Why are my moon photos blurry with a Nikon D750 and 28-300mm lens?
Asked 10/17/2018
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I’m new to photography and trying to photograph the moon with a Nikon D750 and Nikkor 28-300mm VR lens at 300mm. I’ve used a tripod, remote release or 2-second timer, and tried exposures around 10–30 seconds at f/5.6 and ISO 1600–6400. I’ve also tested with VR on and off, but the moon still looks soft or blurred. What settings and technique should I use to get a sharper moon photo?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
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Your exposure settings will grossly overexpose the moon. Remember, the illuminated parts of the moon are in direct sunlight! Allowing for the moon's albedo, start with about ISO 200, f/8, and 1/125 second or equivalent. Similar to the 'Sunny 16' rule of thumb, the 'Lunar 11' rule of thumb says to use a shutter time of 1/ISO with f/11. In reality, about one-third stop darker than that is about right.

ISO 200, f/8, 1/125. Tripod, cable release, mirror lockup. The dot on the right is the planet Jupiter. Captured 31 January, 2013 when Jupiter passed within less than 1° of the moon.
Additionally, the moon moves relative to the same spot on the earth's surface at a rate that works out to be the full diameter of the moon every couple of minutes! Anything exposed longer than about one second will show the moon's motion when a 300mm lens is used with an APS-C camera if the display size is about 8x10 inches and before an additional cropping is done. Since cropping and displaying an image at the same size enlarges the image, it also enlarges any blur present. If you are pixel peeping on a large monitor, your shutter times must be much shorter to not see any blur due to the motion of the moon relative to the earth.

ISO 100, f/8, 1/200. Exposure pushed 1.5 stops in post. Canon EOS 7D + Kenko C-AF 2X Teleplus Pro 300 + EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L II IS. Even with the atmospheric conditions in high summer for the Northern Hemisphere, good glass, careful manual focusing, and proper stabilization (sturdy tripod, mirror lockup, remote cable release) can catch good images of the moon. Captured 10 July, 2012.
Beyond that, all lenses and cameras have their resolution limits. A "superzoom" lens such as your 28-300mm gives up the best possible image quality in exchange for being versatile by offering a wide range of focal lengths. Such lenses are known to be fairly soft at the longest telephoto end of their focal length range.
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
7y ago
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Your main issue is exposure time. The moon is lit by direct sunlight, so 10–30 second exposures at high ISO will badly overexpose it and also blur it from the moon’s motion across the sky. Use a much faster exposure.
A good starting point is roughly:
- ISO 100–200
- f/8 to f/11
- 1/125 to 1/320 sec
This is close to the “Lunar 11” rule: shutter speed about 1/ISO at f/11 for a full moon. You can adjust a bit for moon phase.
Also:
- Turn VR off on a tripod.
- Use remote release/timer and, if available, mirror lock-up.
- Focus carefully; atmospheric conditions can still soften detail.
- Your 28-300mm superzoom may not be very sharp at 300mm, so don’t expect extreme close-up detail.
- If shooting RAW, apply some sharpening in processing.
So: shorter shutter speeds, lower ISO, and a stopped-down aperture should make a big difference.
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