Meanwhile, in the laboratory...

I just realized I have been downgrading my photos because of a low quality UV filter. The bokeh looked horrible and focus seemed to be off so ended up setting up a test setup and shooting plenty of frames with different settings. Soon It was quite clear that cheap Jessops branded filter was the culprit. But I also learned quite a lot about how autofocus works and what might cause it to miss the spot. But more later with example photos.

My next purchase

My colleague lent me his Kenko Extension tube set for couple days and I have to say that it is a must have. An extension tube is just an extender without any lenses inside. With the extension tube attached between the camera body and the lens you can sharpen closer and therefore photograph things in bigger size. Unfortunately long extension tube usually prevents auto focus so you have sharpen manually. A set of extension tubes is relatively cheap because of the simple construction and it takes less space in my camera bag than a proper macro lens. 

But how sharp photos you can take with extension tubes? I think it depends how good your lens is. A good prime or a very sharp zoom lens are good candidates. I shot this example with Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L IS USM. The photo of 1 Swiss Franc coin year digits is cropped to show 1:1 size.

f8, 70mm, 1/100s, ISO 100 and full stack of Kenko extension tubes.

As mentioned above I do not own  such tubes, yet. I have been postponing the purchase as I made a promise not buy more photography gear this month. Luckily it is already 18th...

How to photograph the moon

Taking a decent moon photo is not too difficult but you need to have some equipment for it. The most important one is a proper tripod or similar support for the camera. Almost as important is a decent telephoto lens. A sharp 200 mm telephoto lens is a good start for photos like this:

But even if you have the best possible gear you still need to see the moon. So, check the moon phase calendar, weather forecast and head to a dark location. Usually cities have way too much light pollution and this reduces the contrast between the sky and the moon. Find a dark area with solid ground for your tripod.

Then set up your tripod as stable as possible. Do not extend it completely unless really necessary. Select your telephoto lens with longest focal length and remove any filters you have. Even high quality filters can cause unwanted flare.

Use low ISO setting to avoid noise - ISO 100 works well. I do not pay attention to white balance as I shoot on RAW which allows more post processing options. Use mirror lock up if available and use long timer to trigger the shutter. These help to reduce camera shake and therefore improve image quality. The choice between manual and automatic focus is up to you. When using a lens without distance view the autofocus might be a better option.

Finding the right aperture for your lens needs some experiment. Most lenses have their sweet spot around f8-f11. Any higher aperture number causes diffraction which reduces image sharpness. Too low aperture number leads to soft photos especially on cheaper zoom lenses.

After all this setup the last step is to aim the center of the moon and select the right exposure. There are calculators for moon photography but couple test shots give you a good idea anyways. Depending on your camera its exposure metering it might give totally misleading results so feel free to ignore it.

Take plenty of shots with different aperture and exposure times. At the post processing I use only green color component because it seems to have less noise compared to red. I also reduce saturation so the end result is black and white. Apply some sharpening, crop tight and upload to your favorite image gallery for feedback.

Edit: I added more tips for photographing the moon. Take a look!