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Moon Shots


SCL

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<p>I took this one last year using my EOS XS (10.1mp) and an old but very good Century Precision Optics Tele-Athenar II 500mm f/5.6. 1/125 @ f/11, ISO 100.<br>

The moon was one day past full. I prefer this to the full moon because there is more shadow definition. When the moon is full, images tend to look rather flat, I've found.<br>

<img src="http://michaelmcbroom.com/images/mooncpo500y.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="903" /></p>

 

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<p>Here is another one. It shows a moon halo, caused by refraction of light, at approximately 22 degrees, by a thin layer of ice crystals in the atmosphere. Note that you can see the constellation Orion overlapping the halo to the lower left of the (blown out) moon, and the Pleiades to the upper right of the moon and within the halo. I have tried editing this photo as a composite to show some detail on the lunar surface, but, with the moon being thousands of times brighter than the halo, it does not look realistic.</p><div>00dHTL-556691584.jpg.f15bf94154e7561dcb7d9db058ef0f34.jpg</div>
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  • 7 months later...

<p>Hi Ken, yes, I'm Moon Set Over Mount Evans. I love your newest post. Is that at Yosemite? Those are really hard because a clear sky at the horizon is tough to find. I'm always out when sunrise and moon set coincide, or vice versa, but, more often than not, it's usually a bust due to atmospheric conditions.</p>

<p>In comparison, shooting the moon high in the sky is relatively easy. Here's mine from last night (I look for the moon whenever I'm out):</p>

<p><a title="Waxing Gibbous Moon" href=" Waxing Gibbous Moon data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/687/23601860970_ec60100f93_c.jpg" alt="Waxing Gibbous Moon" width="800" height="800" /></a></p>

<p>Hand held.</p>

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<p>Handheld?! Wow, you are a steadier man than me! If I may ask, what setup did you use for that? It's a great shot, handheld or not, for sure. Yes, that's Yosemite, last October 22. Fall is so beautiful there -- bright, clear skies and usually no wind. The only bummer is usually no dramatic clouds.</p>
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<p>Thanks Ken.</p>

<p>That's with my Canon 7D MkII (with a 1.6x crop sensor), EF 500mm f/4L IS II and EF 1.4x TC-III, ISO 800, f/8.0 and 1/800-sec., taken at about sunset, with Raw conversion in DxO Optics Pro 10.5.3. The image stabilization in the Series II lenses is pretty astounding. I've actually taken a hand-held picture at 1/40-sec. with the 2x TC-III and gotten a sharp moon image. No need for that here, but I might well have lowered ISO to ISO 400 and still hand held it. That one at 1/40-sec. was a lark, after my daughter exclaimed, "Look at the moon!" and I ran out and took a first shot without looking at my settings. It was "the keeper" of the series.</p>

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<p>Thanks, David.<br>

I do realize it mostly comes down to the photographer, but I'm still always curious about the gear used to get great pictures. Autofocus and vibration reduction lenses have really helped me, however, with my advancing-age-related eyesight deterioration and less-than-rock-steady stance of my youth! It sounds like you're pretty well set up with hard- and software.<br>

I recently got a full frame sensor camera and was thinking about selling my 1.5x crop sensor D300s, but decided to keep it mainly because whatever telephoto lens I have gets 50% more powerful with it. I have an old manual focus 650mm lens I got for a graduation present back in 1980 that was state of the art in terms of sharpness in its day. That's what I used for the first moon pic I posted here.<br>

Happy shooting and Happy Holidays!<br>

Ken</p>

 

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<p>Equipment matters! Yeah, I'd keep the crop-sensor camera. Besides the 7D MkII, I've got a 5DsR, full-frame body that I use for travel, portraits, landscapes and large mammals. It has the same pixel-density as the 7D MkII, so, in a way, they're interchangeable so far as telephoto "reach" goes, but I prefer seeing something close to the end product when I look through the viewfinder. Most full-frame bodies do not have pixel-density that matches most crop-sensors.</p>

<p>Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Dave</p>

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