Possible to photograph the moon with a 50mm lens?

8 years 8 months ago #451435 by James F
I'm new to photography and all I have currently is a 50mm with my Nikon D7200.   I'm shopping around for a 18-200mm, but don't have yet.  In the mean time, is it possible to photograph the moon with this lens?  I tried, and it just looks like a little dot in the photo.  

What am I doing wrong here?  


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8 years 8 months ago #451450 by Leilanee
It looks like a dot because that's really not the right focal length for shooting something so far away ;P

You'll need a telephoto if you want the moon to be your main subject.


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8 years 8 months ago - 8 years 8 months ago #451466 by Screamin Scott
Yes, focal length is way too short. 200mm on an 18-200 isn't going to be much better. Best to get 300mm or longer. Your D7200 will meter with older (Ai & Ais) manual focus lenses and they will cost you less than a newer AF telephoto will. AF isn't needed, nor is a fast lens. A tripod is essential (not an inexpensive cheapo either) for sharp images as well. You will still need to crop the resultant image. Sharpest images will be obtained when shooting a, not full, moon as there will be shadows on the Moon's surface  that will enhance the definition of the surface...

Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/

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8 years 8 months ago #451467 by garyrhook

Screamin Scott wrote: Yes, focal length is way too short. 200mm on an 18-200 isn't going to be much better. Best to get 300mm or longer.


Emphasis on longer. Having used a 200mm, I'll say that you want 500-600mm.


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8 years 7 months ago #451737 by Luca
Any of you had luck with something like a 100mm or 105mm with a 2x teleconverter?


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8 years 7 months ago #451843 by cybersholt
Looks like you end up with something resembling a telescope then a camera, I wonder how many teleconverters you can daisy chain before there's some sort of crazy distortion or something of that nature?

EOS 350D / Super Takumar 300mm F/4.0 / APC 3X + 2X + 3X Teleconverter / Manfrotto Tripod (8640 mm f/64.0)

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8 years 7 months ago #452289 by Soccer Mom
You'll need something around 200mm to start getting things locked down

Canon 7D, 18-55mm, 55-250mm, 70-200mm L f/2.8, 100mm and 17-55mm f/2.8
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