eva_adams68•11d agoProlific Poster

Spent months shooting the moon with autofocus before I figured out the problem

I kept getting these fuzzy shots of the moon through my 200mm lens, and I thought it was just bad atmospheric conditions. Then a guy at the local star party in Flagstaff asked why my focus ring was on auto. I had been letting the camera hunt for focus on a bright object in a dark sky. Anyone else learn a basic technique way later than they should have?

3 comments

3 Comments

stella_lane11d ago

Funny how tech makes us forget the basics, @the_wyatt.

cameronn6211d ago

Wait, did none of you check if your lens was actually clean before troubleshooting? I spent three weeks blaming my camera body for soft moon shots only to find a greasy thumbprint right in the center of the front element. My cat rubbed her nose against it while I had the lens cap off. A quick wipe with a microfiber cloth and suddenly those craters were sharp as glass. Sometimes the simplest stuff like a dirty lens gets overlooked while everyone's debating autofocus vs manual or stabilization settings.

the_wyatt11d ago

Did you have the stabilization turned on while it was on a tripod too? I made that mistake for a full year. The moon looks sharp in the viewfinder but every shot comes out like you smeared Vaseline on the filter. Now I just manual focus with live view and zoom in on the screen until the craters pop. Also helps to use a 2 second timer so the mirror slap doesn't shake everything.