Believers and non-believers...

originally posted by: recrisp
I am SURE I wouldn't talk about it here! heheh

I don't think I've ever experienced something while being completely awake and lucid that I thought was completely outside of what could either be "possible" or "probable." I've experienced weird things, but after I sat myself down and had a little chat with myself about what I had actually experienced, I could see where it had a good chance of being poorly communicated to somebody else. Visions, for instance. They really don't add up to anything, and if I can't even explain it (or describe it) to my own satisfaction, I'm not going to tell anybody else about it. What would be the point? Some things you just keep secret in your head until you die. That's okay with me.

originally posted by: UKWO1Phot

Go outside tonight and take a picture of the full moon on your phone. (Which is bigger, brighter and not moving)
Post your picture on here.

Taken with my Samsung Galaxy S8 Note:


[12/21/20@1759PST; f/1.7, 1/120 sec., ISO-160, Fl26]

a reply to: Blue Shift
I agree with you, that is how I like to look at it also.
Some things are just better left unsaid.
I have always wondered about people that say they have visions, because a lot of people that do have them are usually psychotic, at least from what I read and hear. Not that they are for sure. I don't know what it would be like to have a vision, I just can't comprehend the subject, not at all. So, since it's something I know absolutely nothing about, I have a fear of it, I guess, just a little.

If I had a vision I would think I was crazy, but I am only referring to how I would feel. I don't want to ever have one, I hope I don't. My dreams are lucid enough, I used to have some real doozies, but they have slacked off.

a reply to: Outrageo
The details in that is really good, the exposure is not. It's so blown out in the highlights is what makes it not so perfect.
The mid-tones and shadows are good though.
I don't know how to remedy that on your phone, but you have a pretty good shot for what it is. It is a HUGE file though!

a reply to: Outrageo
Huawei P30 Pro.
Image 1, Straight out of my pocket, standard camera from opening app. Handheld.


Image 2, 50x Digital Zoom. Handheld again. f3.4, 1/2000sec, ISO100.


Most probably could have done better if I had something to prop/steady the camera and some time but was walking the dogs in a field. You get the gist.

No crops. Straight off the camera.

a reply to: UKWO1Phot
Not bad for a phone camera, I guess, and while it's not perfect, when taken into Photoshop it will be a lot better. (I didn't try that, I was too lazy)
Take the same shot using the exact settings but this time, don't use the DIGITAL zoom, you will then see what your cell phone camera really can do, it should be MUCH sharper.

You mention it being better if you had propped it against something, while that is a really good idea in almost every case, especially with a regular camera, here, you have it at 1/2000 of a second, that should be enough to make it steady enough to get what you need.
When taking a video, that is one of my biggest pet peeves, that people don't brace themselves, and, that they don't use the cell phone horizontally.

People that take videos or pictures with their cell phones need to remember that IF you are going to show it on a computer monitor, it needs to be horizontal because the majority of people might be watching on a horizontal monitor.
(Cell phones are a different matter, since they can be turned)
If a person shoots a video in the vertical position, and someone watches that video on a computer monitor in the horizontal position, it crops it down and we see only a small portion of the video, which ruins it nearly every time.
In the UFO community that is the worst thing that one can do is to use it vertically. (Really, anything that would benefit from seeing a video better helps)

The rest of your settings are fine really. Depth-of-Field really doesn't have a lot of bearing on the moon, it's kind of considered a flat entity, so it does little good.
Your ISO was good.

You would have been better off had you not used 'digital zoom', that is the devil! Digital zoom is a thing that the companies that make lenses and cameras make you think it'll help, it doesn't, not at all.
What I will say is, not many people know to brace themselves when taking a picture that might need it, so that right there is a really good thing.

I take pictures of the moon with either a 400mm lens (on a digital camera) or the same lens with a 1.4 extender, or a lens that is 600mm's. I say that because with a longer lens it needs to be a lot steadier, so the shutter-speed needs to be higher. On a phone though, it doesn't need to be as high using a wider angle lens.

I took your image and opened it up in a quickie program I use for fast stuff, (FastStone) and played with it some, it looked a lot better, but the details are not there, but more contrast did help.
The poster above you has a lot more detail but his is blown out in the whites, and I pretty much believe that there is no information in the whites left to save. His picture looked REALLY good in the details though.
(Since he didn't provide any EXIF we don't know how or what he took the picture)

Just in case that makes sense or helps some, I'm not being jerky.

a reply to: recrisp

Yeah. I was just proving a point that unless you have the time (Which you don't in many UFO sightings)
You have to have a good play with the settings to get a good shot.
Straight out of the pocket you may as well use a potato like most of the critics whinge about.

I've seen two craft in my life that I couldn't identify. One seemed "alien" and the other seemed man made.

Believe what you want to believe, and screw the naysayers.

a reply to: UKWO1Phot

That's true, and I kind of figured that might be what you were doing, I also said it 'in case' that someone else reads that and it might help.
I'll be the first to say that I have no earthly idea as to how to change a setting on a camera cell phone. I would just use it in AUTO. I have taken about 3 pictures with it, and none were flying saucers! heheheh
Thanks for understanding.

a reply to: Schmoe11
I wholeheartedly believe that too, but what we were saying is, IF a person wants to make any else believe, that is where it gets hard. Proof.
I am never one to try and change their mind, I may try and discuss the subject and not agree, but if a person says that they saw it, I can't say that they didn't.

However, if that same person comes across as a person that is not believable, then I can make a judgement, and I might be correct.

a reply to: recrisp

The best I've seen without a doubt that it was unusual was in Dominican Republic 5-6yrs ago.
Classic silver disc, treetop height, approx 20 witnesses. Couldn't unlock phone in time to get pic.

a reply to: UKWO1Phot
I don't doubt that it'd be hard do get the phone out in time to get a shot, much less having to unlock it.
That sounds like a really good sighting too.

My phone is a pay as you go type phone, I have not even turned it on in months and months. When I do, it wants me to go through all kinds of hoops to open it up. If I use it often enough, it is not a big deal, but it wants me to go through all kind so crap because, I don't know.
My cell phone bill is 'around' $25.00 every 3 months, I really am not sure anymore, I rarely check it. There has been many times when I go to turn it on and make a call that it has zero time left, and I haven't even used it. They somehow delete it "accidentally", I have never been reimbursed. I 'should have' at least $300. U.S. on it, but I don't even want to turn it on to check it.

As can be seen, I don't care about phones at all. I would also be up that famous creek if I ever saw a flying saucer, not just that, but I would have the wrong settings to take it, AND, most importantly, knowing me, I would probably hold it vertically! heheh

a reply to: recrisp

I too was a long time lurker before registering and still mainly lurk.

I have seen a UFO/UAP and if it wasn't ET then it was definitely a shadow military craft capable of VTOL and silent running.

It had no lights on the fuselage other than the dim glow of engines.

We witnessed something fall from it over a town and it took off from the direction of a munitions storage facility

I saw this with two others.

originally posted by: recrisp
So, I want to believe, but I really don't anymore...

I get that the point of your post isn't this, but I hear you on this part.

As I've gotten older, I realized that it was fun when I was a kid to read about the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, and UFOs.

But now things are different. I'm older. Am I wiser? Maybe not.

But I've read that there's DNA evidence of Giant Eels in Loch Ness. And someone in a boat just recently got a 33 foot long Sonar Return of 'something' in the Loch.

I've read that there was a primate called Gigantopithecus some 300,000 years ago, which may have resembled what we think of as Bigfoot, and may not be extinct.

And I've watched a bunch of Ancient Aliens and UFO Hunters which really makes me wonder what's out there and what's been going on. Especially when Astronauts and Police or other Officials say they saw something.

But the point is - my viewpoint changed by just getting older.

And it's not that I don't believe anymore, but now I believe differently. More scientifically, maybe. Or more logically.

So I just have to say: I hope you find that belief again, maybe differently - but that's ok, too.