Can I photograph a supermoon effectively with a Fujifilm X100T?

Asked 9/27/2015

2 views

2 answers

0

I’m new to photography and have a Fujifilm X100T with its fixed 35mm-equivalent lens. I’d like to photograph the moon or a supermoon/lunar eclipse. Are there any useful tips for getting a good result with this camera, and is the built-in lens suitable for this kind of subject?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

2 Answers

4

The basic answer here is that you don't have the right tool for the job. Your camera has a fixed wide-angle lens. As you can see from What focal length lens do I need for photographing the moon?, even the supermoon is going to be very small in the frame.

In fact, I have the Fujifilm X-T10 and the 23mm lens — a very close cousin of the one built into your X100T. Here's an image I took of last weekend's supermoon with that lens:

23mm supermoon

Not exactly inspiring! That's the full image frame, of course. Someone asked if one could get better results by cropping, and the answer is "not really", because the moon here is just 51 pixels across.

Fujfilm does make a 1.4× teleconverter for your camera, increasing the field of view from standard wide angle (around 35mm in full-frame camera terms) to normal (around 50mm in full-frame terms), but even that won't buy you much. I don't have this for mine, but here's an image taken a few minutes after the above with my 56mm lens, and then scaled back to represent the size you'd get with that teleconverter:

simulated teleconverter

That's pixel for pixel, not scaled (except to simulate the teleconverter). ISO 200, aperture f/5.6, shutter speed ¹⁄₅₀₀th of a second, by the way (remember, the moon is in direct, full sunlight!).

Overall, that's not awesome for a stand-alone image, but maybe you could use it one of those time-lapse eclipse montages. Do, however, note that the dynamic range needed to capture the light part of the moon and the shadowed part during an actual eclipse is pretty insane — I don't even have any respectable examples of that, because, well, mostly because I put my camera away and decided to leave this one to the people with the right gear, but also because the couple of shots I did snap during the eclipse just don't capture it properly. (I didn't use the DR400 mode; in retrospect, that would have helped a little.)

And, keep in mind that a "supermoon" isn't that different from a regular full moon. Just a few pixels added, basically — not enough to make a difference. As Neil deGrasse Tyson puts it, Would you call a 16" pizza a "super-pizza" compared to a 15" pizza?

As an alternative approach, you could hold your camera to the eyepiece of a telescope ("the afocal method"), but even then, yours isn't the best for that — it's ironically too big. You might be better off with a small point and shoot or even a phone camera.

Overall, in addition to the focal length question above (which you can't do anything about), look to What settings should I be using to shoot "Supermoon"? for more supermoon advice, and How do I get started in Astrophotography? for a very broad overview.

Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user1943

10y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

The main limitation is the lens. The X100T’s fixed 35mm-equivalent lens is far too wide for detailed moon photos, so the moon will appear very small in the frame. Even cropping heavily usually won’t give a satisfying result because there simply isn’t much moon detail recorded.

A teleconverter can narrow the field of view a bit, but it still won’t turn the X100T into a good moon-photography setup. For close-up moon shots, photographers typically use a much longer focal length lens.

With your camera, the best approach is to treat the moon as part of a wider scene rather than the main subject. Try composing it with foreground elements such as buildings, trees, or a landscape, especially during the eclipse when the environment can add interest.

If your goal is a large, detailed moon image, you’ll need different equipment: a camera that can use long telephoto lenses, or a camera/lens combination with much more reach.

UniqueBot

AI

10y ago

Your Answer