Canon Stock Lens... Any Good?

[Mav359]

Hi guys

I have a Canon 1000d that came with the stock lens, i have the camera piggy backed on the back of my SCT & had the intention of doing wide-field shots with it whilst my CCD is doing its thing. I haven't had much of a go at this type of imaging yet but the brief exposure i have had hasn't been very productive.

Is the stock 18-55mm lens any good for this or do i need to invest in something more suited.

Cheers

[happy-kat]

It is good enough to have a go, you have all you need if you have a remote shutter release to try.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

It's not bad but not as good as a prime lens - light transmittance is on the low side and there is some coma at the edges. This is my best effort with it, 20 minutes at 18mm/f4.5 (10 x 120 second subs).

If you put the camera on a ball-head mount you can point it where you like without the scope tube getting in the way. I've also seen some shots taken with it at the other end of the zoom range which have come out quite well.

[Davey-T]

Remember when it first came out it got slagged off a bit in photo mag reviews but then they do tend to be a bit critical, depends on your expectations, as always it's best to have a go and find out for yourself.

One thing worth mentioning, if you need a LP filter the internal clip in ones don't fit with this lens.

Dave

[Mr Spock]

It's good enough stopped down. No match for a prime though if you want short exposures.

[JamesF]

Yes, I think stopping it down a little is the thing to do, especially at the 18mm end of the range.  I found plenty of distortion in the corners of the frame otherwise.

James

[PeterCPC]

There are some cheap prime focus lenses on fleabay but you would need an adapter. 

Peter

[Mav359]

Cheers Guys

Its on a ball joint on the scope and tracking is good so lenght of exposure up to 20mins is no issue. Its also cabled up to the USB hub so it too can be controled via the PC although i do have a remote shutter cable if the PC software is no good for this.

Stepping down? doesn't really mean anything to me, could you explain?

Also is there a best software for this or just Neb or the canon EOS software?

Cheers

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Stepping down means reducing the camera's aperture, reducing the amount of light reaching the sensor but reducing any distortion. In manual mode adjust the F number (focal ratio), the lower the number the wider the aperture is open. At 18mm f4.5 or 5.0 is probably a good compromise, this will give rounder stars in the corner of the frame.

[JamesF]

As an aside, the way that the lens opening is constructed means that when it is partially closed you can get diffraction effects such as spikes on the brighter stars.  If you don't like that you can actually make a mask to fit in front of the lens by cutting one with a knife from a piece of thin plastic sheet.  Something to play at later if you feel the need

James

[dph1nm]

Here's some milky way shots I took with the 18-55, at a variety of different focal lengths.

http://community.dur.ac.uk/nigel.metcalfe/astro/canon1000d_kb.html

It struggles a bit at 55mm, but if you avoid the extreme corners it isn't too back at shorter FLs.

NigelM

[hazegood]

try a 'nifty-fifty' 50mm  F1.8mm canon prime lens around £70 new if you shop around, that's a great lens for widefield at not a lot of money

have heard of people using older Olympus OM lenses, (can be dirt cheap on flea bay - if you can find them) with an adapter ring.

Leigh
 
 

[Roy Challen]

Knight, clearly this lens is quite good! Nice pic.