beercan" and a prime 50mm 1.7 and than I bought the SAL18200 and a Tamron 70-300 than I thought I need a film camera to take advantage of all these bargain lenses so I bought the Maxxum. My first slr was a Minolta X700. Isn't that funny that buying a dslr made me go buy an old camera . I can't wait to shoot with it. A friend of the family is moving and gave me a black and white dark room. I am going to have so much fun working with it. I have been learning so much with the Alpha. Cheers, Jimmy