What setting should i set my Nikon D40 to take pictures of the moon at night?

Question

What settings on presets should i set my nikon D40 on to take pictures of the moon at night. they D40 manual is no help by the way.

Answer 1

You're right, the manual won't help with this - it's all down to technique / knowing how the camera 'thinks'... and in this case some previous experience! 'Auto' exposure is one way of guaranteeing your result will be wrongly exposed in this situation as the contrast in the scene is too high, so...

To record the moon with detail you actually need day / sunlight exposure levels - this will be around f11/f16 at 1/125 of a second on 100 ISO. This setting will almost certainly mean your sky will be pitch black though... which means to get the perfect sky + moon combination your best bet is a double exposure - you can paste your picture of the sky over the picture of the moon and erase the moon area, so it will blend in but with the detail retained.

Use a tripod so both images are perfectly overlaid - you may also need a lens warmer at this time of year which will prevent condensation on the lens spoiling your images. The sky exposure will probably be best just after sunset (if you want to get a rich blue sky instead of black).

That will do the trick for you. Good luck!

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Too many variables here... but start here... 1) No flash. Use the ambient light if possible unless you want to really illuminate the subject. 2) Do you have a tripod? Get one if you don't. A decent sturdy one. 3) Do you have a remote trigger, like a Nikon ML-L3 or equivalent? Get one; you will need it if you are the subject of the photo or if you need to shoot on a tripod at slow (1/90th of a second or less) speeds. Read the manual and see what the menus do and the effect on the photograph. 4) How close is the camera to the subject? You say you are using a macro lens.. of what type/focal distance?? This could be good or bad, depending on your intent. 5) Set your camera to "A" for aperture and see what the speed of the shot is. Very slow? What is your ISO setting? If you want sharp pictures, set to ISO 200, otherwise the picture will get grainier/less sharp as the ISO get higher. 6) Play around! Have fun! Look at your shots and see what combo does what effect! Expand from there!! Cheers!

Answer 4

I'm guessing that you have only one lens - the 18-55 kit lens. You might get a perfectly exposed picture of the moon, but it is going to be a small image. Here is a shot on my D300 using a 98 mm focal length. Your lens set at 55 mm would give an image of the moon just about half this size.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/935289030/
Be sure to click "All sizes" and then "Original" to see the maximum magnification of the moon. Actually, this is the full 10 MP image, so your 6 MP image would be more like one third as big as this one is on your screen.

If you can use a lens with an equivlent focal length of 300 mm or more, it helps. Even at relatively high shutter speeds, you will need a tripod to get a decent image of the moon.

See:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1296331083/
This was taken at 1/200th of a second at f/16 at ISO 200 through a 200 mm lens (300 mm equiv.). This is the same as the "sunny sixteen" rule. Set the lens at f/16 and set the shutter speed at the inverse of the ISO. This works for film or digital cameras. Use your manual setting and try these settings. You can also go up and down one EV by using f/11 and f/22. There will be people here who recommend each of these, but I still prefer my sunny 16 version. You can also use the SPOT meter on the moon itself as a starting point. You are not trying to get a good exposure of the dark sky, so limit your reading to the actual subject - the moon. Hey, it's digital, so take 30 shots and you will figure out what works for you so that next time, you can get a good result with one shot.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1254710884/

Answer 5

Since the moon is a sunlit object the old "Rule of 16" can be used. The "Rule" states that in bright sunlight (and the moon is in bright sunlight) set your f-stop to f16 and your shutter speed as a reciprocal of the ISO you're using. Put your camera in Manual Mode. So if you're using ISO 100 make your exposure at f16 for 1/125 sec. A tripod is required since you'll be using the longest lens you own - or the longest zoom setting. Use the camera's self-timer or a cable release to trip the shutter. Try 1 exposure as described and then 1 at -1/2 EV and 1 at +1/2 EV and 1 at -1 EV and 1 at +1 EV. Choose the one you like the best from those 5 exposures.

Answer 6

I had this same problem with my sister's D100 and I know what I am doing! I had the manual in front of me and still couldn't figure the darn thing out. Ultimately we reset the camera to factory settings, and put it on full auto.
With a regular SLR camera, I would put the camera on a tripod, set the camera to BULB and use a remote trigger to hold the shutter open for a good two seconds.
How long of an exposure depends on a lot of factors, like how much motion is acceptable to you in the shot and how much OTHER stuff you want in the shot besides the moon.
Tonight is a night after a full moon (waning gibbous), so if you have clear skies, you should be able to get some nice shots.
Honestly, I ended up getting much better photographs with my point and shoot Nikon Coolpix than I got with her Nikon Digital SLR.

Answer 7

I did some on my d40 last night tried a lot of auto settings.
I think the way it keeps pushing up the ISO rating is causing grain. It is also over exposing the moon detail. Try on manual
& experiment, I think too long an exposure & the word turns.
Yes that manual gives me a brain pain, I must get more fluent with all the options. Good luck, nice camera.

Answer 8

setting set nikon d40 pictures moon night

Answer 9

The other night I was shooting the moon, with some tree branches in the foreground.

Camera was a Canon, with a Canon lens.

I was getting fair images on manual, with mirror lock, shutter delay of 2secs., white balance at 4000K.

My shutter was 1sec. and I was moving the f-stops around between 7 and 11. Wish my tripod was sturdier, some crisp, some blurred. I will keep experimenting.

Answer 10

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