Quote:
Originally Posted by cliffhopper
The reflex lens I was using is stuck at f/8 and is manual focus.
The shot was handheld, I will be putting it on a tripod next.
I didn't know you could do digital zoom in live view, thanks for the tip.
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Remember, the moon is very bright and it's easy to shoot hand held at focal lenths as short a 500mm (the Meade is another matter). Shooting at f/5.6 with my hand held 500mm, the shot I put up was at 1/1000-sec. That and the Image Stabilization makes it a breeze to hand hold.
If you overexpose, which is very likely, you'll wash out all kinds of highlight details. If you want to use Av mode, set the EV at -1EV, turn on the blinkie highlight warnings in your preview screen and adjust from there (up or down). You want as high an EV as you can get without the highlight warnings going off.
Remember, you've got tons of time, so do critical focus. Remember, increasing your DOF by shooting at f/8 isn't going to matter one bit when you subject is over 200,000 miles away. An open aperture puts the most pixels on the subject.
Critical focus is a must. I used AF in my shot, but if you're having trouble, switch to MF and use the optical VF to fine tune focus. If the sky is dark and you don't use a tripod, this can be very hard to do, because finding the moon against the black can be hard. On a tripod, first aim at the moon with AF on, turn to MF and fine tune with 10x live view (or whatever Nikon calls it) instead of the optical VF.
Low smog and 30-degrees or more above the horizon will yield the sharpest results.
Looking forward to more astro shots...
So, get the exposure and focus right, in post
you can add a ton of Contrast. Consider going to B&W, particularly if you don't have a blue sky. Blow it up over 100% the pull the level down as you observe details. Stop pulling the level down when details peak.
Dave