Yes, that is a moon...

Despite generally horrible weather yesterday it turned out to be a fairly clear night, and I turned my new (my Xmas present to myself) long lens, a Sigma APO 170-500, on the moon, the first time I've seen it really clearly this year. This is the first lens I've had that can actually autofocus on the moon, which is a great time-saver, though I had to set the shutter speed manually and bracket a lot, since metering really doesn't work that well on small bright objects on a black background.

The three photos show the moon at 175mm, at 500mm, and at 500mm with a 2x converter - I didn't think this would work, and I did have to focus manually, but the results are slightly better than simply blowing up the 500mm image. All pictures are the full frame (APS-c size).

( Picspam )

Better than I've managed with previous lenses, and easier to use.