[APML] Photographing the Moon (Was: question about mirror lockup...)

[Roland Roberts <roland@astrofoto.org>]

>>>>> "gp" == astropix  <astropix@att.net> writes:

    >> roland wrote:
    >> I'm not familiar with this camera, so I'm not sure what the self-timer
    >> is buying you....

    gp> On many models of SLR's the timer 'pre-fires' the mirror a
    gp> split second before the shutter opens.

Thanks for this info, I wasn't aware of that.

I also wasn't aware that the Pentax K1000 has a mirror prefire hack
you can use to get MLU.  I spent 15 minutes last night practicing with
my K1000.  I've still got a ways before I can do it 100%, but it's
worth learning.

    gp> Good luck on photographing a complete lunation... I have about
    gp> 2/3 of the phases complete myself... one of these years I'll
    gp> scan them in so more folks can see them!

I've also got 1/2 to 2/3 at this point and they're scanned in, but
have to put them together as a composite on my web site.  Some of them
were shot color and need to be stacked to reduce grain and color
artifacts.  I've taken to stacking them, histogram normalizing, and
then converting B&W.  Last night, I should my first set on B&W film;
the Kodak T-MAX looks good visually, but I haven't scanned it yet.  I
shot on (unhypered) Tech Pan, but discovered I didn't have any HC-110.
I could have mixed up some D-19, but am not sure I want that much
contrast.  I bracketed my shots around ISO/EI 50.

I haven't tried enough shots yet to be sure, but I'm getting the
strong impression that I can ignore Michael Covington's exposure table
(in _Astrophotography for the Amateur_) for the Moon and just treat it
as a "sunny f/16" target and bracket about one stop on either side.
That certainly worked last night with the T-MAX 400 where my 1/500 sec
shots look the best.  I'll have to wait until I get near the end of
this lunar cycle to try some shots of the waning crescent and see if
the same rule gives good results there as well.  I was definitely
unhappy with the contrast of the waning crescent last month three days
before the new moon when I used Covington's table.

roland
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