Tuesday, October 04, 2022

Photographing the moon and planets

I have been the proud owner of a Canon EOS 550D (also known as Rebel T2i and Kiss X4) since 2010. It came with a 18-135mm kit lens, but I recently managed to get a used Tamron 18-400mm lens. This allows me to take some much nicer photos of the moon.


The photo above was taken on 28 September 2022 at f/16, 1/30s, ISO 1600 at a focal length of 400mm. For white balance, I think I set it as 4000K.

This photo below was taken on 4 October 2022 at f/6.3, 1/1250s, ISO 3200 at a focal length of 400mm with white balance set at 6000K.

The photo below of Saturn was taken on 4 October 2022 at f/6.3, 1/640s, ISO 3200 at a focal length of 400mm with white balance set at 6000K. You can vaguely see the rings.
 
The photo below of Jupiter was also taken on 4 October 2022 at f/6.3, 1/640s, ISO 3200 at a focal length of 400mm with white balance set at 6000K. It just looks like a blob, though.
 
The biggest challenge is focusing the camera. At maximum zoom, any small vibrations can cause the image to blur, and autofocus doesn't really work very well. I found the trick to be a combination of using the LCD screen liveview to use with manual focus. And instead of single shot, it is best to use the 2s timer. Oh, you will need a tripod for sure.

After more or less placing the subject (moon or planet) to be photographed in the center of the viewfinder, switch to liveview. The moon should show up quite clearly, but for planets, use the cursor to place the white box around where the planet is. Then, zoom the liveview screen twice (for 10x zoom) to get a better view for focusing. Switch to manual focus. Before focusing, though, half depress the shutter button so that stabilization is activated. This makes it easier to focus.
 
Once the image has been stabilized, use the manual focus ring to focus the image (I use the craters on the moon for this; for planets, it is just trying to get as sharp a blob as possible). Once focused, depress the shutter button fully to capture the image.

This was the method I used to shoot the images today (4 October 2022). They turned out quite well, and I will try out this technique again when there is another full moon. There was a bit of noise due to the high ISO, so I guess I will try with ISO 800 or 1600 next time.

BTW, the Canon EOS 550D does not have time zone support, so it is best to set the time to GMT. Otherwise, you are going to get some really weird dates when copying the files to a PC.

Update 8 Oct 2022: Took a photo of Jupiter at f/6.3, 1/160s, ISO 6400 at a focal length of 400mm with white balance set at 6000K and managed to capture its moons.

Update 10 Oct 2022: Another photo of Jupiter and moons, taken at f/6.3, 1/30s, ISO 6400, white balance 5200K, focal length 400mm.

And Saturn with its ring, taken at f/6.3, 1/320s, ISO 3200, white balance 5200K, focal length 400mm.

And the full moon, at f/6.3, 1/640s, ISO 800, white balance 5200K, focal length 400mm.




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