Nikon SLR Cameras

How to take a picture of a blood super moon with Nikon D3300 with 55- 200mm lens?

sanika zahura
15.09.2015
sanika zahura

Please help. Overly excited mind need help. Super Lunar eclipse is coming up and I want to make sure that I'm ready for it this time. Last year I took a picture of the partial lunar eclipse. I took it wrong. Of course me being a beginner I use automatic. The moon came out blurry and I was really disappointed at myself. Than I discovered how to really use my camera this year with extra features. Witch I think is more amazon. Now I hate Automatic because now I can expand how I want to take picture. I know for sure I need a tripod. It's the setting I'm still learning and I know the lens is not much but the moon is going to be big this year. I feel that I don't need to worry.

Nyx
15.09.2015
Nyx

Yes, get and use a tripod.
Also, get a remote shutter controller. The less you have to touch the camera, the better your images will be.
http://www.ebay.com/...1413182744

Personally, I prefer prime lenses for astronomical type work, but a zoom will suffice, if you practice ahead of time. Do shoot the Moon ahead of time see how your lens focuses at infinity, and adjust the aperture to around f8 (or higher, experiment) at ISO 400 (or lower, experiment). Adjust shutter accordingly. All of this needs to be done in Manual mode.

Adjust the zoom so that the Moon fills about 50% 60% of the viewfinder. This gives you room to adjust stuff during postprocessing.

But do practice ahead of time. And see what works best for you.
http://petapixel.com/2014/10/15/part-1-how-to-photograph-the-moon/
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-a-lunar-eclipse/

Quadrillian
15.09.2015
Quadrillian

Yes indeed. Good advice so far. Practice first.

But be sure to use a tripod. You will only end up with blurry pictures without one.

Use the 200mm setting on your lens. Set the camera to manual. Use the widest aperture on the lens, and also try a slightly smaller aperture, as lenses usually give better results when not completely wide open. You will need to experiment with both the focal length and aperture to see what works best with your lens.

Also use the highest ASA you can. However be aware that your pictures will start to look grainy if you use an ASA that is too high. Experiment.

You will need to also experiment with the shutter speed. The higher the ASA and the wider the aperture the lower the shutter speed needs to be.

Fortunately you are using digital so you can take as many pictures as you wish, and preview them all instatly. That means you will learn quickly.

Spare a thought for folks like me who use film. Success then only comes with much patience and experience.

duke_of_urls
15.09.2015
duke_of_urls

I got some tolerably good photos with a 24 - 700 zoom digital camera.
Definitely use Manual exposure using all 3 dimensions; time (recriprocal seconds), aperture, and ISO. Don't necessarily use the highest zoom the camera has. Try to keep ISO to a minimum. Use the timer setting; I prefer the 2 second; it lets me get my hands off the camera and lets the tripod calm down. The 10 second takes too much time for taking lots of photos. Using a tripod is an absolute must! Practice taking photos of the Moon in the black of night, dusk, etc. To get a feel for making quick and correct adjustments for a 'blood moon'.

Maybe, just maybe, your digital camera's successful settings will fairly well apply to a SLR camera if you're using one of those too, or maybe even to a film camera. Experiment!