possible to shoot a full moon ??

2

2wheelfilms

Active member
Has anyone successfully used an HVX200 for capturing video of a full moon? I struggle with the HVX200 in low light but would love to overcome my phobias and figure out how I might actually get some decent footage of a full moon. Would love to make it work with just a stock HVX200. Possible?

Even mediocre raw video and then some FCP trickery would be OK. Love to read what others have done with full moon videography!
thx
JB
 
Of course you can shoot the full moon. The moon isn't exactly a low-light scenario, the moon is quite bright.

If you're using just the bare HVX, you won't get a full frame shot of the moon, it'll probably be pretty small in the frame.

What you won't get, is all the clouds or stars that may also be in the scene. You have to expose for either the moon, or eveything else, you can't really get both at the same time, unless you resort to some trickery (such as cutting out a circular spot of Neutral Density gel about the same size as the moon, and putting that on a clear filter on your lens... or using a circle-spot ND filter (which is made for that purpose).

If you want dramatic moon shots, with a black sky full of brilliant stars, you'll probably need a tele-converter, a center-spot filter, and a long shutter speed. Or a little trickery in post!
 
Shoot it at 1080 and then edit it in a 720 setup and you'll be able to get a larger image of the moon that way.

One of the best things to do is wait till there are some clouds in the sky that will filter down the brightness of the moon. That way you can get both the moon and some clouds in the same shot with out a lot of fuss.

You just missed the full moon btw. The next one is 6/26

Also, lunar eclipses are cool to shoot too.
 
I just shot a DSLR timelapse of the moon, last night. Some nice clouds moving by as well.

The moon is a lot brighter than one would think (its really just a big reflector of sunlight).

Last night, I shot 300mm equivalent at F16, ISO 100, shutter 1/2 second. As Barry stated, stars were not visible at those settings. However, the moon backlights clouds and trees very nicely. Get a little creative and you won't feel limited by your gear.


Jason
 
the weak-ass zoom lens of an hvx will render a less than dramatic moon shot.

+1 for what barry says.
 
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