• Got the Contributing Memberships stuff finally worked out and made up a thread as a sort of "How-To" to help people figure out how to participate. So if you need help figuring it out, here's the thread you need to take a look at -> http://www.corvetteflorida.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3581 Thank you, everyone! Rich Z.

Moon photo tests using Nikon D850

Rich Z

Rich Z

Internet Sanitation Engineer
Staff member
Night before last I wanted to try out the new Nikon D850 with a few longer lenses I have to see how well it would capture images of the moon. I mounted everything on my motorized tripod for astrophotography work so I could more easily track the moon and keep the camera as steady as I could. Honestly, I really need a remote shutter trigger for this purpose, as just putting my hand on the camera introduces a lot of jitter, which is certainly reflected in the photos taken. Anyway, here is the results I got.

Nikkor 500mm reflex lens:
moon_500mm_mirror_01.jpg



Nikkor 1000mm reflex lens:
moon_1000mm_mirror_01.jpg



Sigma 50-500mm zoom lens:
moon_sigma_50_500_zoom_01.jpg



Now to compare the above with an image I took using my Nikon Coolpix P900 camera with it's integral 24-2000mm zoom lens.

moon_Nikon_P900_01.jpg


Personally, I think I'll stick to the P900 for photographs of the moon. Unless further trials using a remote shutter trigger improve the results I got from the D850 substantially.
 
CHASZ51 said:
last pic looks best. Need to get a scope.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have often thought about that, but take a look at the videos I've done with my drone and pay attention to the woods that completely surrounds me. I can only really see the sky about STRAIGHT UP and that is it. I probably should measure the angle to the tree tops, but I would bet it is greater than 45 degrees, at best, before I can see the sky above unobstructed. So I think getting a decent telescope would wind up being pretty frustrating for me because my viewing the sky would be so limited.

Besides, I'm not sure I can even see the north star to calibrate a tracking system. I have two tracking tripod heads and haven't even bothered to calibrate either one of them. When the night sky does dark I want to try some of me fast Nikkor lenses with long exposure to see what sort of stars will be visible. I've tried that with the GoPro I have, which I believe has an f2.8 lens on it. If my 50mm f1.4 lens gives me some decent results, I may spring for a longer lens with that much light sucking capability. But those sorts of lenses get kind of expensive, and truth be known after taking one good picture of the night sky, how much is it really going to change to do that again?
 
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