Sometimes when making pictures something suddenly works that did not work before. My problem is that I'm not always adventurous enough to try something new.
I used single point AF-S and AF-C on my Nikon DSLR cameras for the longest time for wildlife and landscapes. One kind of photo I could never get right was shots of the moon. I could get pin-sharp images from my Nikkor 200-500mm lens of any kind of animal, but never of the moon.

Camera on a tripod? Check.
Mirror up? Check.
Negative exposure compensation? Check.
Sharply focused image? Nope.

One day I started playing around with Dynamic 9 AF for birds in the backyard - a focus mode I'd never paid much attention to. Then with that focus mode set on the camera one night I set up the tripod and started shooting the moon again. Big surprise - focus was perfect. I realized that single point AF never worked well for my moon shots, simply because there was not enough contrast in the face of the full moon that I always tried to capture. I believe some of the extra focus points in Dynamic 9 mode caught the black sky or black part of the moon, and that provided the necessary contrast to enable sharp focus. This was one of those slap-me-against-the-side-of-the-head moments.

Nikon D7500 with Nikkor 200-500mm.

I usually shoot the moon with tripod, in live view and zoom in to focus, sometimes manual sometimes af. Unless I am out in the field and handholding the camera.

Very nice.

Hut said:

I usually shoot the moon with tripod, in live view and zoom in to focus, sometimes manual sometimes af. Unless I am out in the field and handholding the camera.

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See, that's part of my problem. I never thought to use live view. Heck, I've never used it before for any image.

Very nice shot Rassie...I too use Live View for shooting the moon with manual focus always. It's a tricky subject depending on its brightness.

Lovely craters, Koos. Have also never used LV

Thanks, Callie.
I can see how live view would offer the sharpest images in moon shots because of the more accurate autofocus method involved, especially if one's fine-tuning of autofocus on that specific lens is not optimal.

The other thing I learned by studying this specific image is that the light hits the moon at a low angle from the southeast which causes shadows within the craters themselves and makes them appear more impressive. With the usual full moon shot the light hits the moon more directly from the same direction as the viewer, with resultant reduced contrast.

Rassie said:

The other thing I learned by studying this specific image is that the light hits the moon at a low angle from the southeast which causes shadows within the craters themselves and makes them appear more impressive. With the usual full moon shot the light hits the moon more directly from the same direction as the viewer, with resultant reduced contrast.

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Exactly! That modeling and texture detail, especially near the terminator was the first thing that jumped out at me. Really nice and something you don't see in a full moon shot.

Very beautiful shot Koos

Great capture Rassie.

Rassie said:

See, that's part of my problem. I never thought to use live view. Heck, I've never used it before for any image.

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It is pretty good for locating the Galilean moons also not a lot of detail but still fun to see.

What, do you attach a telescope to the camera for that?

Rassie said:

Thanks, Callie.
I can see how live view would offer the sharpest images in moon shots because of the more accurate autofocus method involved, especially if one's fine-tuning of autofocus on that specific lens is not optimal.

The other thing I learned by studying this specific image is that the light hits the moon at a low angle from the southeast which causes shadows within the craters themselves and makes them appear more impressive. With the usual full moon shot the light hits the moon more directly from the same direction as the viewer, with resultant reduced contrast.

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My best moon photos have also been of other than a full moon because of the angle of the light striking the surface. I tried for a photo of the blue moon the other night and they were all terrible -- the full moon and enough air currents in the atmosphere degraded what to the naked eye looked sharp and clear.

Rassie said:

What, do you attach a telescope to the camera for that?

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No just focus on Jupiter and zoom in on live view to focus. That D7500 and 200-500 will work. You can sometimes make out the rings of saturn's basic shape also. No detail at that magnification but you can make out the shape.

I am away from home so this is the only photo I have showing the Galilean moons from February. Not a good photo but pretty easy to spot them on live view next to Jupiter.

Hut said:

I am away from home so this is the only photo I have showing the Galilean moons from February. Not a good photo but pretty easy to spot them on live view next to Jupiter.View attachment 9027

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Fascinating photo Hut

Hut said:

I am away from home so this is the only photo I have showing the Galilean moons from February. Not a good photo but pretty easy to spot them on live view next to Jupiter.View attachment 9027

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Neat! Thanks for this.

May seem strange, but almost all my moon shots are in the morning before dust and heat are a worry, preferably after a rainy night, and always hand held. Obviously this will never be a full moon, but will be close but it also misses your trick with the contrast/light angle – thanks for that. Looks like I’ll have to pop out at night. You could also have a go at the opposite phase as the craters are much more numerous on the other side. I’d flip that photo and see how long it takes for people to figure out what’s wrong.

Nice shot, Koos! I have fair success on moon shots using the single point autofocus. I get focus by grabbing the edge of the moon and then letting off the back button focus which locks in in. I also use spot focus which helps with exposure, and always use ISO locked in at 100 or 64. Here are a couple of samples from this past weekend, one full moon night shot and one morning shot in the west sky before moon set yesterday morning.

Nice. Thanks for the tips, Greg. I’ll try our way next.

Absolutely well done all!

Well Rassie, your half-moon shot just put my best full moon shot to shame Thanks for the tip - I've heard about quite a few AF struggles being solved simply by switching to Dynamic, something I'm keeping in mind (even for my Z6).

I've been using the 70-300 AF-P on my D7200 for moon shots - but I actually JUST picked up the 200-500. Slight downside - it's a family Christmas gift, so I can't open / use until 12/25 Although, maybe test run would be wise..?

ccirelli said:

Well Rassie, your half-moon shot just put my best full moon shot to shame

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You and me both. None of my full moon shots come even close to this one. That's why I'm done with full moon images. I'll go for this kind of moon shot in future.
As for the 200-500mm, if it's anything like mine you'll love it. Mine is a sharp copy. And yes, I think a test run over a couple of months is necessary to make sure it's a good lens.

Wow- some great info here. Hopefully my moon shots will start to look better. This is the best I've done so far and its a composite. Original shot had the moon blown out.