Extreamly silly question

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mrshunt90

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Have a canon 1100d EOS. Just the normal lens that came with my camera (I'm an extreme newbie)! What I wanted to know was why my camera wouldn't take a photo in the dark? Well it was pointed at the moon. I'm sure there's a completely sensible reason why. I tried different settings (auto and manually)
 
I suspect it couldn't lock focus in such poor lighting conditions. The shutter will only release once focus is locked.

The widest aperture on your kit lens may not allow sufficient light onto the AF sensor. You could try focussing manually. Turn off the AF with the switch on the lens.
 
Not enough light for it to focus / not enough light for it to expose correctly

put the camera on a tripod

switch the lens to manual and focus it by hand

set a reasonably high iso, switch to manual exposure, take a meter reading - if it needs more than 30 secs set the exposure to B and hold the shutter button down for the correct time

et voila
 
And then get a bigger lens as the moon will be pretty small with a 55mm, I think because it is quite a long way away :)
 
I don't really understand some of these comments about moon shots...

It should be possible to shoot the moon handheld with a shutter speed in the hundreds of a second at ISO 400 or there abouts.

Remember that things move so if you go for a tripod long exposure shot you'll end up with a blur unless you track.

OP...

The first thing is, as said, if the auto focus will not lock on switch to manual and focus or just set your lens to focus at infinity, if it has markings.

Your lens focal length is short so you're not going to be able to fill the frame or anything like it with the moon but you should get a shot with the moon being smallish in the frame.

Set your camera to Manual mode, set the aperture to f8, set the shutter speed to 1/800 and set your ISO to 400. Take a shot and review the result. If the moon is too bright lower your ISO or increase your shutter speed. If the moon is too dark use a slower shutter speed like 1/400 or 1/200 and shoot and review again.

If you want a general night scene you'll need a longer exposure and a tripod but a 30 second exposure and a tripod will probably not help you get a moon shot with any detail unless you track.
 
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tripod tripod tripod
did I mention that? :)
moon shots are lovely when you get the right
There's a lot to consider with the exposure
if you get that right (on the tripod) then you'll get one of two things
1) a completely black sky with a well exposed moon (excuse me!)
2) a good looking sky with stars etc, but the moon will just come out as a bright white circle with no detail

obviously this is to do with the amount of light
When you take a photo of the moon you actually (so I'm told) need to expose for if it was nearly daylight as that's actually what you're photographing. something exposed by the light of the sun. Of course nothing else will so up...as it's too dark )

with this in mind...maybe you don't need the tripod tbh...but it does help
 
I just don't see why a tripod will help with a moon shot. Sorry but I don't.

You'll need a tripod for a general night shot and an exposure into multiple seconds but a moon shot at 1/200-1/800 sec?
 
^^ for a 18-55 cropped shot then okay.
but I would use a cropped sensor and a mighty 400mm (640mm equiv)
so I'd bring my tripod or similar to help out my aged and decrepit limbs
 
I regularly shoot the moon achieving perfectly good results with an excessive focal length (500mm + 1.4x on a crop body) and have never used a tripod yet.

I'm sure it's worth a try, but it's not going to be an absolute necessity - especially with a smaller lens.
 
DizMatt said:
^^ for a 18-55 cropped shot then okay.
but I would use a cropped sensor and a mighty 400mm (640mm equiv)
so I'd bring my tripod or similar to help out my aged and decrepit limbs
Click to expand...

I suppose it depends on how steadily you can hand hold and IS or not. Plus pointing up may be a problem for some with some limited mobilty. I've shot APS-C, 300mm, at anything between 1/200 and 1/800 no problem. That might not remain true as the years pass :'( :D
 
To the OP your question seems to have been well answered so I shall not answer it again :thumbs: you may find that ONE SHOT is good for a moon photo as a focus mode :thumbs:

Matt
 
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The moon, itself, is brighter than most seem to think.
The best shots I got were 1/250, f10, iso100 at 300mm and 200mm. Possible to hand hold but better to use a tripod and remote release to avoid any shake. I've since learned that mirror lock-up would have haelped further.
 
In respect of the discussion about settings, tripods etc., this photo is not that good but look at the settings (manual mode) - was hand-held too.

Exposure 1/1600
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 500 mm
ISO Speed 640
Focus Mode One-shot AF


Moon by felix rufus, on Flickr
 
At 1/1600 you would need to be pretty wobbly for it to cause a problem hand held though :)

Does demonstrate that even with a 500 lens it is still small. I am not sure it is even worth bothering with a 55 is it?
 
woof woof said:
I just don't see why a tripod will help with a moon shot. Sorry but I don't.
Click to expand...

Really. I'd like to see you handholding this combination for a moon shot, or any other sort of shot.

lens.jpg
 
Scarecrow said:
Really. I'd like to see you handholding this combination for a moon shot, or any other sort of shot.

lens.jpg
Click to expand...

I'd thought of canon relasing a new 40mm pancake lens but jeez didnt think the pics of it had been released yet....
 
Scarecrow said:
Really. I'd like to see you handholding this combination for a moon shot, or any other sort of shot.

lens.jpg
Click to expand...

Well, if you are going to be ridiculous :help:
:D

I was trying to answer the OP's question.
 
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