Focal lengh to capture the moon

[Cunha]

Hi,

I need to photograph the moon in a way that occupies most of my 35mm FF frame without crop. Or bigger than the frame. I need a clear full moon with craters (no problem).

The image will be in portrait mode.

My test using a Canon EF 100mm macro L lens resulted in a very small image for my needs (image attached).

What lens do you suggest to produce a big image of the full moon?

Thank you very much.

[kvbarkley]

The moon is 0.5 degrees.

I used Canon's Focal length comparator to see what the field of view (in degrees) was in the long dimension for various focal lengths

FL      FF     Crop

400    4.8       3.8

500    3.8       3.1

600    3.2       2.6

800    2.4       1.9

1000  1.9        1.5

1500  1.3       1.0

So even with  a 1500 mm lens the moon will be only half of the long dimension of the frame

[Cunha]

What a nice help. I think I need a telescope .)

[ebiggs1]

Is there a reason you can't crop?  A 600mm lens, which are readily available, can make an impressive Moon shot but will need to be cropped.  However that is not a problem.

This was with a 600mm lens and it is cropped.  How much more crop do you require?

[kvbarkley]

Did you read the OP?

"I need to photograph the moon in a way that occupies most of my 35mm FF frame without crop. Or bigger than the frame. I need a clear full moon with craters (no problem)."

Why they need that, I don't know.

[kvbarkley]

If this is a non-commercial application, you might root around NASA's website. They might have a large frame high-res image available.

[ebiggs1]

"Did you read the OP?"

Did you read me?

Is there a reason you can't crop? 

Of course any reasonable gear available to most amateurs will not include a lens that can render a full to over full frame shot.

[Cunha]

For the last two contributions.

This is for a photographic essay. Prints for an exhibition and a photobook.

I would like to mantain all the files equal without crops (at least heavy crops).

[jrhoffman75]

If you crop to in-camera aspect ratio (3:2) and resize to same pixel dimensions or print size wouldn't that work?

[Cunha]

Maybe. This means any kind of interpolation?

[kvbarkley]

Not nessesarily.

If you print a 6000x4000 image at 300 dpi you get 20 inches x 13 inches

If you crop to 3000 x 2000 and print at 150 dpi you can get the same size - and 150 dpi is fine for a print this big.