shooting the moon

It's very bright. I'd do it with at least 1/120 shutter. Use master ped of about -5.

A few things to keep in mind:

The DVX's 10x zoom isn't going to get you as close as you'd probably like.

The rotation of the Earth will make it hard to keep the moon in one place when you're at the long end of the zoom.

A full moon will have flat surface features, because there won't be as many shadows as there would be at the "half moon" or egg-shaped stages.
 
1/120 shutter and -5 master ped? I remember the moon being much more difficult to shoot last time I tried. I'll have to try your technique sometime.
 
Bear in mind guys... the moon is lit by the sun.

I have always balanced with the daylight filters in place.
 
I got a nice moon shot once by shooting a daytime (close to dusk) moon and stopped down so that it appeared to be nighttime.
 
I agree with the SeeJay. I've most often done it like that, with varying filtration to get the right glow.
 
Well if we are going to be keying and scaling, would it not make more sence to shoot a still with a nice big lens on a still camera. .. I mean, it's the moon.. does it *need* video?

- Mikko
 
If you want to shoot the clouds moving across the moon its nice to shoot video.

There isn't a cloud in site tonight though.
 
Shooting a still and then compositing in clouds will probably be your best bet if you want a big, detailed moon.
 
Maybe this is a reach, but...what about shooting the moon, reflected in a mirror?

That way, you could get the moon to fill as much of the frame as you want.
 
NO CA$H said:
If you want to shoot the clouds moving across the moon its nice to shoot video.

There isn't a cloud in site tonight though.
Click to expand...

didnt sam raimi use ink in water for clouds going across the moon in evil dead?

does anyone remember that?
 
Sad Max said:
Maybe this is a reach, but...what about shooting the moon, reflected in a mirror?

That way, you could get the moon to fill as much of the frame as you want.
Click to expand...

huh? :huh:

Sorry, but I'm not getting how that works.


- Mikko
 
You need the clouds drifting by to make it a "movie"...

Shoot the moon with a still camera and add the clouds on another layer in the post.

And really, taking pictures of the moon is not night time shooting in the sense that the thing out there is in the strongest sunlight possible. Expose accordingly.
 
Sad Max said:
Maybe this is a reach, but...what about shooting the moon, reflected in a mirror?

That way, you could get the moon to fill as much of the frame as you want.
Click to expand...

Interesting idea, but the mirror simply reflects the moon, it still appears at infinity and the same size as if shot directly.

The moon (and the sun) subtend and angle of approx 1/2 degree. That means if you had a telephoto lens that has a field of view of approx 1 degree horizontal the the full moon would cover 1/2 the horizontial field and almost touch the top and bottom of the frame in 16:9.

On a 1/3 inch camera I am guessing you would need about a 250 mm lens to fill the frame, but you not want it that big.

The great thing about video is that you can just go outside tonight ( moon somewhere near full) and experiment with exposure and settings and see how big it looks at full zoom on your camera, if you want it twice as big you need double the focal length and may need to rent a camera with interchangeable lenses and a longer zoom to do it.

Good Luck

Bill Turner
 
It's not easy to shoot the moon. Once you get a lens big enough to till the frame, then it's amazing just how damned fast that thing moves! I've been thinking about mounting my camera to one of those telescope mounts that does tracking. Anyone tried anything like that?
 
One more reason to shoot a still... Then add some air turbulence effect + the drifting clouds...

As a rule of thumb with a 35mm still camera 100mm lens gives 24 degree diagonal angle. 400mm would be 6 degrees = bit over 3 deg vertical. That wold be enough with a a good digital SLR to give a full frame SD video moon. Have to try this sometime. (with Canon EOS-1D MkII + 400 with extenders.

If I get around to it where can I send the file for public domain?
 
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