How do you take a picture of the moon using Canon - EOS Rebel T5 DSLR Camera with 18-55mm IS Lens ?

[Miss2o9]

How do you take a picture of the moon using a Canon EOS Rebel T5 DSLR camera with 18-55mm IS Lens?

Please can someone give me directions cause i have looked everywhere .?

[pjmacd]

A lens with a maximum focal length of 55mm is probably not going to give you the results you want.  There is a good discussion of how to photograph the moon here:

https://photographylife.com/how-to-photograph-moon

[ebiggs1]

Of course any lens can be used to photgraph the Moon but with your lens it will be pretty small.  Is that what you want?

Remember it may be night time here where you are but on the Moon it is daylight.

A few things you may want to invest in are ef-s 55-250mm f/4-5.6 is stm lens and Photoshop Elements.  You also need to understand the "Looney Rule" or "Looney 11 Rule".  With ISO 100 setting in the camera, you set the aperture to f/11 and the shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125 second if your camera does not have 1/100.  You can use any combination of this as long as it evens out.  For instance ISO 400 and aperture at f/11, set shutter speed to 1/400 or 1/500 for most cameras.

A 250mm lens is probably the shortest focal length for a decent sized Moon as it relates to a 400mm lens on you camera.  But an even longer focal length lens will be better.  IE a true 400mm lens (640mm on your camera).  That is where Photoshop Elements comes in to play.  You can do some exposure corrections and crop your photo as you deem fit.

One more thought if you do go the PSE route, shoot in RAW mode not jpg.  PSE will make that adjustment seemless for you and give way better results.

[TCampbell]

The beauty of the Loony 11 rule is that if you use f/11 (and only at f/11 is this true) then the correct shutter speed is always the inverse of the ISO setting.  

So if you use ISO 100, you'd use 1/100th sec shutter speed (at f/11)

If you use ISO 400, you'd use 1/400th sec shutter speed (at f/11)

If you use any other f-stop (aperture value) then you have to know how to trade stops of exposure... if, for example, I shoot at f/8 instead of f/11, then f/8 is one full stop brighter than f/11 (meaning I'm collecting twice as much light when the shutter is open).  SO... I have to use a shutter speed which is one full stop faster than what I'd use at f/11.  If I'm using ISO 100 and f/8 then I use 1/200th sec shutter speed.... you can start by selecting the same shutter speed that you'd use at f/11... then compensate by changing the shutter speed by the same number of stops that you changed the aperture.  

The following was taken with my EOS 60Da... using the Loony 11 rule.  But this camera is mounted to a telescope ... not a camera lens.  The telescope is an f/5.4 scope (telescopes don't have variable apertures so there's no changing that).  But I attached a 2x adapter (in my case it's a TeleVue 2x PowerMate -- you can think of that as a 2x Teleconverter for a lens... but these are designed for use on telescopes).  That brings my f-stop to f/10.8 (which we round to simply "f/11").

When I took this, I was demonstrating how the rule works to someone at an astronomy event.  I explained the rule.  Connected the camera to the telescope.  Set my exposure based on the rule.  And took just ONE shot.  This is that shot.  The point was to show that there's no need to guess your way into the correct exposure if you know the rule.  You'll nail the shot every time.

[KCFan96]

I have the 75-300mm lens on a rebel t7. Would I use the same steps or what would be the best way for me to do that

[kvbarkley]

Yes, just use the loony 16 rule as presented in the thread, but even at 300 mm, the moon will be fairly tiny. The best way is the same way to get to Carnegie hall: Practice, Practice, Practice!

[Palomino]

To bad no one answered your question , I have the same.
I want to take a shot of a full move over water with the 55. How to set Shutter and F stop? and to what valuers to start?

[TCampbell]

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@Palomino wrote:
To bad no one answered your question , I have the same.
I want to take a shot of a full move over water with the 55. How to set Shutter and F stop? and to what valuers to start?

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The exposure value was answered in my reply to this thread.

The only difference is that you're using a 55mm focal length so the moon will be tiny.

The 55mm focal length will produce an image with 23º wide (horizontal) by 15.5º tall (vertical.)  But the moon itself is only .5º (angular dimension) so it wont be very big in the image created by a 55mm focal length lens.

To get a "large" moon requires roughly 1000mm (it would technically fit even at 1500mm but it would be a tight fit.)

[ebiggs1]

"To bad no one answered your question , I have the same.
I want to take a shot of a full move over water with the 55. How to set Shutter and F stop? and to what valuers to start?"

To bad  we didn't put it in bold face type?  It was answered twice!

"You also need to understand the "Looney Rule" or "Looney 11 Rule".  With ISO 100 setting in the camera, you set the aperture to f/11 and the shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125 second if your camera does not have 1/100.  You can use any combination of this as long as it evens out.  For instance ISO 400 and aperture at f/11, set shutter speed to 1/400 or 1/500 for most cameras."

A 55mm lens is not going to make an impressive Moon shot unless you want a lot of landscape in the picture.  The Moon will be tiny.  On a Rebel a 250mm is about as small as you can go and still have a reasonable Moon picture. A 400mm is even better.

[Waddizzle]

There are a couple of great tables at Wikipedia, under "Exposre Value", which is EV.  The "Looney 11 Rule" seems to work out to approximately EV14. You will need to shoot with the camera in "M", manual mode.

But, I think that rule is supposed to be applied at night.  If you are looking for a shot of the moon with some landscape in view, then those shots are best taken when the sun is just below the opposite horizon, which means the sun is behind you when you look at the moon. 

Just before sunrise, or just after sunset, is good because the sky is partially lit up, almost with a dark blue tint to it, which will make setting your exposure easier.  Learn how to read the exposure meter at the bottom of your viewfinder, in conjunction with the wheel next to the shutter button.