🌕 Looney 11 Calculator

Mission Control for Lunar Photography

1. Moon Phase

2. Focal Length (Zoom) 200mm

50mm200mm400mm600mm

Standard Zoom. Moderate shake risk.

3. Aperture f/11

f/5.6f/8f/11f/16f/22

4. ISO 100

100160032006400

REQUIRED SHUTTER SPEED

⏱️ 1/125 sec

Stability Check (Reciprocal Rule):

Stable

⚠️ CRITICAL INTEL

Houston, We Have a Lighting Problem

Why your automatic settings fail in the void.

💥

The “White Blob” Effect

To your eyes, the moon is a lantern. To your camera, it is a glowing nuclear rock in a black void.

Your camera sees 90% black sky and panics. It opens the shutter wide to let light in. The result? The moon becomes a featureless, glowing white blob.

🐇

The “Looney 11” Fix

We must ignore the light meter. We use the Looney 11 Rule.

It states: At aperture f/11, shutter speed = ISO. (e.g., ISO 100 = 1/100th). This treats the moon like what it actually is: a sun-lit landscape in the middle of the day.

📡 Telemetry Variables

🎛️ ISO (Gain) Think of this as “Volume.” High ISO turns up the volume on light, but adds static (digital noise). Keep this low (100-400) for a crisp, professional moon.

🔭 Focal Length (Zoom) The closer you zoom, the faster the earth spins relative to your frame. A 600mm lens amplifies your hand jitters by 12x compared to a standard lens.

🌒 The Phase Penalty Shadows define craters. A Full Moon is actually “flat” lighting. A Quarter Moon has cool shadows, but reflects less total light, so we must slow the shutter to compensate.

MISSION SUPPORT DATABASE

STATUS: ONLINE

AVAILABLE DATA LOGS:

LOG_01: STABILITY ANALYSIS

Short Answer: Yes. Unless you are a statue.

The Science: When you zoom in to 200mm or more, you are magnifying everything—including your own heartbeat. Even the mirror inside a DSLR slapping up can cause “shutter shock.”

Pro Tip: Use a tripod AND set a 2-second timer so your finger pressing the button doesn’t shake the camera.