Need advice for moonset photography

This sort of involves astronomy, and I am definately an amateur, so...

If my calculations are correct, on Autust 13th I have the opportunity
to photograph the moon setting directly behind Mt. Evans mere minutes
before sunrise from Capitol Hill in Denver. I intend to use my Lumix
FZ35 with a teleconverter that gives it the equivalent of a 826mm
focal length if it were a 35mm, which it isn't. If you are interested,
here is a picture I took of *just* the moon using the same setup:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3585314...57623129010923

I somehow calculated exposure time and aperture for that photo, but I
have long since forgotten how I did it. Anyway, for my moonset shot,
I *could* let the FZ35 figure out everything for itself--it's a pretty
smart camera--or I could select certain parameters and let the camera
figure out the rest. For example, I was thinking of selecting a "film
speed" of 100; would you recommend anything different for an almost
daylit moonset shot? I figure I could use up to an eighth of a second
exposure and the moon shouldn't have time to move more than one pixel;
should I use all the time available, or go faster?

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On 2011-07-20, Paul Ciszek wrote:
This sort of involves astronomy, and I am definately an amateur, so...

If my calculations are correct, on Autust 13th I have the opportunity
to photograph the moon setting directly behind Mt. Evans mere minutes
before sunrise from Capitol Hill in Denver. I intend to use my Lumix
FZ35 with a teleconverter that gives it the equivalent of a 826mm
focal length if it were a 35mm, which it isn't. If you are interested,
here is a picture I took of *just* the moon using the same setup:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3585314...57623129010923

I somehow calculated exposure time and aperture for that photo, but I
have long since forgotten how I did it. Anyway, for my moonset shot,
I *could* let the FZ35 figure out everything for itself--it's a pretty
smart camera--or I could select certain parameters and let the camera
figure out the rest. For example, I was thinking of selecting a "film
speed" of 100; would you recommend anything different for an almost
daylit moonset shot? I figure I could use up to an eighth of a second
exposure and the moon shouldn't have time to move more than one pixel;
should I use all the time available, or go faster?


You can use the "sunny f/16" rule for the full moon. At f/16 set the
shutter speed to 1/ISO. For othe focal ratios set the shutter accordingly.
f/32 uses 4/ISO, f/8 uses 1/(4*ISO). Bracket, bracket, bracket.

Bud

On 20 Éïýë, 16:59, (Paul Ciszek) wrote:
This sort of involves astronomy, and I am definately an amateur, so...

If my calculations are correct, on Autust 13th I have the opportunity
to photograph the moon setting directly behind Mt. Evans mere minutes
before sunrise from Capitol Hill in Denver. *I intend to use my Lumix
FZ35 with a teleconverter that gives it the equivalent of a 826mm
focal length if it were a 35mm, which it isn't. *If you are interested,
here is a picture I took of *just* the moon using the same setup:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3585314.../set-721576231...

I somehow calculated exposure time and aperture for that photo, but I
have long since forgotten how I did it. *Anyway, for my moonset shot,
I *could* let the FZ35 figure out everything for itself--it's a pretty
smart camera--or I could select certain parameters and let the camera
figure out the rest. *For example, I was thinking of selecting a "film
speed" of 100; would you recommend anything different for an almost
daylit moonset shot? *I figure I could use up to an eighth of a second
exposure and the moon shouldn't have time to move more than one pixel;
should I use all the time available, or go faster?

--
Please reply to: * * * * * *| "Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is
pciszek at panix dot com * *| *indistinguishable from malice."
Autoreply is disabled * * * |

One of the joys about the digital age is the fact we have IMMEDIATE
feedback. Why not set the camera in manual mode, ISO 100 so as to have
the lowest possible noise and activation of the histogram during
preview and start firing away?

Start out with 1/500 sec and go from there. This is a very trivial
exercise and with immediate feedback at the back of the camera.

Anthony.

In article ,
wrote:

You can use the "sunny f/16" rule for the full moon. At f/16 set the
shutter speed to 1/ISO. For othe focal ratios set the shutter accordingly.
f/32 uses 4/ISO, f/8 uses 1/(4*ISO). Bracket, bracket, bracket.

I think my DMW-LT55 teleconverter (magnification 1.7) throws a wrench
into the Sunny 16 math; I hope I can find someone who understands how
that works. Anyway, am I correct in assuming that because I am aiming
at a point in the sky almost exactly opposite the sun, a polarizer is
pointless?

--
"Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS
crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in
TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in
bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither."

In article ,
Paul Ciszek wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

You can use the "sunny f/16" rule for the full moon. At f/16 set the
shutter speed to 1/ISO. For othe focal ratios set the shutter accordingly.
f/32 uses 4/ISO, f/8 uses 1/(4*ISO). Bracket, bracket, bracket.

I think my DMW-LT55 teleconverter (magnification 1.7) throws a wrench
into the Sunny 16 math; I hope I can find someone who understands how
that works.

The teleconverter may mean (depending on how clever it is; if the
lens, camera and teleconverter are from the same company and modern,
and the teleconverter has electrical contacts, the camera probably
does this for you) that the camera is at f/16 when the aperture dial
on the lens reads f/9.4 ... obviously the aperture dial doesn't have
an f/9.4 stop, so set to f/8, which is really f/13.6, so set at 1/(ISO
* (16/13.6)^2) = 1/(ISO * 1.4).

But, really, just take shots of the moon the previous night at lots of
different aperture and shutter settings, and use the one that gives
the prettiest moon for the main event.

Anyway, am I correct in assuming that because I am aiming
at a point in the sky almost exactly opposite the sun, a polarizer is
pointless?

Yes

Tom

In article ,
Thomas Womack wrote:

I think my DMW-LT55 teleconverter (magnification 1.7) throws a wrench
into the Sunny 16 math; I hope I can find someone who understands how
that works.

The teleconverter may mean (depending on how clever it is; if the
lens, camera and teleconverter are from the same company and modern,
and the teleconverter has electrical contacts, the camera probably
does this for you) that the camera is at f/16 when the aperture dial
on the lens reads f/9.4 ... obviously the aperture dial doesn't have
an f/9.4 stop, so set to f/8, which is really f/13.6, so set at 1/(ISO
* (16/13.6)^2) = 1/(ISO * 1.4).

The teleconverter is sold by Panasonic, the same company as the camera.
It has no electrical contacts, but I have to inform the camera that I
am using the teleconverter for things to work properly. Here is a shot
I took of the moon at night with the teleconverter at f/6.3, ISO 100, and
1/160 sec:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3585314...in/photostream

If anyone is interested, I did a little demo of the increase in resolution
provided by the teleconverter, also using the moon:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3585314...n/photostream/
(view full size for best demonstration)

--
"Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS
crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in
TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in
bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither."

In article ,
wrote:

You can use the "sunny f/16" rule for the full moon. At f/16 set the
shutter speed to 1/ISO. For othe focal ratios set the shutter accordingly.
f/32 uses 4/ISO, f/8 uses 1/(4*ISO). Bracket, bracket, bracket.

Can the "sunny 16" rule be generalized as follows?

(F-number/16)^2 = ISO*(shutter time)

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