The starting point
- One contributor reported success in the region of 1/60 at f/5.6 and base ISO, and described it as a place to begin rather than a formula.
- Base ISO is enough. The subject is bright even though the scene is not.
- A relatively fast shutter is wanted, which surprises people photographing at night for the first time.
- Use spot metering if the camera has it, so the reading comes from the moon and not from the sky.
What changes the answer
- The phase. Brightness varies over the month, so the same settings do not hold all year.
- Atmosphere. High cloud and haze between you and it change the exposure, which is why the thread offers a starting point rather than a number.
- Movement. The accepted answer noted the moon moves fast enough to matter, which puts an upper limit on exposure time before it smears — more so at long focal lengths.
The problem with putting it in a landscape
This is where the thread was most useful. If you want the moon and a foreground in the same frame, the two subjects are separated by an enormous difference in brightness, and one exposure cannot hold both — the moon will almost always be blown out. The answer given was to shoot two exposures and combine them. Worth knowing before spending an evening trying to find a single setting that works, because there is not one.
The general lesson
- The meter reads the frame, and when the subject occupies a tiny fraction of a very dark frame it will be wrong every time.
- Any bright subject in a dark surround has this problem: stage performers, fireworks, a lit window at night.
- Spot metering, manual exposure, or exposure compensation are three routes to the same correction.