There are several aspects to shooting the moon.
There are lots of tips on the internet in various places and I will give some links.
But I'll have a go in my own words too.
The short story is: shoot in Manual mode with an aperture of say f8, shutter speed of 1/500sec, lowest ISO possible (reduces digital noise), and camera as still as possible, say on a tripod with shutter delay or remote shutter release. And long focal length/zoom. Then experiment up and down with settings to get it as nice as you can within the limits of the gear you have.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/moonshots/discuss/72157616838476080/?search=shooting+moon
http://www.flickr.com/groups/critique/discuss/72157606813095062/?search=shooting+moon
the long story
The main elements are: available light, shutter speed, aperture (f-stop), (which combined with ISO/film speed and metering gives exposure), camera shake, reach (focal length), white balance. And the moon itself is moving, which takes us back to shutter speed.
Available light. Although you are shooting in the dark, the target, the moon, is bright - very bright relative to what is around it. The default 'metering' setting for most cameras will be to balance for all the light coming through the lens for the scene as a whole (different brands call it different things but Nikon calls it 'matrix metering'.
If you shoot the moon on an 'auto' setting the moon will probably turn out way overexposed. Remember that although it is very bright it is only a tiny portion of the scene and the cameras 'brain' is trying to expose for the bulk of the scene which is very dark. The camera will probably 'choose' a large aperture (small number 'f stop') and slow shutter speed. The result will be a bright blob with no detail.
So what is aperture and shutter speed?
aperture is the size of the hole in the iris of the lens - how much light gets in. The smaller the f stop number the bigger the hole and the more light that gets in. Typically lenses have variable aperture and can range anywhere from f1.8 to f32. At either end of this scale you can get artifacts from the physics of light. Typically f2.8 - f16 is in the 'normal' range (very roughly speaking). Typical zoom lenses are often in the range f3.5 - f16. (the aperture scale goes in what are called 'stops' - f1.8, f2.2, f2.8, f3.5, f4, f5, f5.6, f6.3, f7.1, f8, f9, f11 etc)
shutter speed is how long the light is captured on the film or sensor. The longer its open the more light gets in and the brighter the image.
so, to shoot the moon you need to shoot in Manual mode, where you decide the aperture AND the shutter speed.
The rub with compact cameras is they may not have Manual mode - but check in the menu.
For the full moon (very bright) a rough place to start is f8 and 1/500 sec. Then because with digital you can take lots of images and check exposure you can play with the combination to get it right.
Sharpness - this will be a function of the particular lens, and they tend to have a 'sweet' spot where the image is most sharp (all zoom lenses are compromises of lots of elements so you can get focus at all those focal lengths). Lots of dSLR lenses tend to be sharpest at around f8. For compacts/bridge cameras maybe f5.6.
[There is some other physics that goes with this about how much of the image from front to back is in focus called 'depth of field' but that isn't so inportant for this purpose - the moon is kind of in a relative single plane. But briefly, the smaller the f stop the shallower the depth of field - only a thin plane will be in focus. To get everything from front to back in focus eg from the foreground to the horizon you are going above f8 - f16, f22. Also the shorter the physical focal length of the lens the greater the depth of field. So compact digital cameras where the lens is physically short will have wide depth of field (sometimes referred to as 'infinite depth of field'. Physically longer lenses, such as on dSLRs, will give shallower depth of field for the same field of view.]
Zoom lenses will also typically have sweet spots for sharpness at
different focal lengths, and also typically sharpness is worst at either
extremity, so i tmay be that a little shorter than the maximum zoom will give better sharpness.
Focal length - obviously the longer the focal length the closer and more detail you should be able to get.
Quoted lens focal (zoom) lengths are typically given in a 35mm or full frame (film/sensor size) equivalent. So when you see a bridge camera zoom lens advertised as 28-12oomm you can see that the lens is NOT 1200mm long but when you scale for the sensor size.
To get 'close enough' to the moon you are needing 200mm equivalent or longer. Below this, once you crop the image to see the moon you will not be getting sharpness or detail.
I have an 18-200 (equivalent) zoom and I am pushing the limits at the 200mm end. 300 would be better.
Somtimes the lens will be a little sharper at a little less than full zoom - this is worth experimenting with.
Metering
depending on the camera, you may get better results from 'spot metering' - that is the camera reads the incoming light from the centre of the frame and calculates from there.
Cropping, focal length and sensor size
Typically close up moon shots printed or posted are cropped from the orignal image.
There is a range from BIG boys to little boys. The bigger the sensor or film negative size the longer the lenses actually need to be (and the longer they are the heavier they are). But the bigger the sensor the more silver grains or pixels per unit area you can have so the bigger you can print / enlarge and retain detail.
Medium format - film days mostly - negative about 2.5 x 2.5 inches - real pro stuff for huge enlargements. (there are also 'medium format' cameras but that is real pro stuff for
huge enlargements).
'FX' dSLR cameras have a sensor the same size as a 35mm film negative . They are like bricks and and they and their lenses are expensive.
'DX' - the consumer grade Canon, Nikon, Pentax etc dSLR with the 'APS-C' size sensor - about as big as a postage stamp. (What Thygo has)
Other interchangeable lens systems - '4/3', 'micro 4/3' - smaller sensor again
Compact and bridge cameras - small sensors - 1/2 in (diagnonal) to 1/1/3 in . The bridge or ultrazooms have long magnification anywhere from 600 - 1200mm equivalent. But because of the sensor size it's harder to crop / enlarge as much.
Stability - two things put images out of focus - camera shake and too slow shutter speed to achieve 'stop/freeze' subject movement. Various cameras and lenses have vibration reduction (VR, OS, OIS, VC) to reduce or compensate for camera shake (you holding the camera). VR won't stop action on its own though it can mean you can shoot a slower shutter speed to get enough light in for correct exposure.
OK, the moon is moving and it is a small target a long way away. Hand held is possible if the shuter speed is fast enough. Generally faster than 1/500 second is considered necessary to freeze movement of people for example. 1/500 is a good place to start shooting the moon. Tripod is helpful and delayed shutter release or remote / cable release reduces shake from pushing the shutter button. If the camera or lens has VR it is often better to turn it off when on a tripod.
ISO and white balance
ISO used to be called film speed. Digital cameras have a 'native' ISO (often 100 or 200 ISO) above or below which digital noise can be introduced. ISO 100 or 200 is standard for bright light. The moon is a bright light source so it is good to try the lowest ISO first. When you only have half the moon you may need to up the ISO to keep the shutter speed fast and the aperture up.
white balance has to do with colour cast. Once again the moon is bright and auto ISO or sunlight setting tend to work well.
Other settings
pick the sharpest setting your camera can give you - vivid or landscape. Not portrait
If you can shoot in RAW then this can also get you extra resolution in post processing, otherwise the highest quality jpeg setting.
atmospheric conditions
best if it is dry and clear. You tend to get less atmospheric interfrence when the moon is above rather than on the horizon (rising or setting).
Post processing
when you get some good ones you can crop away to enlarge the moon itself.

2012. 1/400, f8, ISO 200, spot metering, 200mm equivalent. Heavy crop. Bit overexposed.
Recent Comments