The moon

[rutwij]

Here's a shot taken this evening.
E5, Bigma, FL 500, ISO200, 1/160, F14, hand held (leaning against a car to stabilise)



Not sure if these were the best settings for a moon shot. I would appreciate pointers to improve results. Using a tripod and shooting with the mirror up are on my list for next time. I wasn't sure if my aperture and shutter speed were ideal though.

Rutwij

[Chevvyf1]

Re: The moon

Rutwij, I think it is Huw who is "Moonstruck" and he may be able to help you with settings. I think its a good capture with the BIGMA - I found 50-200 better for me, but then BIGMA was tooo heavy for me

[alfbranch]

Re: The moon

Thats pretty good for a handheld shot at that shutter speed IMO.

Focusing is one of the hardest things as its not infinity. As its such a distant subject you could get away with f8. A tripod is the way to go as you already know. The exposure seems spot on to me.

Looking again you may have missed the focusing a little as if you look the craters around the left edge are sharper than the centre.

Did you use live view magnified to focus?

[Falk]

Re: The moon

My Bigma needs to be stepped down to improve contrast and sharpness, but F14 seems a bit much. This will get you some diffraction already. Try F8 or F9 instead, as already mentioned. This will also give higher shutter speed. I don't have an E-5 but with my E-30 I would use ISO100. Dynamic range might be lower, but I get more detail with this setting.

[rutwij]

Re: The moon

Thanks Chevvy... I will certainly check out Huw's gallery for some pointers

Thanks Alf. I will stop it up and see the difference... though DOF should have been deeper at F14. I think the centre vs edge might be because of the shadows of the craters being more evident around the sides. Not sure however... happy to be corrected by those with more experience

Thanks Falk... I will certainly try F8 next time... get a quicker shutter speed and also try ISO100 (I went with 200 because the E5's native ISO is 200 and ISO100 is an extended low noise priority setting). Btw... nice signature... I wish I had that on a T shirt lol

Thanks for the pointers!

[rutwij]

Re: The moon

Did you use live view magnified to focus?

Forgot to answer this Alf... I used the OVF to focus. Bigma's magnification at 500mm meant I needed the E5 body stuck to my face to reduce camera shake

Rutwij

[Falk]

Re: The moon

... I went with 200 because the E5's native ISO is 200 and ISO100 is an extended low noise priority setting). Btw... nice signature... I wish I had that on a T shirt lol

The same is true for the E-30, but as I said, I tend to see better results with ISO100 in these critical situations.

Hehe! My Tag line - yes, cool isn't it!? When I first 'invented' it and decided to have a play with English words, I got permanently banned in an American Bowhunting forum for using the word 'Tit'! Would you belive it?! Guts and blood and what else everywhere and they got really upset by mentioning some cute little birds. Morons!