Best Camera Settings for the August 27 Lunar Eclipse

The August 27–28, 2026 lunar eclipse presents photographers with an unusually interesting exposure challenge.

This is not a total lunar eclipse, yet it comes remarkably close. At its greatest peak, 96.3% of the Moon’s disk will be inside Earth’s dark umbral shadow, according to NASA. That means photographers can capture a dramatic copper-colored Moon, with only a narrow portion remaining directly illuminated.

The challenge is that your ideal camera settings won’t stay the same throughout the night.

Early in the eclipse, the Moon will still be extremely bright. As more of its surface enters Earth’s shadow, the available light falls dramatically. Near maximum eclipse, settings that worked beautifully an hour earlier may produce an almost black photograph.

Instead of relying on one exposure recipe, adjust your settings as the eclipse progresses.

This guide gives you practical starting settings for the bright Moon, early partial phase, deep eclipse, and maximum eclipse so you can respond as the light changes.

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When Is the August 27, 2026 Lunar Eclipse?

The eclipse occurs during the night of August 27 into the early hours of August 28, 2026, depending on your location.

NASA describes it as a deep partial lunar eclipse visible across much of the Americas, as well as portions of Europe and Africa. Maximum eclipse occurs at approximately 4:13 UTC on August 28.

For New York City, for example, the major stages occur approximately as follows:

• Penumbral eclipse begins: 9:23 p.m. EDT
• Partial eclipse begins: 10:34 p.m. EDT
• Maximum eclipse: 12:12 a.m. EDT
• Partial eclipse ends: 1:52 a.m. EDT
• Penumbral eclipse ends: 3:01 a.m. EDT

Exact local timing varies by location, so check the eclipse schedule where you plan to photograph before heading outside.

Unlike a solar eclipse, you can view and photograph a lunar eclipse safely without eclipse glasses or a solar filter.

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Best Overall Camera Settings for the August 27 Lunar Eclipse

If you want one setup from which to begin, try:

Camera mode: Manual
File format: RAW
Aperture: f/5.6 to f/8
ISO: 100 to 400 initially
Shutter speed: approximately 1/125 to 1/500 second before the Moon becomes deeply eclipsed
White balance: Daylight or approximately 4000K to 5000K
Focus: Manual after precise focus is established
Metering: Spot or Manual exposure
Drive mode: Single shot, low continuous, or exposure bracketing
Tripod: Recommended
Image stabilization: Usually off when securely tripod-mounted, depending on your camera and lens

Think of these values as your starting position.

During this particular eclipse, the most important setting may ultimately be your shutter speed because the Moon is both moving across the sky and becoming progressively darker.

Your exposure needs to change with it.

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Camera Settings Before the Partial Eclipse Begins

A nearly full Moon is surprisingly bright.

Before the dark umbral shadow reaches the lunar surface, you may be able to photograph it with relatively ordinary daylight-like settings.

Start around:

ISO: 100
Aperture: f/8
Shutter speed: 1/250 to 1/500 second
White balance: Daylight
Focus: Manual

Take a test photograph and enlarge the image on your camera screen.

Look for visible crater detail rather than simply asking whether the Moon appears bright enough.

If the lunar surface looks like a featureless white circle, shorten the shutter speed.

This is also the perfect time to establish focus.

Use Live View or your electronic viewfinder, magnify the Moon significantly, and carefully adjust focus until the crater edges appear crisp. Once focused, switch to manual focus so the camera doesn’t hunt later when the Moon gets darker.

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Settings During the Early Partial Eclipse

Once Earth’s umbra begins moving across the Moon, the photograph becomes considerably more interesting.

Try:

ISO: 100 to 400
Aperture: f/8
Shutter speed: approximately 1/60 to 1/250 second

The exact exposure depends on how much of the Moon has entered shadow.

At this stage, one side of the Moon remains brilliantly illuminated while another portion becomes dramatically darker.

Do not automatically expose for the shadow.

Doing so can completely overexpose the illuminated portion.

Instead, protect the bright lunar surface first. Then take additional brighter exposures for the shadowed region.

For a better understanding of evaluating highlights without trusting screen brightness alone, please read How to Read a Camera Histogram.

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Best Settings as the Eclipse Becomes Deeper

Exposure changes quickly once most of the Moon moves into Earth’s shadow.

Try moving toward:

ISO: 400 to 1600
Aperture: f/5.6 to f/8
Shutter speed: approximately 1/15 to 1/60 second

A lens that is sharp at f/5.6 may be preferable to staying at f/8 and pushing ISO unnecessarily high.

Keep watching the shadowed portion of the Moon.

As your eyes adapt to the darkness, a rusty orange or copper color may become increasingly visible. NASA notes that the deeply eclipsed portion can develop this color as sunlight passes through Earth’s atmosphere before reaching the lunar surface.

Your camera may capture much more of that color than you see with your eyes.

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Best Camera Settings at Maximum Eclipse

Maximum eclipse is when this event becomes particularly challenging.

Start around:

ISO: 800 to 3200
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter speed: approximately 1/4 to 1/30 second
File format: RAW
Focus: Manual

Do not interpret these numbers as a requirement to use a long exposure.

Your goal is to collect enough light to reveal the dark, copper-colored surface without letting lunar movement, atmospheric turbulence, or tripod vibration soften the photograph.

With a very long telephoto lens, start at the faster end of that shutter-speed range and raise ISO if needed.

ISO 1600 with a sharp Moon is generally preferable to ISO 400 with visible motion blur.

Take several frames at slightly different exposures.

Maximum eclipse is exactly the moment when exposure bracketing becomes valuable because the small directly illuminated portion of the Moon can remain dramatically brighter than the shadowed surface.

Please read Exposure Bracketing Explained for Beginners before eclipse night if you haven’t used this feature before.

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Photograph Two Exposures at Maximum Eclipse

Here is the technique I particularly recommend for this eclipse.

Do not try to force the entire Moon into one perfect exposure.

Take one exposure that protects the bright remaining crescent.

Then make another exposure that reveals the copper-colored shadow.

For example, one photograph might be:

ISO 400
f/8
1/60 second

A second might move toward:

ISO 1600
f/5.6
1/8 second

These are starting points, not guaranteed exposures.

The important idea is separating two different exposure goals.

The first frame records highlight detail.

The second records the extraordinary color and texture inside Earth’s shadow.

That approach gives you considerably more creative flexibility later.

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What Lens Should You Use?

A longer focal length makes the Moon much larger in the frame.

As a general starting point:

• 200mm lens: Moon with plenty of surrounding sky
• 70-300mm lens: useful balance between lunar detail and composition
• 400mm lens: noticeably larger Moon
• 100-500mm lens: excellent for close lunar detail
• Longer focal lengths: useful for highly detailed lunar studies

Remember that sensor size also affects the apparent field of view.

Do not dismiss shorter lenses, however.

A 70-200mm lens can produce a more memorable photograph when the eclipsed Moon is positioned above a skyline, mountain, lighthouse, bridge, tree, monument, or recognizable landscape.

Sometimes a small Moon placed intelligently within a strong composition creates a more distinctive photograph than another frame filled with the lunar disk.

Accessories: sturdy tripod, remote shutter release.
Affiliate note: This post may contain affiliate links. Purchases made through qualifying links may support Debbie Photos at no additional cost to you.

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Use a Tripod, but Do Not Assume the Tripod Solves Everything

A tripod is strongly recommended, especially near maximum eclipse.

Nevertheless, a tripod does not automatically guarantee sharpness.

Wind can move a long telephoto lens. Pressing the shutter button can create vibration. An extended center column can make the entire setup less stable.

Use a remote release, a two-second timer, or your camera’s electronic shutter when appropriate.

Keep the tripod as compact as practical and avoid unnecessarily extending the center column.

Photographers using longer lenses should also check sharpness periodically at high magnification.

For more techniques, see How to Avoid Camera Shake in Photography.

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Do Not Use Extremely Long Shutter Speeds Just Because It Is Night

One of the easiest lunar-eclipse mistakes is treating the Moon like an ordinary nighttime landscape.

It is not stationary.

The Moon continuously travels across the sky, and its apparent movement becomes increasingly noticeable when photographed with a long focal length.

A five-second exposure might brighten a dark eclipsed Moon beautifully, but it can also reduce crater detail and create softness.

Before lengthening the exposure dramatically, raise ISO or open the aperture.

Check every important series at 100 percent magnification.

A slightly noisy but sharply defined lunar surface gives you far more useful information than a perfectly clean file with blurred craters.

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Shoot RAW for the Deep Eclipse

RAW is especially important on August 27.

Color and brightness will change substantially between the bright partial phase and maximum eclipse.

A RAW file gives you considerably more control over:

• White balance
• Shadow recovery
• Highlight recovery
• Noise reduction
• Color adjustments
• Contrast
• Sharpening

Avoid trying to make the Moon look neutral gray at maximum eclipse.

The rusty orange and copper coloration is part of what makes the eclipse visually extraordinary.

Preserve it.

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Try an Eclipse Sequence

Consider photographing the Moon at regular intervals throughout the event.

For example, take one frame every five, ten, or fifteen minutes.

The resulting series can document the transition from a bright full Moon to an increasingly shadowed disk and finally toward maximum eclipse.

Keep the white balance consistent and maintain careful focus throughout the sequence.

Exposure will need to change as brightness falls, so record the settings used for important frames.

A finished sequence containing several eclipse phases can become far more visually compelling than a single photograph.

For another example of planning camera settings around a fast-changing astronomical event, please read How to Photograph the August 12, 2026 Solar Eclipse.

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Watch the Histogram Instead of the LCD

Your rear screen becomes increasingly unreliable after spending time in darkness.

Once your eyes adapt, even an underexposed photograph can look bright on the LCD.

Use the histogram and highlight warning instead.

During the early partial phase, pay particular attention to the illuminated section of the Moon. Near maximum eclipse, expect much more tonal information to move toward the darker side of the histogram.

Do not try to make every nighttime histogram sit neatly in the center.

Darkness belongs in a lunar-eclipse photograph.

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Prepare Your Camera Before August 27

Don’t start configuring everything after the eclipse begins.

Before leaving home:

• Charge your main battery
• Pack a spare battery
• Empty or format memory cards after backing them up
• Clean the lens
• Install your tripod plate
• Set RAW recording
• Practice manual focus
• Locate exposure bracketing
• Locate the histogram
• Confirm your local eclipse timing
• Check the weather forecast
• Scout a clear view of the Moon
• Test your telephoto lens on the ordinary Moon

Practice is particularly valuable.

Photograph the Moon before August 27 using the same camera, lens, tripod, and remote release you intend to use during the eclipse.

Solving equipment problems beforehand lets you focus on exposure as the event unfolds.

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Turn Your Best Lunar Eclipse Photograph Into a Print

A detailed eclipse photograph can make a striking print, especially when the copper-colored Moon is set against a deep black sky.

Before deciding on enlargement size, use the free Print Size Converter to compare dimensions, pixels, and print resolution. It can help determine whether a heavily cropped telephoto photograph still contains enough resolution for the print size you have in mind.

When you are preparing the finished photograph for printing, Printing Photos Perfectly: File Formats, DPI, and Print Quality explains DPI, file formats, resolution, export choices, and print quality in a practical workflow.

Those decisions matter most when fine lunar detail needs to stay crisp in a larger print.

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Final August 27 Lunar Eclipse Settings Cheat Sheet

Bright Moon Before the Deep Eclipse

ISO: 100
Aperture: f/8
Shutter: 1/250 to 1/500 second

Early Partial Eclipse

ISO: 100 to 400
Aperture: f/8
Shutter: 1/60 to 1/250 second

Deep Partial Eclipse

ISO: 400 to 1600
Aperture: f/5.6 to f/8
Shutter: 1/15 to 1/60 second

Near Maximum Eclipse

ISO: 800 to 3200
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter: approximately 1/4 to 1/30 second

Always adjust after inspecting the actual Moon.

Clouds, haze, focal length, lens aperture, atmospheric conditions, camera sensor performance, and the eclipse phase can shift the ideal exposure considerably.

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The best camera settings for the August 27 lunar eclipse will change throughout the night.

Begin with a low ISO and fast shutter speed while the Moon is bright. Gradually increase exposure as Earth’s shadow spreads across the lunar surface. Near maximum eclipse, open the aperture, raise ISO, and carefully reduce shutter speed while protecting sharpness.

Most importantly, bracket the dramatic final stages.

With almost the entire Moon entering Earth’s umbra, the contrast between the remaining bright portion and the copper-colored shadow may become the defining photographic challenge of the event.

Rather than searching for one perfect exposure, follow the changing light.

That is where the strongest August 27 lunar-eclipse photographs are likely to happen.

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