Photos of the moon

[scott_rushing]

Hey folks. I've been using my Nikon D70 for a few months now and I

love it. My question is about taking photos of the moon, mainly I'd

be doing day shots. I've got a photo in a magazine I'll try to post

tomorrow when I can scan it in but its of the moon during the day

over a mountain, really awesome. THe photo was taken with a 1.4X TC

added to a 500mm lens (Canon 500mmIS lens). I've read several posts

about the teleconverters and most of them aren't positive. I've got

2 lenses with my Nikon, the kit Nikkor and a Nikon 70-300 G lens.

Is there a TC that will work with both of these lenses? As I've

read I probably shouldn't expect AF to work but thats probably ok...

 

thoughts?

 

Thanks

[alex_lofquist]

The diameter of the moon's image is approximately 1mm for each 100mm of focal length. So with the 500mm plus 1.4X converter, you have a moon diameter of about 7mm. Now the moon moves through its own diameter in about 2 min, so the exposure time for little or no noticeable blurring of the image ought to be about 5 seconds or less, depending on the final image size. Actually the moon is a rather dark gray, so if you want the moon to look silvery, treat it as a much brighter than a "Sunny 16" subject. (I would suggest a "sunny 8" exposure.)

 

I have used the Nikkor TC14b converter on both my 500mm and 300mm, stopping down to an indicated f/8 or f/11. (Actual f/11 or f/16).) This will allow shutter speeds in the fractional seconds. I don't believe that this TC will fit your lenses. Also, I don't think that the TC14a is as sharp as you would like. Why not go for the Kenko TC? I think that it would be the best buy for your application.

[cappoldt]

Scott, if you look in my folders, you'll find some photos I took of the last eclipse with a D70 and a Nikon 300mm f4 prime with a Kenko Pro 1.4x teleconverter.

 

First off, even with that setup, the moon only occupied about 1/5 of the full frame. Was what WAS there sharp? Yes, pretty much. I manually focused, but AF worked well. The AF functioning will decrease, though, with your zoom as the f-stop will be smaller - your D70 needs more light.

 

Secondly, with the zoom you have, you're going to lose sharpness over a prime lens, such as that 500mm you were using.

 

Overall, you'll likely be able to get results like I describe above, but a little softer.

[greg s]

I got into photographing the moon the summer before last and tried a 600mm f/5.6 AIS on a Fuji S2 (using its much denigrated 12MP mode :)

 

Here's the full image (resized) <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=7951238&size=o">full</a> and a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=7950496&context=photostream&size=o">crop</a>

 

I have some better shots, but quickly uploaded these last evening to give the lens buyer a view of something different with fine detail.

[Michael R Freeman]

<i>... I've got 2 lenses with my Nikon, the kit Nikkor and a Nikon 70-300 G lens ...</i><P>

The 70~300G is known for being soft at 300mm. Adding a teleconverter is not going to help, and you will probably be disappointed with the results, but it is your money. Focusing will be difficult (AF is out of the question) as you will be at an effective aperture of f/8 with a 1.4X and f/11 with a 2X. The finder image will be dim.<P>

Don't expect the same results from an inexpensive consumer zoom plus TC as you saw from a Canon 500mm IS lens. It costs big $$$ for a reason.

[sm]

I used the 70-300G without a TC for moon shots. Results actualy vary, some are decent.

[greg s]

Looks like my links were broken...

 

full image (resized) <a href="http://photos7.flickr.com/7951238_77ddd9b5b9_o.jpg">full</a> and a <a href="http://photos4.flickr.com/7950496_8ca4d6baf3_o.jpg">crop</a>