Moon Shot

[joemags]

I took this a few nights ago. I was up real late and couldn't sleep so I went out in the backyard and grabbed a few shots. It was very crisp and clear out and the moon was high up in the sky. I posted it over on Nature Photographers and got some great feedback so I thought I would post it here too. All C&C are welcome.

Take care,
Joe


1D Mark III
ISO 200
f8 @ 1/60
Tripod
Mirror lock-up with self timer

[megan]

WOW. Nice!

[joemags]

Hey thanks Megan!

[brmill26]

Absolutely fantastic. The full-res version must be amazing.

[joemags]

Thank you Brad. Actually, this is full-res as far as the moon goes. The image has not been resized. It has only had extra empty space cropped off of the frame. The moon at 300mm even on a 1.3 crop camera is quite small in the frame.

[Old Timer]

Very nice indeed Joe. Try as I might my moons never turn out like this.

[Ballen Photo]

Nice capture Joe! This is one time you can "shoot a Moon" and get away with it. ;-)
I like trying my hand at this on occasion as well. FUN.
-Bruce

[Speed]

That's a nice sharp image you got there Joe!

What lens did you use?

[Lao]

Now that's very nice. Well done! I'm interested in lens used too.

[retroactiv]

That shot rocks the house, I'd also like to know what lens you used. Very detailed, you can see the craters great.

[joemags]

Thanks everyone.
Sorry, I forgot to include the lens info. It was my Sigma 300mm 2.8
I have always loved this lens. It's amazing just how much time it spends on my camera.
A tripod is generally a must with 300mm. For static subjects I always try and use the mirror lock up and either a cable release or the ten second self timer. For moon shots of course a nice crisp clear night is needed and wait until the moon is very high because this minimizes how much atmosphere you are shooting through. You'll most likely be sitting or even lying on the ground but it will be worth it.

[Speed]

Thanks everyone.
Sorry, I forgot to include the lens info. It was my Sigma 300mm 2.8
I have always loved this lens. It's amazing just how much time it spends on my camera.
A tripod is generally a must with 300mm. For static subjects I always try and use the mirror lock up and either a cable release or the ten second self timer. For moon shots of course a nice crisp clear night is needed and wait until the moon is very high because this minimizes how much atmosphere you are shooting through. You'll most likely be sitting or even lying on the ground but it will be worth it.

Thanks for the info on the lens. That is a sharp piece of glass.

I know what you mean about it spending a lot of time on your camera. I leave my Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 attached to my D200. I only take it off if I need a wider field of view.

I've taken quite a few moon shots, both with my lenses and through my Celestron C8. I've not been real impressed shooting astrophotography with my D200, but I'm still working on that.

Here's a post of a moon shot I took with my N80 and my Celestron back in 2004:

A Clear Saturday Night

A partial solar eclipse:

Partial Solar Eclipse Photo's

Venus transiting the sun:

Venus Transit Photo's - Volume 3

[joemags]

Hey Speed thanks. I love that third series with Venus transiting the sun. Very nice. Something I really want to get into is long/multiple exposure deep sky astro-photography. I've been reading up on it for a while now but obviously will need an auto tracking mount. I would appreciate any input or recommendations you could make.

Take care,
Joe

[Speed]

Hey Speed thanks. I love that third series with Venus transiting the sun. Very nice. Something I really want to get into is long/multiple exposure deep sky astro-photography. I've been reading up on it for a while now but obviously will need an auto tracking mount. I would appreciate any input or recommendations you could make.

Take care,
Joe

Hey Joe,

Here's a link to Sky and Telescope's listing of astrophotogrpahy topics. They list quite a few specific topics with how-to's in each article. A tracking mount can be store bought or made out of screws that you turn by hand. Personally, I've been looking for a piggyback mount so I can mount my camera on top of my telescope so I can use my camera lenses to take long exposures of deep sky objects, such as nebulaes.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto/astrophotography

Here's a new release about a Portable Tracker:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/equip.../14040927.html

Hope this helps, and feel free to ask me any questions you may have. I've been an amatuer astronomer since I was twelve, and I've been doing astrophotography since 2003.

Robert

[joemags]

Thanks for the info Rob.

[JETA]

This is wonderful! I drug my husband's old junky tripod out about a week ago and tried and tried to get a good shot. Yours is REALLY good.

What kind of lens did you use if I can ask?

[joemags]

Thanks Jeta. The lens was a Sigma 300mm 2.8 EX APO HSM