I have a Sony DSH 5 digital camera, and would like help with what settings to use to take a picture of a full moon. My goal is to take a good picture of the moon, have tried flowers and scenery and people now would like to try to take a picture of the moon, but have no luck so far. Please if anyone could help me with the settings, I know I will need a tripod and also, would like to use the camera settings, do not have any extra lens at this time, but I know it can be done with the camera's setting. Please help and if anyone is interested in emailing with ideas of picture taking let me know. Please advise. Thanks! What type of picture are you talking about? Do you want to have the moon as part of the night sky and include the contrast and some detail of the sky (only possible on certain very clear nights). Or do you want to zoom in on the moon and cause the background to fade out of the picture.
Use a tripod for both pictures. There are three settings to work with....ISO, aperature, and shutter speed. All non SLR cameras have alot of noise when taking night shots, so set the ISO to 160 or at least as low as 200. If you want to take a picture of the moon in the night sky, use a very slow shutter speed. If you want the moon to stand out from the background, use a moderately slow shutter speed and open up the aperature.
I'm not familiar with the H5 controls but I own the R1. The R1 allows me to set a"priority" for my automatic controls by setting the mode switch. If the H5 has one, try using the twilight setting (moon in the night sky) or twilight portrait setting (focussed in on the moon). If those are absent or don't work well, use the priority modes. S will allow you to set the shutter speed and the camera will auto adjust the other settings to get the correct exposure. Set the ISO as low as it will go and the shutter speed as high as it will go. Thise should work well because you are using a tripod and the moon is a stationary object. Alternately, you could use the A mode which will allow you to adjust the aperature and let more light in. Set the F number as small as it will go (which opens the aperature maximally). The camera should auto select the other settings to get the correct exposure. Opening up the aperature will cause the focal range to become much smaller. The net result is the moon will become focussed while the surrounding night sky will go out of focus, throwing the moon into sharp contrast. Open up your appeture, and use your B seeting, do about a 3 minute shot. ya you need a tripod for sure... set your shutter speed to 30 seconds or more to allow enough light to make an image. it's just trial and error, see what longer exposures do. |
