# Moon at 500mm



## crimbfighter (Aug 30, 2017)

Since taking delivery of my new Nikon 200-500, I've been itching to use it to capture a shot of the moon. Tonight we finally had clear skies with great lunar terminator across the moon, so I took advantage. The amount of additional detail I can get now vs. using my 70-200 and cropping is fantastic!

D7100, 200-500 f/5.6 @ 500mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec, ISO 100


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## DriedStrawbery (Aug 30, 2017)

Have you considered using a simple telescope and mounting the camera body to it? You can continue into astro photography with it..


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## crimbfighter (Aug 30, 2017)

DriedStrawbery said:


> Have you considered using a simple telescope and mounting the camera body to it? You can continue into astro photography with it..


I have not seriously considered that. A while ago I thought about pursuing getting a telescope and using it for astro photography, but when I started researching it, I felt like it would be another rabbit hole of buying equipment that in the end would be for a very specialized type of photography. As much as I think I would enjoy doing that, I can't justify it. The 200-500 is a lens I have been wanting for a while to use for wildlife. It just so happens that it also takes nice shots of the moon


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## birdbonkers84 (Sep 8, 2017)

One of the sharpest, most detailed moon shots I've seen so far, you've captured the surface of the moon really well.


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## Peeb (Sep 8, 2017)

Nice!  Your sensor is a bit higher rez, but I stacked a 1.4 on my 500 to get this last month (I prefer yours, btw):


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## astroNikon (Sep 8, 2017)

telescopes are a big rabbit hole.
but then 4,500mm is nice (1.5x crop + 3,054mm telescope) for closeups of the moon.

Nice capture with your 200-500.


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## crimbfighter (Sep 8, 2017)

birdbonkers84 said:


> One of the sharpest, most detailed moon shots I've seen so far, you've captured the surface of the moon really well.


Thanks!



Peeb said:


> Nice!  Your sensor is a bit higher rez, but I stacked a 1.4 on my 500 to get this last month (I prefer yours, btw):
> View attachment 146457


That's actually a really nice shot! Just bring the exposure up and I bet it'd look really good.



astroNikon said:


> telescopes are a big rabbit hole.
> but then 4,500mm is nice (1.5x crop + 3,054mm telescope) for closeups of the moon.
> 
> Nice capture with your 200-500.


Thanks! I can't imagine 4,500mm. At that focal length do you need a tracking mount to prevent motion blur? I would think yes, but don't really know.


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## KmH (Sep 10, 2017)

Nicely done.
It's to bad the night you got the shot was to far into this lunar cycle to have gotten the Lunar X adjacent to the crater Purbach along the terminator.

I've used my 12" Newtonian telescope to make photos of the moon, but I have to use a 2x barlow lens to get the focal point far enough out of the telescope focuser to focus an image on the image sensor of my DSLR. The 2x barlow acts just like a TC and effectively doubles the focal length of my telescope to 3000 mm. At 3000 mm I can't get the entire moon in a single DSLR frame

I managed to get 3/4 of the Lunar X in this composite of 2 frames. The moon was to low in the sky to avoid roiling of the atmosphere, compromising focus sharpness.


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## OGsPhotography (Sep 10, 2017)

Nice  

Whats Lunar x?


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## crimbfighter (Sep 10, 2017)

KmH said:


> Nicely done.
> It's to bad the night you got the shot was to far into this lunar cycle to have gotten the Lunar X adjacent to the crater Purbach along the terminator.
> 
> I've used my 12" Newtonian telescope to make photos of the moon, but I have to use a 2x barlow lens to get the focal point far enough out of the telescope focuser to focus an image on the image sensor of my DSLR. The 2x barlow acts just like a TC and effectively doubles the focal length of my telescope to 3000 mm. At 3000 mm I can't get the entire moon in a single DSLR frame
> ...


Nice capture on that one! I really would love to get into the realm of telescopes, but it seems like it's never as easy as buying a telescope, attaching camera, and viola! I never thought to try to capture the Lunar X, I'll have to watch for it and try to get it in the future. I am also thinking of buying a 1.4x TC. From what I've read, the Nikon 200-500 handles it very well and it still yields better results than cropping alone. The biggest deficit is the f/8 minimum aperture.. 



OGsPhotography said:


> Nice
> 
> Whats Lunar x?


The Lunar X is a spot on the moon made up of landscape features that when a shadow is cast across it, it forms the appearance of an X.

Lunar X - Wikipedia


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## astroNikon (Sep 10, 2017)

crimbfighter said:


> OGsPhotography said:
> 
> 
> > Nice
> ...


Nah, the "X" is from a gigantic Alien Ship's landing gear.  But don't tell the masses, they'd panic   LMAO


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## crimbfighter (Sep 10, 2017)

astroNikon said:


> crimbfighter said:
> 
> 
> > OGsPhotography said:
> ...


Shhhhh, that's supposed to be a secret!


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## Peeb (Sep 10, 2017)

Brought the exposure up at your suggestion


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