Crescent Moon 12th October 2007

[netwolf]

Hi All,

First light for the Canon 400D, could not have started with a better target than this. The Crescent moon, first pic is through the window upstairs and the last two are from the backyard on a tripod. The clouds made it quiet difficult to locate.

Regards
Fahim

[mill]

You must have been shaking of exitement as i see in the pics :P
All joking aside it looks like you are going to have a lot of fun with this camera.

[netwolf]

Yes I had the shakes, as it was a family event. This signifies the end of the month of Ramadan for us and this and the previous crescent are significant events for us. I had my wife and mum going "where is it, where is it" while i tried to snap away.

I think i will need to buy a better tripod as the one i have seems a little week for this camera, especially with the bigger lens. But I have a lot to learn about the camera, especially about zoom and focus etc under different settings. I keep loosing the focus under manual and had to switch back and forth from automatic mode to get the focus.

Regards
Fahim

[[1ponders]]

Nicely done Fahim. I remember how my Omani visitors in June were excited to catch their first very early crescent moon with their 20D and Orion ED80 when they were over. By the look of it it was a very similar sized crescent.

[netwolf]

Paul,

This is the probably my youngest one so far. Usually I am used to seeing it higher up as its older. The previous wan that I posted last month was almost a day old. For some reason the previous one, though it should have been visible a day earlier no one saw it in Australia till the 2nd day.

But every one i have seen has been special, the first time you just make it out its a most exhilarating feeling. Well worth the effort. I hope one day I see and capture the youngest one.

Regards
Fahim

[mill]

Seeing the very first crescent moon is very hard, i hope you see it very soon Fahim.

[jjjnettie]

That is such a fine sliver of Moon, no wonder your Mum had trouble finding it.

[netwolf]

mill, thanks I have read about a pearly necklace effect that is sometimes seen and I hope one day to catch this.

jjnettie, yes it took here some time and the use of the binos, I used the tree as a landmark and gave her and my wife the binos and then they saw it. I got my bearings from Jupiter which is the the only clear thing i could make out, i used that to make a rough guess. I was surprised at how thin it was. It makes be wonder about the age of the previous ones i have seen. I used the 10x50 (thanks Kal) binos to spot it then i could see it naked eye (just).

Regards
Fahim

[joshman]

a handy hint for using manual focus, if you hold the shutter button down half way, the camera's focus points will light up like in autofocus when it thinks you've found focus.

i've found that this will also vary depending on the lens you decide to use as well. for example, ym sigma lens is a tad soft at full zoom, so a tiny tweak in manual focus, gives me that little bit extra....

anyway, it's a fantastic camera, enjoy using it and i'll be l0ooking forward to seeing some fantastic photos out of it very soon!