Bella Luna - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 IS USM

09/06/2003 09:23:28 PM · #1

Just an hour ago, we walked our two dogs. As soon as we went out the door, we were startled to see the moon. It was enormous tonight and so clear and brilliant. Here in Toronto, the sun is already setting earlier and earlier every night, summer is ending.

The moon was simply extraordinary tonight. It appeared so substantial in the early evening sky. Once we returned home, I took a few shots with my 1000 mm Nikkor lens. It is so clear, that the moonscape is very vibrant, even in this low resolution JPEG. The original 19 MB tiff image is truly dramatic, but still, it is not anywhere as astonishing as the actual moon tonight. So, please step outside and have a look for yourself.

Did anyone else see the moon? Has anyone taken an image of it? It would be interesting to see assorted views of the moon taken from various geographic locations. I question if the angle or if the view is different from your home? Upload your shots and let's compare the moonscape.

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

09/06/2003 09:56:43 PM · #2

Thanks for sharing the photo Morgan - it is really spectacular! I tried to take you up on the photo but with my camera and regular lens all I got is a bright blur. Hope others post photos - it would would be interesting to see.

jgal76

Nikon D70

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

09/06/2003 09:56:46 PM · #3

Wow great shot Morgan. I'm curious what setting you used to take this.

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

09/06/2003 09:57:20 PM · #4

Nothing like as gorgeous as your shot, but this is the view from Texas tonight

Canon D60, 70-200 f4L, 1.4x tele, tripod, remote cable release, mirror lockup. 1/30sec at f5.6, ISO 100

Cropped hugely.

Looks like the same side (which you'd expect) and you can even see the rotation due to you being up north :) We could work out how many degrees appart we are from these...

Message edited by author 2003-09-06 21:59:16.

09/06/2003 10:40:37 PM · #5

Originally posted by jgal76:

Wow great shot Morgan. I'm curious what setting you used to take this.

The image was taken with a Nikon D1x camera, set for high resolution in the TIFF file mode with the metering in the "spot" mode and a computed shutter speed of 125th of a second.

The 1000mm lens is a catadioptric lens (aka mirror lens) so it has a "fixed" aperture of f11. So, I operated the camera in the "A" or aperture-priority mode, which permitted the shutter speed to ramp up or down dynamically as required.

The tricky part was framing the moon and then moving fast enough for it to stay centre of the frame. If I was slow, the moon moved gradually from left to right out of the shot (a few minutes, not in seconds).

Cheers,
Michael Martin (aka Morgan)

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

09/06/2003 10:54:43 PM · #6

The image was taken with a Nikon D1x camera, set for high resolution in the TIFF file mode with the metering in the "spot" mode and a computed shutter speed of 125th of a second.

In this image, the 1000mm lens is a catadioptric lens (aka mirror lens) has a old Nikkor 2x adaptor added. It is a fixed aperture at f11. So, the effective magnification is equal to 3000mm (1000mm lens x 2 adaptor x 1.5 for CCD ratio) which is about 60x magnification. I post processed the image to increase contrast and added sharpening.

THERE IS NO CROPPING OF THIS IMAGE - IT IS FULL FRAME AS SHOT

ChrisW123

Canon EOS-1000D Rebel XS

09/06/2003 10:57:31 PM · #7

Wow!!! What a great moon shot! Love the great detail in this.

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

09/06/2003 10:57:40 PM · #8

The 'trick' I read for shooting the moon is to realise what it is - a sunlight object. You can then just use the sunny 16 rule and shoot away... Aperture isn't a big deal either, because you'll be at infinity unless you want foreground stuff.

karmat

Apple iPhone 7

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM

09/06/2003 11:51:13 PM · #9

It's cloudy at my house tonight. :-( Did peek through once, but not enough to get a picture.

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

09/07/2003 05:51:32 AM · #10

Originally posted by karmat:

It's cloudy at my house tonight. :-( Did peek through once, but not enough to get a picture.

Too bad karmat, you missed a great sight. But, the great feature about the moon is that it comes back every night. So, who knows, you may get a chance tonight, or tomorrow?

Faye Pekas

Canon EOS-20D

09/07/2003 02:27:24 PM · #11

This settles it. I'm starting to save for a new camera as of today.

Great shots.

EddyG

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

09/07/2003 02:47:04 PM · #12

Originally posted by Morgan:

we were startled to see the moon. It was enormous tonight and so clear and brilliant.

...

It appeared so substantial in the early evening sky.

Of course, the moon never really changes size, regardless of where it is in the sky, even though our brain sometimes fools us into thinking it does...