Taking Pictures of the Moon Options

[missmarisa]

I have a fuji S700...

Last night the full moon was rising over the mountains, and it looked so awesome....but my pictures turned out really bad....the moon is overblown, and you can't make out the clouds that were passing over it. It basically ended up looking like a glowing orb on a black background. Yes, I used a tripod, but I'm just learning how to use my manual settings, and I obviously didn't have it on the right setting! LOL

What are the ideal camera settings for capturing moon images, and what lenses do you use/prefer for it?

My camera is a bottom end DSLR (it's touted as a DSLR, but I think that is a little hyping done by Fuji as I never see it listed on DSLR recommended lists...even just for it's cheap price.) It will take add-on lenses, but it does not support a RAW format.

Any tricks, tips or suggestions I can experiment with??

Thanks!

[wildfire]

[quote name='missmarisa' date='Mar 24 2008, 09:46 AM' post='118786']
I have a fuji S700...



What are the ideal camera settings for capturing moon images, and what lenses do you use/prefer for it?

My camera is a bottom end DSLR (it's touted as a DSLR, but I think that is a little hyping done by Fuji as I never see it listed on DSLR recommended lists...even just for it's cheap price.) It will take add-on lenses, but it does not support a RAW format.

Any tricks, tips or suggestions I can experiment with??

To start the fuji is a bare basic aim and shoot. A few problems the camera will find it very hard to get a lock on focus of moon.
start shooting at the highest speed you have 4000 and work your way down from their. The longer the shutter stays open the more light that eneters in, which caused the moon to look bleached out. make sure with the tripod you use a cable release or remote switch for shutter other wise it will be blurry.
For focus not sure if you can turn off your auto focus or not, if you can please do so.
Feel free to e mail me I can try to help more 1wildfire@atlanticbb.net

[missmarisa]

To start the fuji is a bare basic aim and shoot. A few problems the camera will find it very hard to get a lock on focus of moon.
start shooting at the highest speed you have 4000 and work your way down from their. The longer the shutter stays open the more light that eneters in, which caused the moon to look bleached out. make sure with the tripod you use a cable release or remote switch for shutter other wise it will be blurry.
For focus not sure if you can turn off your auto focus or not, if you can please do so.
Feel free to e mail me I can try to help more 1wildfire@atlanticbb.net

Thank you so much! I will give it a try tonight (I think it's supposed to be clear) and see what I can come up with. While I'm waiting for it to get dark, I'm reading my user manual...yes I can turn the autofocus off...and I will do so before I go out tonight!

Until such a time as I can afford to get a really nice DSLR, I kind of have to get the best use of what I have to work with! Don't get me wrong...I've taken some beautiful pictures with this camera, but I am also becoming aware of the limitations!

This post has been edited by missmarisa: Mar 24 2008, 02:20 PM