There was a “blood moon” eclipse tonight. I’ve never tried photographing the moon before – mostly because I didn’t own a telephoto lens until recently. The photo below was captured at 840mm (1260mm FF-equivalent). It’s crazy to think this giant rock is just chilling up there.
The lunar eclipse was visible from North America, and I was lucky enough to have clear skies in my area. I set up my camera on a tripod and used a remote shutter release to minimize camera shake.
Camera Settings
For those interested in the technical details, here are the settings I used:
- Camera: Sony A7III
- Lens: Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS + 1.4x teleconverter
- Focal Length: 600mm × 1.4 = 840mm (1260mm full-frame equivalent)
- Aperture: f/9
- Shutter Speed: 1/125s
- ISO: 800
I was surprised by how challenging it was to get a sharp image of the moon. Even with a sturdy tripod and remote shutter, the slightest vibration or atmospheric disturbance can affect the sharpness. I took about 50 photos and this was the sharpest one.