Last night the big harvest moon made an appearance, so I shot it



Nikon D800E
Exposure (1/640)
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 500 mm
ISO Speed 200

That's beautiful Howard! Keep it up man.

 

Hey, you should start a firearm photoshoot service. I'm sure a lot of enthusiasts would love to have pics of their firearms taken a'la Stickman or maybe during matches, etc.

Wow!  Fantastic picture, Howard.  I never realized that the "man in the moon" was really a hunched over Magpie.  I still don't see the man in the moon, but I have prosopagnosia or "face blindness"

Wow......

It was a beautiful moon and that's a beautiful photo! I really don't know much about photography, but you used a filter?

Great shot. I saw the moon still hanging up there in the sky at 6am. It was awesome.

Awesome Howard....keep em coming

Stunning....great job guys

Nice shot Howard!  You really have a CRISP image there!  

 

On Tuesday night I showed the entire Boy Scout Troop (I'm still an adult leader even though my son Eagled back in '06) what the Moon looks like through my Nikon 25-75x ED-APO Zoom Spotting Scope.  

 

I have the Hasselblad Book with all of the Moon photos from Apollo 11.  If we ever get a chance to have a coffee, I'll bring it along!

 

Have a nice day!

 

Dave

Did you shoot it RAW or JPG?  Nice picture!

What is this JPEG thing you speak of?

 

I only shoot raw. Getting a high end camera to shoot JPEG is like buying a 1911 so that you can then buy a .22 conversion kit and then only use the gun for 22LR.

Joe Biden approves!

 

awesome pics. That explains why everyone in the office was absolutely out of hand yesterday hahaha

 

 

That's no moon...

Nice, which 500 were you using?

 

I haven't shot the moon in a while...but these are a few from years ago...

 

Canon 1D II N

Sigma 300-800mm 5.6 EX and Canon 1.4x II teleconverter (1120mm focal length)

1/400th f/11 ISO800

 

Canon 1D II N

Sigma 300-800mm 5.6 EX and Canon 2x II Teleconverter (1600mm focal length)

1/20th f/18 ISO800

 

I've messed around with using all my teleconverters, and have shot at focal lengths up to 6400mm (I believe the moon is larger than the frame at that point), but sadly, stacking four teleconverters does not exactly give good image quality...or much light (6,400mm, f/44 wide open...).  It is interesting to watch the moon move through the viewfinder at incredible speed with that high magnification though...as long as you don't accidentally touch, breathe on, or look at the lens and/or tripod. 

Great shot of the moon!

this thread is awesome!

Nice, which 500 were you using?

 

I haven't shot the moon in a while...but these are a few from years ago...

 

 

Canon 1D II N

Sigma 300-800mm 5.6 EX and Canon 1.4x II teleconverter (1120mm focal length)

1/400th f/11 ISO800

 

 

Canon 1D II N

Sigma 300-800mm 5.6 EX and Canon 2x II Teleconverter (1600mm focal length)

1/20th f/18 ISO800

 

I've messed around with using all my teleconverters, and have shot at focal lengths up to 6400mm (I believe the moon is larger than the frame at that point), but sadly, stacking four teleconverters does not exactly give good image quality...or much light (6,400mm, f/44 wide open...).  It is interesting to watch the moon move through the viewfinder at incredible speed with that high magnification though...as long as you don't accidentally touch, breathe on, or look at the lens and/or tripod. 

 

Those are very nice shots, you always get better pictures of the moon when it is not full.  I generally don't try to shoot the full moon as you don't get the details, but this shot was done by request.  I took it with my Nikon D800e using a Sigma 150-500 OS lens, its a fair to midland lens.  I generally don't like using TC's as they do degrade the image.  In most cases I have found it better to digitally enlarge the image from a high quality lens rather than using an average lens with a TC.  The only exception I have found is the new Nikon TC20-iii with my Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 lens, this new TC does a very good job.

The Generation 3 teleconverters from both Canon and Nikon are supposed to be significant upgrades from the gen1 and to a lesser extent, gen2 TCs.  TCs typically 'dislike' any 'cheap' zoom - most lenses under $2k won't give enough detail to get optimal quality when combined with a TC.  TCs are really designed for primes anyway, and when paired with my 400 2.8L IS, I am always happy with the results.  The Sigma 300-800 5.6 does not like the 2x nearly as much as my 300 2.8/400 2.8...but shines with a 1.4x. 

 

I would beg to differ on the digital uprezzing with my cameras (D800E may be different?)...any IQ loss due to use of a 1.4x or 2x is negated by the ability to bring the subject that much closer...counting individual strands on a bird's feathers comes to mind...

 

Also, teleconverters are a hell of a lot cheaper than the next fast long lens I could get...I'm already at 800mm f/5.6, the longest focal length/fastest lens I can realistically get...so to go to 1000mm f/5.6 (Sigma 200-500 2.8 and matched 2x), I'd be in the $28k category...

 

...I do need to add a 600 f4 though...

Supertelephoto, you are correct for most cameras, but keep in mind that the D800e is 36mp, so you can really crop the heck out of it and still get very good images.

Many years ago Leica led the way with TC's....with an APO 1.4x for the 280mm F2.8 Apo.  "Tuned" for the 280mm, so NO loss of image quality.  Mine is about 3 feet away from me right now, lol!  VERY sharp!

 

But you have to manually focus it--how Retro, lol!

 

Dave

Great pics

Nice Shotin!

Howard, I always show my wife your photos and she is always impressed. She is a photographer herself but mainly does on location portrait sessions. She was glad to see someone else using a nikon. Everyone seems to be a fan of canon these days. She uses the d600 with a few different prime lenses. She agrees with your comment on shooting in raw and comparing it to a 22 conversion on a 1911. Once again, nice shots.

Thanks everyone.

beautiful photos

INCREDIBLE pictures everyone. i love looking up at the moon when its full and bright... especially on the rare occasion that you can see a lot of stars in spite of its brightness.

 

 

That's no moon...

 

 

LOLZ

The moon last night was called a  " harvest moon"   last full moon of the summer....the inidans used to harvest after this moon, that's how it got its name.