Moonshots 2:

So I gave the long lens shots of the moon another try tonight, and I think this one came out a little bit better. The primary differences from the last shot included:

1) The moon was directly over head, putting less dirty atmosphere between me and it.

2) It’s rained the last couple of days, making said atmosphere less dirty to begin with.

3) Being directly over head, I simply laid beneath the tripod in a very short (read: stout) configuration, making it less susceptible to vibrations.

4) I did a better job locking all the rings, knobs, and nonsense down before taking the shot.

Overall, I’m happier with these results, but I still think it can be sharper. Not sure what else I can do with this lens other than go out into the dessert (better conditions) or try and mess with its internals and get the infinity focus a little better. Then again, its probably inherently limited by the quality of the glass within and I should just upgrade to a photo mountable telescope… is it Christmas again yet? 🙂

Original photo by Dana P. Howard (www.highlandwolf.com)