HV20 and the moon!

[philno]

Hello Folks

This is Phil from the UK.
My HV20 will be arriving in a few days. It will be my 4th video camera
from having used VHS-C, Hi8,DV and now HDV!
I am looking forward to the extra resolution this Canon will give me.

I am an amateur "point and shoot" user-not a filmmaker.
I have never been able to take a good close up shot of the moon!
All I've got in the past is a big white disc with no crater detail.
Can anybody give me some tips? Many thanks.

Phil

[Goose]

I have had the same problem yet I have seen someone who has used to HV20 to shoot the moon. Any tips welcome!

[Worley]

I think you'll have to go to manual mode and change the exposure settings so that the moons brightness does not blow out the craters. Perhaps an ND filter will help, too?

[Dodgy Nick]

I have taken some great shots of a full moon with my Canon EOS350D (Digital Rebel XT in the USA). I've done this by:

1. Using a tripod
2. Using the far end of a 300mm lens
4. Using a 4x ND filter
5. Adjusting the shutter speed until I got the detail I wanted (can't remember what it was set to, sorry)

I have taken some shots of a full moon with my HV20 for the intro to my film, but with the lack of a decent zoom lens, I've had problems with the size of the moon, the brightness and hunting. The first problem can be overcome with a zoom lens, but I'm waiting for the HD version to arrive in the UK. The second can be overcome with an ND filter, and the third can be overcome with manual focus or keeping the focus button depressed for 2 seconds changing the zoom mode to infinity zoom.

Hope that helps.
Nick

[philno]

Many thanks for your feedback, all. Much appreciated!

Phil

[kbrafford]

I have never been able to take a good close up shot of the moon!

Exactly how close to the moon do you expect to get? :hv20-smilie81:

[Worley]

Well, earlier this year we were the closest we've been for a few years. Can't say I noticed it being that much larger.

I think we're gradually moving apart again...

[John Watson]

Couldn't you just lock the exposure down a few steps?

[um3k]

Remember, the moon is lit by the sun. Thus, expose as you would for a sunny day on Earth. It's really that simple.

[John Watson]

Yes but, assuming it's dark, or getting dark.. the sensor will be getting a lot of dark sky behind the moon and compensating by trying to brighten up the picture.. which will blow out the moon.

If it's daylight then that's another matter

[um3k]

Which is why one needs to set the exposure manually. Auto exposure is dumb. Fortunately, the HV20's LCD preview should make it quite easy to set the exposure, even without much knowledge of f-numbers and shutter speeds.

[angryofmayfair]

You really don't need long exposure times for detailed shots of the moon.
As mentioned above it's quite a bright objext lit directly by the sun - set the focus to infinity and expose for a brightish sort of day - the reason most moon shots don't show any detail is that they are way over-exposed due to the large amount of dark sky forcing the auto-exposure into blowing out all the detail of a small bright object

[bigants]

This has probably been shown before on the forum but for those who haven't seen it, it is an amaziing closeup of the moon.

http://www.vimeo.com/454522/