How to Take Pictures of the Moon and Stars

[a1]

The moon will be at its brightest tonight and i want to know how to take a picture of it. The last time I tried I got a bright spot like the sun and no detail of the craters at all.


I am using a Canon 30D with a 18-200mm 1:3.5-6.3 quantaray lens.


What are the settings and tricks I should use.


Thanks

[Jeff.Guo]

Just spot meter on the moon, and bracket off a few...

[Wii]

Use a tripod or makeshift tripod, slow the shutter speed down to around 1/30 of a second or slower, (not sure about the ISO but I would keep it around 800) and let the aperture set itself (if you have the TV setting.) Zoom in on the moon, but don't go past the danger zone on your lense!!!!

Note! These are just settings to start with. Tweak the settings on how you like it.

Correct me if I am off please.

[Mictheslik]

I tend to go fully manual, set an aperture at which you know your lens will be sharpest and then play around with shutter speeds until you get it right....of course...tripod is essential....and don't make the shutter speed too long or the rotation of the earth will blur it

For best quality keep ISO at 100....you're using a tripod so it doesn't really matter

.mic

EDIT:

Taking advantage of time zones I have just been out and taken a series of shots (not the best) to illustrate different settings....I'll have them up in a sec

[Mictheslik]

Here we go....fresh from the sensor

They were all taken at 400mm handheld (hence f.8...the lower end of my lens's sweet spot) None of these have been edited in any way (apart from cropping and resizing onto one image).....as you can see, by the end they are starting to burn out....also take note that my camera was flashing underexposure warnings at me for all of these shots....the camera will instinctively want to overexpose it, because it meters the dark around the moon aswell



IMO the best area is 1/160 to 1/125.....as these can be edited with the curves function to look however you want them to....



Hope that helps

.mic

[Omag 2.0]

Actually, the full moon isn't the best time to make shots full of detail. When the moon isn't full ( cresent moon for instance), will give you much more detail and less bright light.

[a1]

So if the metering says it is underexposed I should not worry?


Beautiful shots mic.


Thanks for the tips.

[Ravang]

Also make sure its not cloudy when your trying to take your pictures, hard to photograph what you can't see...


(As you may have guessed its cloudy around me... )

[BFMF]

Cloudy here, but maybe some other night

[a1]

I got the shot. Will be posting in a few minutes.  ;)


Thanks a lot mic and everyone who replied.