Moon shots/filter advise

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Skypilot

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I have been trying to get some decent moon shots using my D80 and a Nikon spotting scope in a digiscope set-up.

The moon is extremely bright when the sky is clear and I have been trying to control the exposure by using very high shutter speeds.

In the digiscope set-up the scope acts as a lens with an adaptor mating it with the D80. This means that I am unable to utilise aperture settings. These always show as f13 on the Exif.

Question is: Would I get better results using ND filters and if so, what strength.
Also - can you get filters that will fit the end of my scope which has 86mm threads.

All help and suggestions also appreciated.
 
So what's wrong with using a very high shutter speed on what must equate to one hell of a powerful lens?

Generally speaking, the more powerful the lens the more you need a high shutter speed to help reduce the risk of blur

Are you not getting a correct exposure as you need faster than 1/4000th of a sec?
 
Don't see high shutter speeds as a problem. The moon actually moves quite fast. I got motion blur with 1000mm lens and 1/20 second.
 
Slapo said:
What do the actual photos look like with 1/1250 s?
Could you post samples?
Click to expand...

Here's one:

485243477_3f1ffc4691.jpg


DiddyDave - So what's wrong with using a very high shutter speed
Click to expand...

Maybe nothing.
I was just wondering I would I get better results using ND filters and a slower shutter speed.
 
"I was just wondering would I get better results using ND filters and a slower shutter speed."

Absolutely not - you want the fastest shutter speed you can get for almost any shot of anything - unless blur is actually desirable, and here it's not

Putting extra glass (i.e. a filter) in front will lessen the sharpness too a fraction - so the short answer is, keep it as you are and be happy :):):)

What's this like for shooting birds & stuff? Do you know what the approx focal length is as measured against a normal camera lens?
 
DiddyDave said:
"I was just wondering would I get better results using ND filters and a slower shutter speed."

Absolutely not - you want the fastest shutter speed you can get for almost any shot of anything.

Thanks for that

What's this like for shooting birds & stuff? Do you know what the approx focal length is.
Click to expand...

Focal length is 1000mm.
Below is a robin taken with this set-up.
Needless to say all focusing has to be manual.
This is a crop and a little contrast/sharpness adjusment may have helped but all shots will be softer than using good quality lenses.

498289938_7c053059f8.jpg
 
Skypilot said:
Focal length is 1000mm.
Below is a robin taken with this set-up.
Needless to say all focusing has to be manual.
This is a crop and a little contrast/sharpness adjusment may have helped but all shots will be softer than using good quality lenses.

498289938_7c053059f8.jpg
Click to expand...

Just had a tweak to give it a bit more impact:

1506248890_6ae0b4824e_o.jpg
 
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