Tag: Waxing Gibbous

Thursday (06-October-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

With a clear sky, and bright waxing gibbous moon I experimented ways to acquire sharp images of the moon through a 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens. The lens is mounted on a tripod with a Wimberley gimble tripod head. VR  is turned off, and the camera set for “mirror up” mode. I used a remote release, and let the system stabilize for 30 seconds (time-out for mirror up) before the shutter would be triggered. The first five images are #1 (f/16, 1/50 sec); #2 (f/11, 1/100 sec); #3 (f/8, 1/200 sec); #4 (f/5.6, 1/400 sec); and #5 (f/4, 1/800 sec). I think the best was #4 (f/5.6, 1/400 sec), although all were pretty good. The next two images used a TC-E III 20 teleconverter for an effective focal length of 1200 mm #6 (f/16, 1/50 sec); #7 (f/11, 1/100 sec). Here I think #7 (f/11, 1/100 sec) is best. With the additional magnification, a faster shutter speed is needed to counteract the motion of the moon.

I also made several DSLR videos of the moon, since I was using my Nikon D3s camera body. When I reviewed the videos, I saw that I had captured at least two satellite transits in front of the moon. These transits are less than 1 second long. Subject for another post.

Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/16, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/16, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/11, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/11, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/8, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/8, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/800 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/800 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter. (ISO 200, 1200 mm, f/16, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter. (ISO 200, 1200 mm, f/16, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter. (ISO 200, 1200 mm, f/11, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter. (ISO 200, 1200 mm, f/11, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)

Thursday (11-August-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Night Sky Over New Jersey.

Multi-Exposure View of the Waxing Gibbous Moon. I went out last night to see about setting up a camera to do some star trails and possibly catch some Perseid meteor trails. I gave up because of the bright  waxing gibbous moon (90% illuminated) and some fast-moving clouds. After midnight, it did clear up long enough to get this multi-exposure view of the moon. I set it up for 2 minutes between exposure. I think I need to go to 2.5 minutes for no overlap for a full moon.

Multi-Exposure of Waxing Gibbous Moon over New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 400, 500 mm, f/4 1/400 sec). Nine images taken at 2 minute intervals. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, and Photoshop CS5.. (David J Mathre)
Multi-Exposure of Waxing Gibbous Moon over New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 500 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 400, 500 mm, f/4 1/400 sec). Nine images taken at 2 minute intervals. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, and Photoshop CS5.