finally....the skies have cleared!!!!!

[joshman (Josh)]

hey all, i went up to the local mountain top (Mt Coot-tha) to have a play with my camera because the rain had finally stopped, little did i know that the sky would clear of cloud while i was up there too! it gave me a good opportunity to see what i could do with my camera regarding the moon and get in some practise for the upcoming eclispse.

for them that want to know:
These were taken on a Canon 400D, with either my Sigma 70-300mm f4/5.6 DG Macro Lens or with the bundled Canon 18-55mm kit lens, these are all 100% crops, except the wide field which has been resized, the only post processing that has been done is a sharpen in Picasa. Camera setting as follows:

1st Photo:
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/400s
Focal Length: 238mm (385mm equiv.)

2nd Photo:
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/320s
Focal Length: 300mm (480mm equiv.)

3rd Photo:
ISO: 400
Shutter: 18s
Focal Length: 18mm (30mm equiv.)

my phott of the moon at my full zoom is a bit soft, but that's to be expected on this lens...

my wider field photo of the southern cross is a bit blurry, but i'm unsure of how to focus this lens on stars....ideas anyone on getting a sharper focus?

[Dennis]

Hi Josh

Nice images. Have you tried stopping down the lens; say a couple of stops below max aperture? Although this will require a tripod to minimise camera shake, it may tighten up the lens and produce sharper results?

Was the mountain busy?

Cheers

Dennis

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Ditto to Dennis. With something as bright as the moon you can afford to stop the lens down a bit. Remember though, that next Tuesday night you will need longer exposure times with the eclipsed moon. Definately tripod shots.

[joshman (Josh)]

they were tripod shots, i could take hand held shots with the old powershot s3is easy enough, but my hands aren't steady enough yet to do that for the moon, expecially at full zoom.

so what's the idea between stopping down the aperture?

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Sorry, I meant, if you stop your lens down you will need longer exposures, therefore you will definately need a tripod.

If you stop down the aperture you will get a bigger zone of critical focus. It makes hitting the focus sweet spot easier. It will also help to reduce some of the optical defects that can be found in zoom lenses.

[joshman (Josh)]

ah...that makes sense. thanks for the feed back! i wonder if my battery is charged up yet? i should get out and have another quick go.

[joshman (Josh)]

my battery was charged (gotta love Li-ion) that aperture trick worked a treat, the autofocus was actually doing a good job this time!!! not needing to flick it over to manual to get that extra little bit, which is nice, i think tomorrow night i'll try playing with the aperture a bit more.

fun times ahead!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Good luck with it JM

[joshman (Josh)]

went out again tonight and managed to grab this beauty. it's a 100% crop with only a sharpen applied via picasa.

for this shot, i used your aperture trick and took a range of shots at different apertures. i find the autofocus does a better job with a smaller aperture, dunno why, but it seemed to work a treat tonight! i also threw on the lens hood, and i didn't have to contend with really thin cloud either!

Canon 400D + Sigma f/4-5.6 70-300mm DG Macro
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/1000s
Focal Length: 263mm (426mm equiv.)
Aperture: f/8.0