Moon Shot with a telephoto lens

[RyanMKincaid]

Hi all. I need a particular shot for some b-roll I want to shoot. It's of the moon done with a telephoto lens. I want the moon huge on screen. Something I think I can acheive with a 500-600mm lens. However being that this is a night shot, the F8 arpeture isn't that helpful. I tend to keep my ISO no higher than 320 for fear of grain. I thought of borrowing Canon 70-200mm 2.8 and using a 2x telephoto adapter to get better low light results. What are your thoughts?

[Cassius]

The moon is a light source. F8 at ISO320 with a 1/60 shutter will be too bright.

[c3hammer]

600mm + 3x crop on a t3i

https://vimeo.com/34919397

[kostas]

600mm f8 is plenty bright to shoot the moon.
I currently have such a lens up for sale in the market place http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread...post1986162379 This picture was shot with this lens well stopped down http://www.flickr.com/photos/52298454@N07/6798970414/ (and then cropped a bit).
With this lens on crop sensor camera and/or with a quality 2x teleconverter you can have the moon fill the screen.

If you need to get extremely close then look at this clip I did with a 1000mm f10 mirror lens https://vimeo.com/42490463

[Samuel H]

(I really love the one by c3hammer)

[Kin Lau]

I just checked the charts, and if you're doing the shot in the next couple of days, the moon is at less than 25%, so you'll need even more focal length than usual, and it's also not in full sun.

On my T3i, I can fill the frame with the full-moon with a 400mm and in 3x mode. ISO was typically in the 100 range.

[c3hammer]

With the 600mm and the T3i's 3x mode I have to go way up to f/16 and f/22, as there is this glowing ball bigger than the frame. I was thinking on getting a small circular polarizer that slides into a filter bay in my Nikkor because the moon and bright days on the snow are too much for a 1/48 or 1/60th shutter speed at ISO 160.

This cam allows for some incredible things that just a year ago were simply not possible at nearly any price!

Cheers,
Pete

[totitefilms]

My clip shot with Canon 75-300 F4-5.6

[Michael Carter]

I'd get a stock photo and add some atmospheric shimmer, moving clouds, film grain/noise, whatever it needs to make it real. I've played with shooting moon footage on a t2i and D700 with a really nice 200mm 2.8, and I've tried it with a teleconverter. Just never looked that good.

[Samuel H]

I just checked the charts, and if you're doing the shot in the next couple of days, the moon is at less than 25%, so you'll need even more focal length than usual, and it's also not in full sun.

On my T3i, I can fill the frame with the full-moon with a 400mm and in 3x mode. ISO was typically in the 100 range.

Not having a full moon to shoot is not a bad thing. Actually, I like it better when it's not full: the craters have shadows and you can see a lot more terrain detail, with a much better sense of depth. A full moon is basically front-lit, while a 50% moon is side-lit.

Also, no need for drastic changes to focal length or aperture: it's basically just as big, and lit by the very same huge ball of atomic fire.