Ron that is one of the best pictures I seen with so much detail.. nice,, I will go back and see what I have in the files/computer.. I know I don't have any pictures that clear.. Lou
Lou,
Maybe you got your arm details screwed up and forgot to hold your breath :hyper:
Honestly, you will never be able to get a sharp shot at the settings you used if it is handheld.
If you don't have a tripod you can set the camera on something solid and prop it up to the right angle with a pillow, shirt or bean bag under it.
In either case you need to use the time delay so that you can push the shutter release and get away from the camera to allow 4 sec or whatever
you choose for the camera to be stable before it fires.
At 337 mm zoom it is like trying to balance an egg on the end of a toothpick, you can't hold it still.:dance1:
You might try raising the ISO speed real high to increase the shutter speed but that will increase the digital noise.
You could open up the f-stop from f-4.5 but your max at that zoom is F-3 so you won't gain much that way.
Your camera meter is over exposing the moon detail a bit, which is a normal fault when it is trying to balance the little bright circle with
all the big black surroundings, even though the meter is set on spot.
It is normal to have to use exposure bias of a -1 to a -3 when shooting moon shots, particularly if there are no clouds covering it at all.
That's why in a lot of shots you see folks take on automatic, the moon is just a pure white overexposed ball with no detail.
Lenses, and zoom lenses in particular, have a sweet spot. There is an ideal f-stop where the lens has less internal reflection, thus more sharpness than any other.
Of course the f-stop alters the depth of field but when shooting the moon, depth of field doesn't matter, since it is so far away, but the sweet f-stop does.
You have probably noticed that your camera taking normal and close distance shots has an f-stop setting that just seems better than the others.
I'm lazy so I use a tripod which once set level stays that way. Most tripods have level bubbles built in.
I use a 3 foot electronic cable release so I can sit comfortably on a porch chair, with cool drink in hand, and just watch the LCD and click the release when I want.
Having the focus set on manual infinity I don't have to mess with the shutter half way down to focus crap.
I have a little flashlight so I can see the knobs and buttons on the back if I decide to change a setting.
I shoot on (A) Aperture setting so I have control of the f-stop, set the ISO to 100 so no digital noise, let the camera select the shutter speed, but actually increase it by selecting
a minus exposure bias. Each step in a minus direction effectively doubles the shutter speed.
Your camera, and most digital cameras, will work the same way if you want to try it.:reading:
Ron
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