Work, life, and culture in Japan and Asia

• A 75-300mm zoom lens (or a high quality 300mm lens)
• A tripod
• Remote shutter release, or on-board self-timer

• To photograph the moon.

The relative size of the moon when photographed with a 300mm lens on digital.

• ISO: Use iso100 to reduce or avoid noise.
• Aperture: About F9 does the job, less may create focusing problems, and f16 may make it too dark (not letting enough light in).
• Shutter Speed: Since the moon is so far away, you need to use a steady tripod with a speed of 1/125 or 1/160 just to reduce blur.
• White Balance: Be sure your white balance is set correctly, but I'm still not sure to what. In the mean time, I've found 'daylight' to be fine.
• Filters: Not needed.
• Lens: To properly fill the image area, you'd need a 1,200mm lens (or a telescope with a camera mount), but since most of us don't even have a friend who knows someone with such a lens, we have to make do with what we've got. The 300mm length is a good start.
• Issues With Zooming: Also, if you zoom right in onto any object, then your camera will wobble a little from any shake in the camera-tripod system, and the mere movement of the shutter opening does introduce some shake. For this, you can use the mirror lockup option in your camera's menu (see your instruction menu). Also, use a remote shutter release or on-board timer, as just pushing the button will wobble the camera a bit.

The statistics To get this data, I've used the "ExposurePlot Graphics" feature in Wega2. This feature gives a statistical view of what you do. In a comparison with other photographers, you should get fairly similar results if you shoot the same subjects together. Here, I've used a standard camera setting for photographing the moon, but I've also experimented a little.

Click on this picture to view Also see: Photo Statistics

Take a look at these, and then give it a try.

	< F9, 1/160, iso100, 75-300mm at 300mm. Only change to the picture was just resizing.
	< In Adobe PhotoShop or Picasso (available for free from Google) use the crop tool to cut out the moon.
	< And Bob's your uncle.
	< Same photo but sharpened. Still, there's some noticeable blur, this is due to the quality of the lens, and perhaps some quality of the tripod, too.
	< Red moon rising. At the end of the rice harvesting season farmers burn off much of the stubble remaining in the field to unlock minerals and nutrients for the soil. Sony Alpha 200 with 70-300mm G, f5.6, 1/25, iso100. 4th Sept 2009.