How to Take Photos of the Moon? – Part 2: Digital Equipment Required

Now that you have scheduled an appointment with the moon and checked with the weatherman for sky conditions, you are ready to take photos. However, do you know what digital equipment is required to take photos of the moon. As a matter of fact, you have to realize that to take close up pictures of the moon you will require certain level of digital equipment.



What Equipment is the Best for Taking Pictures of the Moon?
Depending what results you are looking for, close up picture of the moon or moon part of the landscape – this will determine what equipment you will need. For landscape results you can try shooting with simple point-and-shoot digital camera. However, for close up picture of the moon you will need digital camera with a zoom lens. Best results you can achieve with 75-300mm or 100-400mm telephoto lens with your SLR* or DSLR* camera. It is also possible to get some photos with point-and-shoot camera that has at least 12x optical zoom [Canon PowerShot S5IS 8.0MP with 12x Optical Zoom], and in addition you can incorporate a digital zoom. Remember, digital zoom is not actual zooming; it is done by camera’s software - interpolation and cropping of the image.

*SLR & DSLR – Single-Lens Reflex & Digital Single-Lens Reflex

Interesting reading on the photographer’s dream lens: The World's Largest Telephoto Lens

Another piece of equipment may be necessary is the tripod. If possible get a well structured one to eliminate vibrations. Usually with larger lenses vibration is not avoidable. The vibration usually occurs on each camera click – it is the pushing force with your finger on the camera that will cause this vibration. Then you probably need a trigger. There are wireless triggers on the market that may be available for your digital camera. However, if you are cheap and do not want to spend anymore money on your equipment, simply try to rest your camera on something stable, or if you get good at, you can rest your elbows on something, hold on to the lens and click. Something I got good at, and eliminated lengthy preparation and set up for the moon photography. I just take my camera, find comfortable resting place and shoot.

Moon Photography Equipment Summary
[1] Digital SLR Camera or Digital Point-and-Shoot Camera with at least 12x optical zoom
[2] Lenses with at least 75-300mm or 100-400mm, or more focal length [Canon, Nikon, Sigma]

[3] Tripod or other stable support




REFERENCES
[1] Moon Photography: How To Take Photos of the Moon - Handy Tip
[2] A Bit of Knowledge: How To Take Photos of the Moon - Handy Tip For SLR Digital Cameras
[3] How to Take a Picture of the Full, Half or Crescent Moon? – Part 1: Moon Calendar & Weather Conditions
Document Release: 0; Document Last Modified: February 19, 2009