How do I focus a DSLR on the moon or stars at night?
Asked 5/29/2012
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I’m trying to photograph the night sky with a Nikon D5100 and the 18-55mm and 55-200mm kit lenses. In low light, autofocus won’t lock on the moon or stars, so the camera often won’t take the shot. What’s the best way to focus for moon or night-sky photos, and are there any basic camera settings or techniques that help?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
10
For dark places you can turn off autofocus and use manual focusing. That works for focusing using the ring on the lens. To get very precise you do it after pressing the LV button. This shows the image on screen bigger. To get manual focus, press the [i] button and change AF-S (or AF-C) to MF.
The lens for shooting only the moon is too short but if you want moon and foreground, any one is good. Only problem is the moon is brighter than most foregrounds so it will be overexposed or the foreground will be underexposed.
Originally by user6472. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user6472
14y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—this is normal. In very dark scenes, autofocus often can’t find enough contrast to lock. The usual solution is to switch to manual focus and manual exposure.
For focus:
- Set the camera/lens to MF.
- Use Live View and magnify the image on the screen if possible.
- Turn the focus ring until the moon or a bright star looks as sharp and small as possible.
- If the moon is bright enough, you can also select a single focus point, place it on the moon, autofocus once, then switch to manual focus to keep it locked.
For exposure:
- Use manual exposure mode.
- For the moon, spot metering can help because the moon is much brighter than the surrounding sky.
- If you include foreground, expect a big brightness difference: either the moon may overexpose or the foreground may go dark.
Lens note:
- Your 55-200mm can photograph the moon, but it will still appear fairly small in the frame. It works better for moon-with-foreground compositions than for close-up moon shots.
If shooting handheld, keep shutter speed reasonably fast; otherwise use a tripod.
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