Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]One of the misconceptions is that a long exposure time is needed for photographing the moon! It seems that since the sky is so big, and so dark that you would need a long exposure, but t'ain't so! Consider the moon as a white sand beach in direct sunlight, and then apply the 'sunny 16' rule! Works everytime! When I've 'shot the moon', I use ISO 100 film, and since my Celestron 500/5,6 does not stop down to f16 or f22, I shoot at the native aperture and increase the shutter speed to 1/1000 or 1/2000 (Leicaflex SL) and get really decent exposures! Since the moon at the horizon is farther away from the earthbound viewer, it would seem to negate any 'magnification' from the atmosphere, though the conjugate distances are so small percentagewise that I am sure it would take some of Erwin's instrumentation to discern the difference. I have shot the moon at various times between the horizon and the zenith, and the images are all the same size on the film. At the distance from the earth that the moon remains, the difference in the image size or the arc subtended by the moons image, from horizon to zenith, cannot be seen on a 35mm negative... try it! One of those fun self-assignment science projects! The refraction of the blue light through the atmosphere, or rather the dearth of it, compare to the yellow light, merely gives the moon that golden glow we associate with 'Harvest Moons'- and they are more apparent since the moon rises earlier that time of the year! The fabled 'blue moon'? This is when there are two full moons in any single month- doesn't occur very often, so they are scarce- as a blue moon! Is there life on the moon? Not yet! But as soon as we get Ted, Marc, Jim, and several of the LUG group there, with a supply of Glenkinchie, there will definitely be life on the moon! (BTW- are there any astronaut among us, or do they only use Hasselblads and Ansco cameras? Dan *<|:o}~ - ----- Original Message ----- From: Bernard Degaute <bernard.degaute@club.innet.be> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Saturday, December 18, 1999 5:26 AM Subject: [Leica] Re: full moon size > > Original message, in part: (the moon is brighter > so exposure time is shorter - less vibration and so on) > > Bernard > > bernard.degaute@village.uunet.be > >