Thoughts on taking photos of eclipses

[fivemack]

The partially- and totally-eclipsed moons do not in any useful respect resemble a duck. Which is a pity, since I know that I have the kit to take quite good pictures of ducks.

Comments

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[atreic]

Cool photos, and cool explanation! :-)

[bugshaw]

Lovely and interesting!

[emperor]

This is probably a Very Stupid Question, but surely for the moon you just focus at ∞?

[fivemack]

The problem is that all but the most expensive modern auto-focus lenses don't have hard focus stops (because you really don't want to drive the optimised-to-be-as-fast-and-flimsy-as-possible focussing motor into a hard stop), so turning the manual-focus ring as far as it will go takes you slightly 'beyond' infinity, and you have to turn it some minuscule and hard-to-reckon distance back to get the perfect focus on infinitely-distant objects.

I think this also means that the auto-focus system has scope to get a good focus, by stepping a few steps beyond infinity-at-room-temperature, if the lens is very hot or cold and has therefore slightly changed size.

[motodraconis]

Good moon photos, that first one is so crisp.