I enjoy doing landscape photography where the moon is incorporated in the image. Dont get me wrong, there are lots of times where I use my 70-200 for a wider view, but this post is about where to go next for getting an even bigger moon in my frame.
Currently I use a 1D2, and 400/5.6 prime, with 1.4xTC when I need the reach. Of course it is great because I can still AF.
Basically, Canon's 500/4 or 4.5 are out of budget range, so I am considering
a) buy an Xti for its extra reach. The downside here is that I wont be able to AF. Manual focus is fine, but I am concerned that the xti viewfinder is dim to begin with... so how will it be at f/8? Will I still be able to achieve *critical* focus (I say this, because of course I want to be able to catch as much crater detail as possible) by using manual focus and f/8? I am particularily concerned about shots where the moon is a very thin crescent.
b) buy a 2x converter. But again I lose AF. And though the 1D2 vf is quite bright, im sure f/11 won't be so much fun. Also, I know from experiece, that f/8 I am already strating to push my limites for a short enough shutter speed (particularily when a full moon rises at sunset, and is not very bright at all) at an acceptable ISO... going to f/11 , and then stopping down because the 2X will be a bit soft... I worry about shutter speeds.
any great ideas??
I had also pondered the Sigma 50-500 .. but again, wont be able to af once I add my 1.4x, and I worry about the sharpness of it at 500 to begin with (let alone with converter)
tia
jeremy
edited to add: for point of interest ... how much might I find a 500/4.5 for on the used market?
I think the XTI is a good idea. On the cheap the bigma with a 2x should work nicely. That will give you a FL of 1000mm. Really tho you want even more. I regularly use 1600mm and think thats not even enough.
Without a german equatorial mount with tracking, that is using a regular tripod, you can get away with around 1/40th of a second. Much slower than that and the earths rotation will blur your picture.
For most of my work I go around iso400 f/18 1/60th depending on the fullness of the moon. Mirror lockup YES. And wait until the vibrations stop.
My first (and cheapest) suggestion would be to try a Kenko Pro 300 1.4x behind your 400/5.6 and Canon 1.4x. with your 1D2 first. It should still AF without any tricks or tape on bright subjects like the moon.
Im worried about how the IQ of my 400 prime will hold up with a 2x... putting it on the bigma scares me to be honest.
Actually, for my purposes, even 1000mm is more than I need. As I mentioned, I like to keep some landscape in my scenes... so after a point the moon will be so big, theres no room left
I did some critical testing at one point, and modified the traditional 'rule of thumb' (for having no motion blur) so that I try and keep my shutter speed to be a minimum of 87.5/focal length (for 1.3 crop bodies)
So at 400mm i can get away with 1/5s
at 560mm (400 with 1.4) 1/8s
I have viewed 400% crops to get here... I can probably go a little slower.. the numbers err on the side of caution. (i imagine your even faster ss is a result of the longer focal lengths youre using).
I wouldn't be too afraid of the 2X TC. I think it gets a bad rap. This is just with the 400/5.6L and 2X and cropped a bit. It's also from near sea level through a bit of haze.
The 400/5.6 with a 2X teleconverter will force you to manually focus. But that task is much easier on the 1DII than it would be on the 350D/400D body with its very small viewfinder.
Alternatively, a 300/4 with a 2X will AF on the 1D2, and if you stack the Canon 2X and 1.4X (Mk II versions), the camera will still auto-focus because the second teleconverter doesn't register its presence in the AF system. The focusing will be a bit spotty with the f/11 combination, though.
The 5D seems to like the 400/2.8, 2X, and 1.4X stacked.....
And wait until the vibrations stop.