[Theme] Show us your best moon (and solar system) images

[mxbianco]

Thanks Akira, yes since my camera also was leveled by eye, now we can measure and calculate the difference in latitudes on the condition that both images were fresh takes (as the moon wobbles over time). BTW I used the 300PF+TC14E+TC20E III on D500 for this take.

Thanks Øivind for sharing the details of your setup, I didn't think it was possible to use the two TCs together!

Upon a second look, I found out that I could couple them, using the TC20E III attached to the lens, followed by the TC-14E II (close to the body). Naturally both had been modified by removing the blocking flange on the mount that prevented it.

If I were to use both teleconverters on my 1V3 I would have to resort to tiling 4 pictures together, the moon fills the frame already with a 500mm + TC20E. Here's an example taken yesterday with this setup:
Nikon 1V3 + FT1 + TC20EIII + 200-500mm @450mm (I had to lower the zoom for easier framing, @500mm a small slice of the moon is excluded if framing is not 100% perfect)

I added a few black pixels top and bottom, and cropped the sides to have a square photo. 3500x3500 px, resized to 1200x1200. Original uncropped is 5232x3488 px.

Ciao from Massimo
 
My latitude is 44.494810° N, between Akira's and yours.

[Øivind Tøien]

Yes, 1000mm on a 2.7x crop sensor is more than enough for the moon - no reason to do the TC stacking with a 500 mm except for planetary imaging. Also must have been pretty tricky keeping the target in the frame with the mosaic unless you were on a tracker. Interesting that you mention the TC modification;  when I receive a TC, removing the tab it is the first thing I do after checking out the optical performance, so I hardly remember that I have done it or the need to do it!

[Akira]

The 26th of next month (May) falls on the super full moon which should work as a bonus to the effort to lengthen the virtual focal length!

[mxbianco]

The 26th of next month (May) falls on the super full moon which should work as a bonus to the effort to lengthen the virtual focal length!

That will be a fine moment to test the size of the SuperMoon: currently yesterday's Moon fills my frame to the edges on a 1V3 with a 500mm + TC20E. the supermoon will certainly overflow my frame...

@Øivind: you are certainly aware of the 1.3x crop feature of the D500: eliminating the black/blue pixels at the periphery and concentrating on the Moon, you will have even more reach, with a 1.95x crop vs 1.5x (you are using only the central 18x12 mm² area vs 24x16 mm² of the DX frame). On my D500 I mapped one of the Fn buttons to the sensor area selection.

Ciao from Massimo

[Akira]

That will be a fine moment to test the size of the SuperMoon: currently yesterday's Moon fills my frame to the edges on a 1V3 with a 500mm + TC20E. the supermoon will certainly overflow my frame...

@Øivind: you are certainly aware of the 1.3x crop feature of the D500: eliminating the black/blue pixels at the periphery and concentrating on the Moon, you will have even more reach, with a 1.95x crop vs 1.5x (you are using only the central 18x12 mm² area vs 24x16 mm² of the DX frame). On my D500 I mapped one of the Fn buttons to the sensor area selection.

Ciao from Massimo

I've read the size of the moon and the sun on a sensor is roughly 1/100 of the focal length of the lens.  The size of a 1" sensor is 13.2 x 8.8mm, so a 500mm with 2x TC should be long enough to fill the frame.

As my SIGMA pf is an LCD-only camera, I avoid using APS-C crop mode: it is easier to target the moon with a 400mm lens in the full-frame mode.

[Øivind Tøien]

Yes, the crop modes do not provide any higher pixel density on the target, so it is just as easy to crop in post as with my capture above. If I need even more pixels on the target, I grab for my AW1. Just look back in this thread.

[Akira]

Industrial pink moonrise.

[Nasos Kosmas]

April full moon

[ColinM]

Have any of you come across or tried using Sequator yet?

https://sites.google.com/view/sequator/

[HCS]

Have any of you come across or tried using Sequator yet?

https://sites.google.com/view/sequator/

I have. Some night shots i have posted here i've stacked with Sequator (just can't find the links now  ).

EDIT: found the link: https://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=1679.msg165600#msg165600

[Birna Rørslett]

Standard night exposure  105 Micro-Nikkor, Df.

[Øivind Tøien]

I have. Some night shots i have posted here i've stacked with Sequator (just can't find the links now  ).

EDIT: found the link: https://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=1679.msg165600#msg165600

I find that Sequator is my preferred choice for easy stacking star trails, it preserves color and contrast much better than DSS that needs special treatment to recover the colors.

That image in the link with "accidental" bats is really interesting, HCS! 

[Akira]

That image in the link with "accidental" bats is really interesting, HCS!

Indeed, an interesting capture!

[Akira]

Standard night exposure  105 Micro-Nikkor, Df.

Looks like a profile of a joker with long beard and a glowing eye.   

[beryllium10]

The 26th of next month (May) falls on the super full moon which should work as a bonus to the effort to lengthen the virtual focal length!

I missed this discussion a couple of weeks ago.  An added bonus for the May 26th full moon will be a total eclipse, visible around the Pacific.  It's a brief one, only about 14 minutes in totality.  In Seattle it occurs just after 4 am, and the moon will still be emerging from the eclipse when the sun rises.  Clouds are a potential problem here, of course ...  Details: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2021-may-26