On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 22:21:24 -0400, J. C. O'Connell wrote: > You are right. the moon is typically 0.5 degrees > in the sky. according to my calculations it would > take more like 2400mm to fillm the fram vertically! > WOW thats a hell of a long lens....
I think the rule of thumb is 1mm on film for every 100mm of focal length, in 35mm format. Even at 1600 (effective), the moon moves across the field of view pretty quickly and it's tough to keep the vibrations down. I need to try another series, myself. I use a surveyor's tripod (metal unfortunately) that I weight with a 5 gallon bucket filled with sand or water (whatever's easiest at the time). The next time, I need to try: a) ground versus concrete for the surface b) weighting the lens and camera to damp shutter/mirror vibrations I've also wondered about different films, but have never really done comparisons. My gut tells me that Tri-X or Plus-X B+W films might give the best results. TTYL, DougF KG4LMZ

