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Which Camera lenses for Astro photography

Specman

By Specman
in Discussions - Cameras

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Specman

Specman

Posted
Posted

Hi

Well I have just bit the bullet and purchased an Astrotrac. I have a Canon 1000D with the following lenses:

EF 28-80mm

EF 80-200mm

EF 24mm

EFS 18-55mm

Question: Is what I have useful and what other lenses would be best?

I like photographing wide fileld, Aurora and DSO's

Thanks

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Hi,

Out of the lenses you have listed the 18-55mm is a pretty good performer.

Here is a link to a really useful website when I first got my Astrotrac. :)

The main point being that Astro imaging is a true test of lens quality and many dont live upto expectations. :)

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Primes are best for astrophotography and are better still if you stop them down with a front aperture mask rather than the diaphragm (because the latter causes diffraction spikes on a grand scale.) You can make them easily.

http://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/Other/Takahashi-EM200TEC140/i-GpH6CNP/0/S/APERTURE-MASK-S.jpg

Perhaps one of the truly great lenses is the Canon EF200L.

M45-AT-200MM-sharper-sscrop-L.jpg

Olly

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Primes are best for astrophotography and are better still if you stop them down with a front aperture mask rather than the diaphragm (because the latter causes diffraction spikes on a grand scale.) You can make them easily.

Perhaps one of the truly great lenses is the Canon EF200L.

Olly

Yes one lens which is high on my wish list. :)

Also the EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM macro lens takes some beating as well.

Usable at f/2.8, excellent by f/3.5 :)

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Specman

Specman

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Hi,

Out of the lenses you have listed the 18-55mm is a pretty good performer.

Here is a link to a really useful website when I first got my Astrotrac. :)

The main point being that Astro imaging is a true test of lens quality and many dont live upto expectations. :)

Really useful info, great link, thankyou!

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Specman

Specman

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Primes are best for astrophotography and are better still if you stop them down with a front aperture mask rather than the diaphragm (because the latter causes diffraction spikes on a grand scale.) You can make them easily.

http://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/Other/Takahashi-EM200TEC140/i-GpH6CNP/0/S/APERTURE-MASK-S.jpg

Perhaps one of the truly great lenses is the Canon EF200L.

Olly

Awesome pic!

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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I firmly in the prime lens camp for astro work and second the 200L series as being superb.

I'd be tempted to try your EF 24mm first nut only because it is a prime. Do stop it down at least one stop despite the temptation to gather more light!

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jgs001

jgs001

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I'm with Steve, start with the 24mm... If it's anything like the nifty... you'll need to be at f/4 at least to get reasonable edges. The nifty would be a really good investment too (it's real cheap to start with).. and is great for constellations. I'd love to add the 200L to my collection, but have the 70-200 instead, and if I can ever manage to focus it, I'm sure it'll produce good results.

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luigis

luigis

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Congrats on the Astrotrac, is a great piece of gear!

The 24 is the way to start.

The other 3 lenses are not good performers at night. If you plan to do mainly night time photography then try to change them if possible.

The Tokina 11-16 F2.8 is expensive but will give you amazing ultra wide views of the sky and the auroras. I'd sell all the lenses you have and try to get it if I were you.

Good luck!

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Astroscot2

Astroscot2

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Also take into concideration medium format lenses, you can pick up Mamiya 645 and Pentax 6x7 lenses that dont break the bank. You get nice flat fields as they are designed to cover large pieces of film much greater than your DSLR chip. you can also use them fully open.

I curerntly have 150mm F2.8 & 55mm F2.8 Mamiya lenses and also a Sigma 10mm F2.8 fisheye. all record sharp tight stars..

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iwatkins

iwatkins

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Sigma 30mm f1.4 is a cracker stopped down by a stop.

Another vote for the Canon 200L.

If you want really wide. The Samyang 8mm f3.5. Great fun day or night.

As an aside, on Star Gazing Live they showed the Super WASP telescope. Looked like eight Canon 600mm f2.8 L series. Kerching.

Cheers

Ian

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Question for Olly...

Thanks for the link, lots of great info! :) What do you think of the e-books the guy is pushing? Worth the money?

Cheers

Mark

I don't know them I'm afraid. To be brutally honest I don't always think that much of his pictures but I do use his HDR layer masking technique as it appears on his website. If the rest of the explanations and techniques are as good as that then you'd have a bargain.

Focus; if you are not using an in-camera focus aid then I reckon you need one of these from Telescope Service...

1214524930_Zdrrm-L.jpg

The depth of field is in microns and when you get the focus right the images really sing. If you don't... it really shows.

Olly

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