Camera Litmus test - Picture of the Moon!

Adonis · 10-11-2008, 09:28 PM

Now, my old Kodak DX7590 can't take a picture of the moon. I can play with the settings all I want, but it only goes up to ISO 400 (and a few other limitations). All I get is a hazy blob of varying degrees of brightness...

My new camera, however

... you can actually make out some detail -- and this is just the Large Jpg (haven't done the RAW version yet)

Settings: f 5.6 1/1000s 300mm ISO 800 (shutter priority - duh)

Rebel XSi

(33% size -- full size [but still cropped] here)

Gil · 10-12-2008, 12:47 AM

It's a bit out of focus

Adonis · 10-12-2008, 07:24 AM

Aye. I haven't got all the settings down exactly - nor have I asked the Internet or a camera expert what they should be.

Still. A slight improvement over the old camera

Gil · 10-12-2008, 07:56 AM

For one you have to set the focus to infinity. Other than that use a tripod or fixed location and go wild.

Adonis · 10-12-2008, 08:04 AM

I was going to get a tripod. I was trying to get a bag that would fit everything first...

I'll try to adjust the focus distance again tonight.

Phil G · 10-12-2008, 08:56 AM

It helps to shoot through a telescope.

This was with an ancient Epson PhotoPC 640x480 camera. Meade ETX. Prime focus.

The Sun with the appropriate filter of course. Note the sunspots at the upper right.

Same camera handheld:

Moon and Orion in the background with fireworks.

Gotta get my Celestron N5 out and try my Pentax *isD DSLR soon...

Gil · 10-12-2008, 10:16 AM

You guys inspired me:

100% - no reduction just a bit of cropping

Adonis · 10-12-2008, 03:19 PM

Picked up a tripod today.

Uh. How about this link?

We have a telescope up in storage, I'll see if I can drag it out and set that up too.

Not terribly happy with the tripod. Seems to be suffering some 'manufacturing defects' - or it's just really, really stiff.

As in I practically have to stand on it to collapse it when it's 'unlocked'...

Adonis · 10-12-2008, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil G

It helps to shoot through a telescope.

Cheater.

Talondale · 10-13-2008, 07:48 AM

Nice Gil. What was your setup?

Gil · 10-13-2008, 08:35 AM

Panasonic FZ-50 at 420mm on a tripod on my balcony. Shot in full manual at ISO 100, F3.7, 1/500. The white balance was automatic but it did a good job of making the moon look... cheesy

Even at insane zoom the moon is still pretty small. This is the rezided but uncropped pic:

What's really shocking to me is that you can see the atmospheric distorsions. You can see the whole moon surface is shimmered and the edge has a slight shine. Any shot zoomed more should be taken in a place with clearer atmosphere and less light polution to get a good result.

**InkTank** · 10-13-2008, 09:58 AM

There was a full moon last night so I broke out the tripod and took a few shots. I'm not qure of all my camera's settings, but I think I got at least one decent shot. I think it will look something like Gil's there. I'll have to post it here.

Talondale · 10-13-2008, 02:31 PM

Full moon is tomorrow night.

archshrk · 10-13-2008, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talondale

Full moon is tomorrow night.

Barry isn't limited by our linear time-line. He transcends human limitations (much like Vin Diesel and Chuck Norris)

Tyran333 · 10-13-2008, 06:29 PM

lol. I've gotten a few shots of the Moon before, but largely my brain says "It's right there. I can see it any time." So it's like.. I dunno... taking a picture of a lamp. :p

Most of the photos I take are of humorous situations, things I see while out and about that amuse me that i'll likely never see again... like when they introduced the McGriddle at McDonalds and as we drove by a McDonalds the sign read:

"Ew! McGriddles from McDonalds!"

And I sorta blinked and said "I can't imagine how that's going to help sales." Even though I know the N must've just fallen off or something. It was still funny.

Adonis · 10-13-2008, 07:29 PM

Note to self:

Window between you and moon = Bad.

-- 33%

100% size

Takes up about the same amount of frame... (uncropped, but resized to 10%)

Telescope is set up, but it's cloudy at the moment.

Adonis · 10-13-2008, 10:29 PM

Telescope is set up, but I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to take pictures with it.

The back triangle piece can come off, but I haven't tried that yet...

archshrk · 10-13-2008, 10:30 PM

I'm not much better...

Moon Shot

Adonis · 10-13-2008, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by archshrk

I'm not much better...

Moon Shot

You'd almost think they're the same family line of cameras or something...

Gil · 10-14-2008, 05:56 AM

Lower the iso as much as you can (100 preferably) and open up the aperture. Play only with the exposure time because you're using a tripod anyway and you need all the light you can get from the moon.

Gil_golden_eyes · 10-14-2008, 06:49 AM

Ok, I'm going to have to go home tonight and try and get some decent shots with my little Sony power shot.

Adonis · 10-22-2008, 06:48 PM

25% size. Still not amazingly clear, but it was hand-held and didn't manually focus, or do the 'mirror lock' thing. :/

(mostly just rezzing the thread)

Gil · 10-22-2008, 10:28 PM

Hmm... there's no shimmer in the atmosphere. Do you live outside of town or in a very small town?

Adonis · 10-23-2008, 06:17 AM

Both.

The picture closest to this post was taken from just outside a town off 6,000. The other pictures were taken from a vantage point 10 min away from town...

DinkyInky · 10-23-2008, 07:36 AM

Basic night settings with my Sony Cybershot DSC S650.

Adonis · 10-23-2008, 10:08 PM

Not bad for not bothering to set up a tripod. Did the mirror lock thing and time delay though - that helped a lot.

archshrk · 10-23-2008, 11:08 PM

very nice.

DinkyInky · 10-29-2008, 10:35 AM

Sparkly...Oooooh! Nice.

10-11-2008, 09:28 PM	#1
Adonis Elite Photochopper Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 2,967	Camera Litmus test - Picture of the Moon! Now, my old Kodak DX7590 can't take a picture of the moon. I can play with the settings all I want, but it only goes up to ISO 400 (and a few other limitations). All I get is a hazy blob of varying degrees of brightness... My new camera, however ... you can actually make out some detail -- and this is just the Large Jpg (haven't done the RAW version yet) Settings: f 5.6 1/1000s 300mm ISO 800 (shutter priority - duh) Rebel XSi (33% size -- full size [but still cropped] here) __________________

10-12-2008, 07:24 AM	#3
Adonis Elite Photochopper Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 2,967	Aye. I haven't got all the settings down exactly - nor have I asked the Internet or a camera expert what they should be. Still. A slight improvement over the old camera __________________

10-12-2008, 08:04 AM	#5
Adonis Elite Photochopper Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 2,967	I was going to get a tripod. I was trying to get a bag that would fit everything first... I'll try to adjust the focus distance again tonight. __________________

10-12-2008, 08:56 AM	#6
Phil G New Recruit Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 18	It helps to shoot through a telescope. This was with an ancient Epson PhotoPC 640x480 camera. Meade ETX. Prime focus. The Sun with the appropriate filter of course. Note the sunspots at the upper right. Same camera handheld: Moon and Orion in the background with fireworks. Gotta get my Celestron N5 out and try my Pentax isD DSLR soon... Last edited by Phil G; 10-13-2008 at 02:05 PM.*

10-12-2008, 03:19 PM	#8
Adonis Elite Photochopper Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 2,967	Picked up a tripod today. Uh. How about this link? We have a telescope up in storage, I'll see if I can drag it out and set that up too. Not terribly happy with the tripod. Seems to be suffering some 'manufacturing defects' - or it's just really, really stiff. As in I practically have to stand on it to collapse it when it's 'unlocked'... __________________

10-12-2008, 12:47 AM	#2
Gil Elite Robot Overlord Inky Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,943	It's a bit out of focus

10-12-2008, 07:56 AM	#4
Gil Elite Robot Overlord Inky Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,943	For one you have to set the focus to infinity. Other than that use a tripod or fixed location and go wild.

10-12-2008, 10:16 AM	#7
Gil Elite Robot Overlord Inky Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,943	You guys inspired me: 100% - no reduction just a bit of cropping

10-13-2008, 07:48 AM	#10
Talondale Elite Elven Archer Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,452	Nice Gil. What was your setup?

10-13-2008, 08:35 AM	#11
Gil Elite Robot Overlord Inky Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,943	Panasonic FZ-50 at 420mm on a tripod on my balcony. Shot in full manual at ISO 100, F3.7, 1/500. The white balance was automatic but it did a good job of making the moon look... cheesy Even at insane zoom the moon is still pretty small. This is the rezided but uncropped pic: What's really shocking to me is that you can see the atmospheric distorsions. You can see the whole moon surface is shimmered and the edge has a slight shine. Any shot zoomed more should be taken in a place with clearer atmosphere and less light polution to get a good result.

10-13-2008, 09:58 AM	#12
InkTank Head Cheese Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Sunnyvale, CA Posts: 935	There was a full moon last night so I broke out the tripod and took a few shots. I'm not qure of all my camera's settings, but I think I got at least one decent shot. I think it will look something like Gil's there. I'll have to post it here. __________________ I'm back, baby!

10-13-2008, 02:31 PM	#13
Talondale Elite Elven Archer Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,452	Full moon is tomorrow night.

10-13-2008, 06:29 PM	#15
Tyran333 Elite Cheese Royale Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 1,174	lol. I've gotten a few shots of the Moon before, but largely my brain says "It's right there. I can see it any time." So it's like.. I dunno... taking a picture of a lamp. :p Most of the photos I take are of humorous situations, things I see while out and about that amuse me that i'll likely never see again... like when they introduced the McGriddle at McDonalds and as we drove by a McDonalds the sign read: "Ew! McGriddles from McDonalds!" And I sorta blinked and said "I can't imagine how that's going to help sales." Even though I know the N must've just fallen off or something. It was still funny. __________________ Beauty is an affirmation of admiration for that which has been created. We say it for books, movies, and paintings. But we say it about flowers, and birds, complex protein chains, and sunsets. Who created a Sunset? Food For Thought.

10-13-2008, 07:29 PM	#16
Adonis Elite Photochopper Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 2,967	Note to self: Window between you and moon = Bad. -- 33% 100% size Takes up about the same amount of frame... (uncropped, but resized to 10%) Telescope is set up, but it's cloudy at the moment. __________________

10-13-2008, 10:29 PM	#17
Adonis Elite Photochopper Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 2,967	Telescope is set up, but I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to take pictures with it. The back triangle piece can come off, but I haven't tried that yet... __________________

10-13-2008, 10:30 PM	#18
archshrk Elite Inky Shark Join Date: May 2008 Location: My Blue Heaven Posts: 757	I'm not much better... Moon Shot __________________ This space available.

10-14-2008, 05:56 AM	#20
Gil Elite Robot Overlord Inky Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,943	Lower the iso as much as you can (100 preferably) and open up the aperture. Play only with the exposure time because you're using a tripod anyway and you need all the light you can get from the moon.

10-14-2008, 06:49 AM	#21
Gil_golden_eyes Elite Inky Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 404	Ok, I'm going to have to go home tonight and try and get some decent shots with my little Sony power shot. __________________

10-22-2008, 06:48 PM	#22
Adonis Elite Photochopper Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 2,967	25% size. Still not amazingly clear, but it was hand-held and didn't manually focus, or do the 'mirror lock' thing. :/ (mostly just rezzing the thread) __________________

10-22-2008, 10:28 PM	#23
Gil Elite Robot Overlord Inky Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,943	Hmm... there's no shimmer in the atmosphere. Do you live outside of town or in a very small town?

10-23-2008, 06:17 AM	#24
Adonis Elite Photochopper Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 2,967	Both. The picture closest to this post was taken from just outside a town off 6,000. The other pictures were taken from a vantage point 10 min away from town... __________________

10-23-2008, 07:36 AM	#25
DinkyInky Elite Inky Mommy Join Date: May 2008 Location: where there's more than corn. Posts: 2,146	Basic night settings with my Sony Cybershot DSC S650. __________________ Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me...Darn it Bean, no Looting until after you eat your dinner! The above Certificate and sig courtesy of Adonis

10-23-2008, 10:08 PM	#26
Adonis Elite Photochopper Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 2,967	Not bad for not bothering to set up a tripod. Did the mirror lock thing and time delay though - that helped a lot. __________________

10-23-2008, 11:08 PM	#27
archshrk Elite Inky Shark Join Date: May 2008 Location: My Blue Heaven Posts: 757	very nice. __________________ This space available.

10-29-2008, 10:35 AM	#28
DinkyInky Elite Inky Mommy Join Date: May 2008 Location: where there's more than corn. Posts: 2,146	Sparkly...Oooooh! Nice. __________________ Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me...Darn it Bean, no Looting until after you eat your dinner! The above Certificate and sig courtesy of Adonis