Shoot the moon
What exposure do you suggest for photographs of the full moon on a clear night? I have been unable to get an image that shows the detail I want. Should I use a special filter or something?
Steve Purkhiser
Via e-mail
If you’re going after just the moon, with no earthly foreground, no filter is required. Most photographers overexpose lunar photos. Ironically, because the moon is lit by the sun (just as earth is during day), the old Sunny Sixteen rule is a good starting point for exposing it. Set your aperture to f/16 and the shutter speed to the reciprocal of the ISO.
That would be 1/200 sec, for example, if you’re shooting at ISO 200. Then bracket from there, leaning toward faster shutter speeds and wider apertures, if possible. If you are including a shadowy foreground, use a split neutral-density filter to protect the moon from overexposing as you set the longer shutter speeds required to capture darker foreground detail.
Landscape lover
I would like to experiment with larger formats than 35mm for landscapes, but I would like to do so with inexpensive (read cheap) used equipment. I want to stick with roll film rather than having to deal with sheet film. What do you recommend?
Dr. Ronny Richardson
Via e-mail
You’re not going to like this, but…we suggest holding out for a used Mamiya 7. It offers a huge 6x7cm image on roll film, but with its panoramic adapter for 35mm film, you get the best of both worlds: It’s inexpensive to buy and process 35mm film, plus you get the perfect 1:2 format (35x70mm) for monster landscapes. We’ve seen it, body only, used, for between $500 and $900. A perfect, if not exactly cheap, landscape camera.
A dash of flash
I have two old flash guns that I would like to use as supplementary lights triggered by photo-cell slaves. Will I get consistent results?
Alan Johnson
Altoona, WI
Depends on the subject. If you’re building a portrait lighting system, you can use these in their manual modes as supplementary lights. First, test to get the correct output by changing distances, power settings, and/or light baffles. (This goes much faster with an external flashmeter.)
Once you’ve got the relative exposures correct for, say, hair and background lights, you must keep those power settings, shooting distances, and the working aperture.
Also: many older flashes can take from 6 to 10 seconds for a complete recharge (don’t trust the charge-complete light), longer with spent batteries. This isn’t a setup for shooting fast and furious. You could probably use these as perimeter lights for wedding receptions, too.
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