[Neema]

Why did they come out blurry? I had the focual lenth at 200mm and the 10 second timer on the camera. Im guessing that it could from a few things, A) that the earth moves fast enough that even durring a 30 second exposure the moon comes out blurry(but i notice that the blur is from side to side and not going toward just one direction, so that kinda rules out the earth/moon moving theory), and B) that its probably becuase of the shutter opening and closing causing enough vibrations to ruin the picture, and especially when your zoomed in that far

[OC Guy]

A little shadow...

A little more...

This is taking too long...

I feel myself getting older....

I think the grass has grown an inch...

It's almost over...

Check out the color...

This is pretty cool...

[phantom330]

cool pics, not sure why they came out blurry. I got up this morning myself and went jogging by the lake to watch it, was pretty cool, although I wasn't really sure what to expect. Currently crashing from being up so early

[Cliff3]

A less than stable tripod is the most likely culprit. Mirror slap would be another possibility, and it looks like your camera body will allow you to lock up the mirror. Additionally, I would set the camera's metering mode to spot since you're only interested in metering the moon accurately.

edit: atmospheric distortion is another probable culprit, but unless you head for the mountains, there's nothing you can do about that.

[18LLC]

Originally Posted by OC 335i

A little shadow...

A little more...

This is taking too long...

I feel myself getting older....

I think the grass has grown an inch...

It's almost over...

Check out the color...

This is pretty cool...

[bartman32]

Boost. It was probably the shutter shaking the camera or perhaps after you hit the button it was still shaking. How sturdy is your tripod? What was it sitting on? That might answer some of your questions.
Also you CAN get a picture of the earth moving but you need to set the exposure for hours not minutes. It's a kind of cool effect.

[shragon]

sweet pics!

i woke up at around 3am just to check it out too.

[!Xoible]

shit john! ur a pro

[OC Guy]

Sorry, my friend took those pics.

This is what he used:
Nikon D70s with an Opteka (ebay special) 1300mm f/16 lens. Shutter speed was set to 250.

[Neema]

1300mm! damn haha, thats like a small telescope or a bazooka sized lens

[tibbz]

very nice pics

[TurboFan]

1. Did you use IS / VR on a tripod? That would do it.

2. Could be mirror slap. What body do you have? Look into mirror lock-up.

3. Get a sturdier tripod, or try hang some weight from the center mast.

[Neema]

Originally Posted by TurboFan

1. Did you use IS / VR on a tripod? That would do it.

2. Could be mirror slap. What body do you have? Look into mirror lock-up.

3. Get a sturdier tripod, or try hang some weight from the center mast.

Yea i always use a tripod at night and i still didnt really look into/know about my mirror lock up feature until now. So now at night i use my timer in conjunction with the mirror lock up feature to get extra crisp shots....well try to atleast haha. The lens i was using (24-200 that i borrow from a friend)doesnt have an IS and niether does my Canon 400D body, niether does the new 17-40L f4 lens i got, but i use a tripod 90% of the time anyway so its cool. My tripod is..........well i think its a rip off for its price, 60 bucks and its pretty shity, i should have never bought it from a camera store. I should have just got one on ebay. I'd love a super heavy duty and thick tripod, this one is not the worst but MOST CERTAINLY not the best either.

[FryingPan]

The correct answer is A. The earth moves fast enough to ruin a 30 second exposure. When shooting the moon, I tend to use a 1/100th or faster shutter speed with an appropriate ISO setting.

That type of motion blur is NOT caused by a tripod, mirror slap, etc, etc, but by the rotation of the earth.

[TurboFan]

Originally Posted by FryingPan

The correct answer is A. The earth moves fast enough to ruin a 30 second exposure. When shooting the moon, I tend to use a 1/100th or faster shutter speed with an appropriate ISO setting.

That type of motion blur is NOT caused by a tripod, mirror slap, etc, etc, but by the rotation of the earth.

Wouldn't cause the side to side blur.

[TurboFan]

I take that back - I read too fast, thought the 10 sec timer was the exposure. I agree, it's the rotation of the earth you're seeing.

High ISO, wide open aperature, 1/80sec or faster shutter.

[Neema]

But what about the side to side motion? Wow so the earth would really move enough in 30 seconds to blur and image

[TurboFan]

That's what I mean - it's not actually side to side. It's the same result as if you shoot motion with a rear curtain sync and a stopped-down shutter.

You're seeing the intial location of the moon, the final location of the moon, and the sweep in between. Pretty cool. In LA, the rotational velocity of the earth's surface is 861.11 mph relative to the polar axis. Soooo, in 30 seconds, yeah, you move.

On a side note, your bimmer actually tops out at 1016.11mph, if you're traveling in a west to east direction, but it's all relative. Mother of a speeding ticket, too.