[Fozzybear]

Monday was the first clear night with the moon in sight since I bought my Kenko 1.4x Pro 300 DG teleconverter so I was itching to get out and take a photo to see how it would come out.

I had my tripod set up (Manfrotto 190ProB with 484RC2 head) in the garden on a bit of solid concrete and slapped on my Nikon D80 with the Nikkor 300mm f/4 prime and teleconverter fitted and used a wired remote to fire the shutter. I also turned on the exposure delay in the D80 menus, which allows the mirror slap vibrations to diminish before opening the shutter.

Bear in mind that this is my first go using the teleconverter, a few attempts will hopefully iron out my technique and I might get sharper results. The setup is effectively a 630mm f/5.6 lens (300x1.5x1.4) and using a faster shutter speed, or damping the tripod with some added weight may improve the visible detail.

This is the best shot I had got up to now, taken with the D80 and 300mm:

A long way from my first attempt:

[Chip Nicley]

For me this is stunning...Well done, Im very inspired now thanks

Chip

[bibamus]

Nice shots with loads of detail. Next thing you`ll want is a motorized mount so you can take longer exposures...........

Allan

[Zone]

Wow to #1 Fozzy

Puts glasses on
Now lets see, did man really land on the moon

[pixelpixel]

The second one for me, just cracking nice work.

[Fozzybear]

Thanks all. I noticed the sky was clear again last night so quickly grabbed all my kit and dragged it out into the garden, got it set up and looked up to find a load of cloud had moved in from behind my house to obscure the moon. I was not amused!

[stylgeo]

Hi, brilliant shots! I would be interested to see some EXIF on the first photos!
A good moon shot is a must in every photographers portfolio and it seems your quest is over

[stevegreen]

Super dooper. Thats some focal length

[Fozzybear]

Originally Posted by stylgeo

Hi, brilliant shots! I would be interested to see some EXIF on the first photos!
A good moon shot is a must in every photographers portfolio and it seems your quest is over

Thanks stylegeo. Some exif is on flickr - click on the photos and on the flickr page look at the right of the page for a small 'more properties' link. For the fist one it was 1/125s @ f/8, ISO 100.

It really is a long lens Steve, I found that out when I was photographing sparrows as it was really hard to find them once you go to look through the viewfinder!

[IAN P]

Very cool shots,even if weve seen it dozens of times over the years

[Grahamhyde]

Inspirational, well done Mr. Bear!!!

Now, just sitting here with my whiskey transfixed with the detail.

Interesting point about the exposure time...
Will the detail increase appreciably if a motorised (no doubt very expensive for a top quality, accurate/stable unit) is used?
I would argue that given the moons' brightness, luck in clarity of sky and quality of optics - syncing a motor to the moons orbit would give a noticeable gain in 'picture quality'. It would be probably be cheaper to travel & take the pictures on a mountain in the Canary Islands, on holiday, than to purchase a very specialist synchronising motor rig just for a few moon shots. Or even renting access to a scientific telescope system and playing with settings/attatching your camera (somehow).

A thought, possibly? .....or is it the drink philosophizing?

[Biscuit761]

Good shots

Will have to get out with my Kenko 2x t/c on Sigma 70 - 300 through Nikon D50 - 1.5 x crop = 900mm effective length at about F8 (I think)

Bill

[Steve N]

Excellent shots, very impressive

[Fozzybear]

Thanks all.

Originally Posted by Grahamhyde

Inspirational, well done Mr. Bear!!!

Now, just sitting here with my whiskey transfixed with the detail.

Interesting point about the exposure time...
Will the detail increase appreciably if a motorised (no doubt very expensive for a top quality, accurate/stable unit) is used?
I would argue that given the moons' brightness, luck in clarity of sky and quality of optics - syncing a motor to the moons orbit would give a noticeable gain in 'picture quality'. It would be probably be cheaper to travel & take the pictures on a mountain in the Canary Islands, on holiday, than to purchase a very specialist synchronising motor rig just for a few moon shots. Or even renting access to a scientific telescope system and playing with settings/attatching your camera (somehow).

A thought, possibly? .....or is it the drink philosophizing?

The shutter speeds I'm using should be fast enough to minimise subject movement effects, but at slow speeds you do get reduction in detail, which is something I noticed before when using just the 300mm and playing with lots of different shutter speeds. Next time I can get some moon shots I want to do some more experimenting - something I didn't really want to do for this shoot as I was tired and it was very cold outside! Not sure if a motorised setup would be good for photography - can they be smooth enough? Definitely out of the price range I'd be willing to pay though (anyone want 5p for one? ).

Biscuit: be interested to see those shots, it will be interesting to see how your sigma copes as the teleconverter will really magnify any imperfections in the lens - something I saw even on the 300mm prime. I got pretty reasonable results even with the 70-300 nikon cheapy I originally had with my old D50, so the sigma should be capable of good results.