What camera settings work for photographing a total lunar eclipse (“blood moon”) on a tripod?
Asked 9/28/2015
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I found the eclipsed moon much dimmer than expected. Using a crop-sensor DSLR with an f/5.6 lens on a normal tripod, I had been trying around 1/125 s because I’d heard the moon blurs at slower shutter speeds from its motion across the frame. However, I saw many successful deep red eclipse photos and wondered what settings people actually used.
For a total lunar eclipse, what aperture, shutter speed, and ISO are typically needed to get a usable image without obvious blur at modest viewing sizes (such as a small print or phone screen), when shooting with a DSLR on a fixed tripod and no tracking mount?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
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I bracketed mine between iso 800 - 1600 to be safe. I was using a Canon 650D (crop sensor) with a 55-250mm STM lens on a tripod. My favorite picture ended up being at iso 1600 @ 1/2 second. Since the lens I was using isn't very sharp @ 250mm I figured I could get away with the slow shutter speed. I set my color balance for daylight and cropped in. Going from 5184x3456 to 2657x1772. This was taken in a northern suburb of Minneapolis at 9:16pm CDT. I also did some at iso 3200 but found the dynamic range was not good enough. 
Originally by user20008. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user20008
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
For a total lunar eclipse, successful tripod shots were commonly made much slower than 1/125 s. From the shared examples, typical settings were roughly:
- shutter speed: 1/2 s up to 1/160 s
- aperture: f/4 to f/8
- ISO: 400 to 3200
Several people got good results around 1/2 s, f/5.6, ISO 1600. The key point is that for normal viewing sizes, the moon’s motion may be acceptable at 1/2 s, especially if you’re not using an extreme focal length or making very large prints.
A practical approach is:
- Open the lens fairly wide.
- Lower shutter speed until motion blur becomes visible, then back off a stop.
- Raise ISO until exposure looks right.
Based on the answers, ISO 800–1600 was a strong working range, with 3200 usable on some cameras but with reduced dynamic range or more noise. If your lens is only f/5.6, that can still work; totality is dim enough that slower shutter speeds are usually necessary.
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