Photographing the moon can be challenging and most often with the wrong settings and technique, we can end up with a blurry white circle in the sky. 

The examples here are shot with the fz28 at 78x zoom, but i believe that almost any camera, digital or not, can be used provided that it has (or able) to use a lens of a focal length large enough to provide sufficient magnification. 

Tools and settings:

- Tripod: Use a tripod with the camera set on self-timer to prevent camera shakes. Moon pictures are very delicate and zooming at the extreme means that tiny camera movements are amplified to large shakes resulting in a blurry picture. I often use the '10s/3 picture' self-timer option with the fz28.

- Manual: Don't use any autoexposure modes (program, aperture, or shutter priority) — switch to full manual. On the fz28, the aperture and shutter speed can be easily adjusted using the joystick.

- ISO: Set the camera to its lowest ISO to give the the cleanest picture. Bumping up the ISO levels will bring in more noise. On the fz28, I use ISO 100.

- Aperture: My automatic-preferred aperture for moon shots is f/8 but this will also depend on your lens and how bright the moon is.  With the fz28, I’d say f5.6 - f/8 is OK. I find that at large/wider apertures (eg f/2.8), the image is not sharp and prone to be overexposed.

- Shutter speed: I always start at 1/160 and if it seems too bright, I'll try faster shutter speeds, like 1/200. 

- White balance: I have experimented with 'Cloudy', 'in-house', 'AWB' but found that 'Daylight' is best.

- Spot metering: Spot metering is key to obtain a good reading on the camera sensor. When on manual, set the AF Mode to the single-dot thingy.

- Others (fz28):

- AF/AE lock: AF/AE  
- Pre-AF: OFF
- Pict-Adj:

contrast: +1
sharpness: +2
saturation: +1
noise reduction: +1

- AF Assist Lamp: Off

Other tips:

- Always try to shoot during a clear sky as haze or cloud overcast will impact the sharpness of the image.

- Full frontal shots of the moon can be uninspiring as the moon surface looks rather flat. partially lit moon are better as the light hitting the edges of the moon gives the terrain more depth. The differences are as shown the following examples.

 - Post-processing: The picture straight from the camera is ok, but it may need some postprocessing. There's the HDR path, editing with Nik s/w, or a simple S-curve adjust in photoshop. Let me know :)

Summary:

The tips and techniques described here are not necessarily the best, but I sincerely hope that the information can be of use to whoever is reading this. Mooning is fun! 

EXAMPLES:

HDR-ed (tsk tsk)

all were taken from Bukit Tabur on the 'dragon's backbone'... Bukit Tabur has the longest and oldest quartz ridge of the world

i long for the days when there were massive firework celebrations during merdeka eve ...

- on merdeka eve
- view from Bukit Tabur

as night falls
heavier on the city
a distant sound
a stray breeze
madness
beauty
this is still the place to be
ooo my Kuala Lumpur
-is

Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ28 
Exposure: 15 
Aperture: f/8.0 
Exposure Bias: 0 EV 
ISO Speed: 100

zoom factor 18 

31st August, Malaysia Independence Day

- shot taken from top of Bukit Tabur ... absolutely dangerous climbing in the rain. great view of the city
- when rais meant the celebration will be moderate to respect ramadan, he meant it. No KLCC fireworks! joyous perhaps ... but the glass is half full. coincidentally, just like the (half) moon! disappointing sungguh-lah
- heh, will definitely try again on new year's eve :)


Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
ISO Speed: 100
Flickr 

what's gonna work? TEAMWORK! wonderpets
took the shot with the Rule of thirds in mind.