tried taking a picture of a bird at top of a tree , 30 feet away, at about 45 degrees with moon in the background at about 6:00 pm. Used a Canon L series zoom lens ef 100-400 with 2x ef extender , lens set to 400 mm and f-stop at max. Using Canon 50 D camera. Could not get the moon and bird in focus at same time. Is there any way to do this. What gear would be required?
I'm not sure it's possible; but if anyone knows how to do this in-camera I'd like to learn as well.
The issue would be to find the hyper-focal distance of that lens and converter setup. It's a crop sensor, so that adds to the calculation... Perhaps 800mm (including x2 converter on 400mm lens) times crop factor for final focal length... Using that number find the hyper focal distance on the hyper-focal distance chart (there are a few sites). The longer the "lens" the further away the hyper focal distance is from the camera.
You can use some simple trigonometry to get the distance to the bird up in the tree since you know distance to tree, angle of tree, and about how high up in the tree the bird is (can be back calculated from the 45 degrees and your distance from the tree).
I have the feeling at your focal length you're looking at is several thousand feet to achieve hyper focal distance. (meaning both bird and moon are in focus).
The easy way without all of that, if you see a bird in frame and the moon behind.. First get a snap of the bird in focus (in case it flies off).. Now you have the bird... Now focus on the moon and take a shot.. Align the shots in post then do a focus stack.
thanks, two shots makes sense
Not sure what aperture "max" is, but here's a chart for you.
Most people would probably take two photos, one with focus on the bird, the other with focus on the moon, and combine them with software.
Doing the math, the bird is about 42 ½ feet from you. At F11, your D.O.F is about 4 inches.
As others have said, this really can't be done in-camera. The focal length you are using - 800mm - is simply never going to allow for both the bird at 30 feet and the moon at near infinity to both be in focus. Regardless of what aperture you use or what sensor size you use, it won't even come anywhere close.
It could be done using focus stacking. Make sure you get the money shot of the bird while on a loose tripod then lock down and shoot the same frame focused on the background. Merge in post.