The Crescent

Please see larger for full resolution and better detail on the

craters. Comments welcome. Thanks...

Great picture of the moon. I've been wanting to do something like this - could you please help me understand some of the caption you inserted in the corner?

 

Is Canon 400f/5.6L a type of lense? And the Canon 2x II Extender?

What does MLU stand for?

What about the last line of exposure settings - does this image consist of multiple exposures?

 

Thank you, and Well done!

Very nice shot. I wonder if you would get even sharper detail by opening up the aperture and increasing the shutter speed. I know there's not much light on a cresent moon, but 1/40s seems slow. (I wish I had the 400mm lens.)

Thanks...

 

Yes, it is the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Lens. Canon 2x II is the extender, hence the EXIF data on the last line, showing 800mm.

MLU stands for Mirror Lock Up, which certain cameras have. This is a function on my Canon 20D that basically reduces the vibration caused by mirror slap, especially on super telephoto focal lengths and slow shutter speeds.

The last line of EXIF should be clear, no multiple exposures on this shot. Just as it's stated, single shot.

Thanks...

 

f/16 basically equates to an f/8 natively on bare camera, which is a full f stop down then the f/5.6. I just got the extender so I'm still experimenting. Not sure if stopping down further would enhance the quality.

 

Shutter speed is another story. You're right, with a crescent there's not much light coming to the sensor. In fact, I shot the moon yesterday, and today (this is from today), and the amount of increase in brightness has dramatically picked up between 2 days. 1/40sec seems to be enough for 800mm according to some articles I read about moon photography, but I would still like to increase the shutter speed, at least to compansate for any unwanted tripod shake that may occur...

 

Will try again in the following days with a bigger and a brighter moon...