Moon Shots with the FZ28.

Before I bought the FZ28, I was amazed at the moon shots taken by other users on Flickr, so when I got the opportunity, I shot away.

Moon shot, f5.6, 1/250 s, ISO100, cropped, slightly resized to smaller (about 100 pixels).

So how did I shoot mine?

  • I used Program mode (P or Program Auto Exposure).

    I've read that you should use manual mode and f8.0 but when I was holding the camera and preparing to shoot, I forgot all about what I've read, so I asked the camera to decide the best aperture and shutter speed for me. Turns out the camera did a fine job.

  • I set the Metering Mode to Spot Metering.

    The normal metering mode on the FZ28 is multi area metering, but even if you set the metering to center weighted, and then point the camera at the moon, it'll appear as a white blob of light without details. Setting the camera to Spot Metering basically tells the camera to make sure the subject you're pointing to is properly lighted. On the FZ28, you could even move this metering spot to anywhere on your frame by pressing the AF/Focus button and then moving the metering cross hair with the joystick.

  • I did NOT use a tripod and I set Image Stabilizer to Auto.

    I did use a tripod initially but because my tripod was an el-cheapo, it drooped immediately after I tightened it, so I was having a hard time pointing my camera to the moon. Of course, I turned off Stabilizer when using a tripod because I've read somewhere that if you don't turn it off when using a tripod, the image will be blurred.

    Then I noticed that the moon was actually pretty bright and the camera is using a shutter speed of 1/250s or 1/200s. I thought I would not have problems holding the camera still at this speed and proceeded to set Stabilizer to Auto and hand held the camera.

    Initially I slipped the neck strap under my arm and then pushed out my camera fully so that the strap is taut between me and the camera, and this helps to stabilize the camera but later I found that placing my arms on a table or on my car also helps me keep it stable.

  • I set to 3 Megapixel and use Extra Optical Zoom (EZ) at maximum 32.1x.

    Originally I thought that the EZ zoom is nothing but a crop of the frame to get a smaller image, and thus more zoom, which amounted to nothing since I could do the same with software and crop images myself. But then I found out that EZ zoom is much more than a simple crop and may include exposure and other stuffs in the camera. I'm going to crop the moon shot anyway, so I let the camera do the job for me.

  • I did not use any sharpening nor noise reduction.

    I tried a couple of shots by playing around with Picture Adjust Settings on the camera where I could adjust Contrast, Sharpening, Saturation and Noise Reduction but did not like the effects.

  • Interesting facts about the moon.

    The moon is 384,403 km away from earth and because it's rotation about it's own axis takes about the same amount of time for it's orbit around earth, we only see the same face of the moon all the time, called the near side (the other side is called the far side, sometimes the dark side). Temperatures during the lunar day averages 107°C (beyond boiling hot) while at night it averages -153°C. The moon is said to be the most photographed object ever.

It could still be improved upon but for that I'll need help from commenters. Thanks for looking.

11 comments:

  1. thanks for posting this, using your settings (sort of) helped me take my first halfway decent moon shot.

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  2. You're welcome. It took me quite a while to get a decent one.

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  3. Yeah, great post, I was looking for something like this since I am a new FZ28 owner. I especially like your clarification on the "EZ" mode settings; in essence, it is just cropping, but sometimes it is definitely necessary.

    Every time I use P-mode, my images suffer greatly from either over exposure or shutter speeds so low to the point where any slight movement comes out as a blur.

    I think, though, that by using one of these "cropped" EZ settings will focus on a specific area and thus chose an exposure level more adapted to it. Most of my pictures were just of my students at school, so between the flourescent lighting and all the movement kids do during pictures, I didn't get many good shots. Thanks for the post.

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  4. That is a good thread guys..shame no one has posted nothing else... lets bookmark this page and share our settings... I have just bought the fz38... i really want to try this settings

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  5. Thanks Tropical_guy27, all of us wanted better photos and it will be great to share.

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  6. Hey Tom, thanks a lot for sharing the moon shot info, I was searching everywhere for the settings, to capture the moon and finally found yours. I am excited as I was able to finally capture it :D...thank you very much!

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  7. Thanks Paddu, nice blog u have.

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  8. Your blog is awesome..full of information..I can learn a lot! Btw, I always wanted to capture the water drops from a tap, dripping into a bowl, and the ripples. I searched your blog and didnt find any info related to it. Are you planning to do that, else can you please share how to do it? Thank you :)

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  9. Thanks Paddu, I'm blushing now :)

    Water drops: (rant)
    1. Lately my hands are way too full and I missed taking pix, and updating this blog but sometimes, someone commented on my blog and I'm encouraged to update the blog again :)
    2. You will need to use Shutter Priority, basically asking the camera to select other settings while you control the shutter speed.
    3. Go for as high a speed as you can, like 1/2000s. Higher ISO will also help, as the camera will require less light therefore can go for higher speed.
    4. You would have to use manual focus, because the camera cannot focus on the drop of water within the extremely short time span that it drops into the water.
    5. Lighting as in flash or natural lighting would be extremely important because of the very short time the shutter is open, therefore you would need lots of light.
    6. You would need to sync between getting the drop to fall and pressing your shutter which is extremely difficult to do manually. Most would have a trial and error or automated flash and trigger when detecting a drop but that would require a complicated setup.
    7. Based on what is mentioned above, it's too scary for me to attempt, but perhaps you could change my mind :)

    Thanks for commenting, Paddu.

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  10. hehehe...that is my task for the thanks giving holidays, to follow your instructions and capture the droplets :)..I ordered a tripod, I think I will try the shots once I get it, else it will be extremely difficult to hold and focus. All I need is a teacher like you, to bring out the talent :). Your pics are awesome, I simply visit to check what you posted..:)..

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  11. Hi Tom, how are you. did you get a chance to look at the water drop pic I shot?

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