Amita, Doug's advice is right on here. Moony 11 is good. The Super Program on auto will try to go long with a 400mm lens on the moon. The moon is in direct sunlight, but doesn't fill enough of the frame to get the Super Program to expose at a 1/400th & f11. (voice of experience here, having done just as you did the first time!)
Regards, Bob S. [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > Assuming that your camera was in automatic mode, my suspicion is that > it saw all of that black sky and set the lens wide open and ended up > with a shutter speed that was way too low. The voice of experience, > here. :-) > > Even with a 400, the moon doesn't occupy much of the frame. The rule > of thumb is 1mm on the 35mm negative for every 100mm of focal length. > I put two doublers behind my 400 to get something that even approaches > filling the frame. > > All that black space around the moon tends to throw meters off, and > over expose badly. Try a shutter of 1/ASA with f/11 (the "Moony 11" > rule). If your camera has spot meter mode, use it to meter the moon > itself, exclusive of the black sky as much as focal length allows.
