Moonlight photography with Leica and Zeiss

What do you do when lodging for the night means the back of the SUV, the temperature is dropping rapidly towards the single digits (°F) and it’s dark at 8pm? If there’s a full moon, get out the camera and try to keep your hands warm.

Even a 280mm lens doesn’t get you very close to the moon; an 800mm or 1200mm lens would be useful, but then focusing and aperture become problems.

Below is an actual-pixels crop using the Leica 280mm f/4 APO on the Canon 5D Mark II (with a lens adapter). It appears that I got the focus right.

Actual pixels
Canon 5D Mark II + Leica 280/4 APO

Shown below, this 30 second exposure at ISO 400 was pushed 2/3 stop in processing. Regrettably, a full moon can also mean that the brightness of the sky is high enough to hide most of the stars; the moon was also in this general area of the sky.

Mt Dana
Canon 5D Mark II + Leica 280/4 APO , ISO 400, 30 seconds

I focused using Live View on the Canon 5D Mark II, I’d say this shot is about as good as the 5D Mark II sensor can deliver. Too bad the 5D Mark II introduces all that color noise that pollutes blacks and whites.

Actual pixels from above

This image of the Saddlebag Lake dam was taken before dawn with the Zeiss ZE 21mm f/2.8 Distagon, the first hints of day were kissing the peak at left. It is crispy-crunchy sharp, and holds the subtle blue tones extremely well (a challenge for most lenses). It’s a spectacular performance simply not available with any Canon wide angle. I’ll be posting a high-res version soon in Zeiss ZF/ZE Lenses.

Moon before sunrise, Saddlebag Lake
Canon 5D Mark II + Zeiss ZE 21mm f/2.8 Distagon @ f/5.6, 30 seconds at ISO 100

Actual pixels — if only the sensor had more resolution!