I have a Nikon D7000 that has served me well for a couple of years.  On nights like tonight, when the moon is full (or nearly so) and the skies are clear, I'll get out the 70-300mm zoom lens, tripod and IR remote to try to capture some shots.  These two are from the last two nights.  They've been tweaked a bit in Photoshop Element's Camera Raw mode.  I figured I'd share.

Hopefully the skies cooperate tomorrow night!




These pics make me wish I had an 800mm prime.  It's only $18K MSRP.

Nice!

Nice for sure, cloudy in my AO though.

It was cloudy here, too, until about 45 minutes ago.  Score!

EDIT - I know it's a little grainy... Not sure why.  It's at ISO 400.  Maybe I should've used a lower ISO setting.

Ok, different pic.

Nice shots!  What's your shutter speed if you don't mind me asking?

They look just a *tad* bit soft, which is probably due to either tripod vibration or the movement of the moon.  Are you using the Sunny 16 rule?

Sunny sixteen is a lot of math for a moon shot.  

Wait.   Now that I think about it a little, it should be almost spot on since the sun is lighting the moon.  
I'll just crawl back under my rock.  

   

First post, first photo: f5.6 ISO 400 @300mm = 1/1000 s
First post, second photo: f/13 ISO 200 @300mm = 1/250 s
Second post, the one I said looked grainy: f/5.6 ISO 400 @300mm = 1/3200 s
Third post: f/13 ISO 200 @300mm = 1/200 s

No pics tonight.  Mother Nature isn't cooperating.

For the non-TL;DR crowd, some background (no pun intended) is in order.  I haven't taken any classes in photography, so I've been winging it.  Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure was the book that helped me understand the relationships between all the different settings.  The rest has just been experimentation on my part.  Sadly, until now, I haven't heard of Sunny 16 or, according to Wikipedia, it's partner Looney 11.

Sunny 16
Looney 11

The good thing about those rules is that the math does faze me at all.  That's what I loved about Understanding Exposure, in fact.

I was shooting Aperture mode with spot metering and autofocus.  The remote control was set to Mirror Up mode to eliminate as much vibration as possible.  The lens is the Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5 - 5.6G IF-ED.  I have a 67mm B+W Clear UV Haze filter on the lens.

More links
Nikon lens info
Ken Rockwell lens info
B+W filter at Amazon

Best I could do.
New tripod is on the way.   Ordered a Slik 700 Pro DX after getting upset with the cheapie one I have.
Also picked up a remote shutter release.

Canon 70D.   70-300mm IS USM.
ƒ/5.6
1/8000
1600 ISO.

On your camera, do you have the option of live view to focus?  I was looking at the one that looked the softest and may just be due to the autofocus being on instead of doing it by hand.  I do this on just about every image now as I've learned not to trust my autofocus anymore.

I focus by hand also, especially night shots and anytime I use a long lens.
I go to live view and zoom in to 10x and pick small details.

I hardly ever get on here because it always says my password is invalid, run password recovery tool and log in with the same old password

Here's a pic I took on the 8th with my old Canon SX40HS without a tripod, even got a bat in the pic.



Second pic was last month on the 14th, early morning while walking the dog, no tripod. Been using Adobe Photo Deluxe Business Edition 1.1 for brightness, contrast etc. My skills are not that advanced like the rest of you guys

Nice pics.  You certainly have steady hands!  Are you a sniper in your spare time?

I've only played around with live view a couple of times.  I'll have to try that out, along with manual focus and using the Sunny 16 (or Looney 11) rule.  

Thanks for all the tips, everybody.

The bat pic is pretty cool looking...

Nice shots, especially hand held.  

NP!  If you shoot anything that's more/less still, once you start using Live View, you'll never go back.  One tip, make sure the grid is off.  It's personal preference, but it gets in the way for me, and I do architecture.  The best way to focus is to point out something with sharp or irregular edges, like rocks, leaves, etc.  When it comes to straight edges, such as wall edges, I have less success.  Hope this helps!

Guess I use a target shooting technique, slow breathing with the camera moving slightly up and down till the subject's centered. Digital zoom goes to 140X but only go to 109X to get the whole moon in the pic, no cropping.

I need to rent a 600mm lens next full moon.

This cropping 80% of the image is getting old.