Quick LSR lens question

[ubertank]

I will be buying an SLR in the coming weeks. I'm not decided yet between a 1000, a 1100, a 350D or a 450D. I haven't read anywhere enoughr eviews to make the right choice yet.

Most of these generally come with an 18-55mm lens. What sort of lens will I need to be able to get decent Milky Way images with just this and a tripod (I only have a 200p dob at the moment so DSO photography isn't going to be possible).

I'm presuming that for lunar stuff I will be fine attaching the camera to my 200P?

Thanks in advance.

[Williams]

Hey buddy, Im a newbee, but I can recommend the 1100d if your looking to save money. The signal to noise ratio is pretty good for the money and it attaches to my 200p with a T-ring. I haven't looked whats new on the market for sometime, so im sure one of the pro's can point you in the right direction

[GlassWalker]

If you want a wide angle shot of the milky way, the 18-55 will do for starters. You can get better, but the prices start going up rapidly from there.

Without looking up the 200P specs, generally for the moon you need a fair bit of focal length. 1000mm+ to get the moon to fit without cropping, and even more if you want to try for surface detail.

[ollypenrice]

For the MW you need wide, as above. The Nfty Fifty is a classic lens, much loved by widefield astronomers.

Olly

[Davey-T]

The 18-55 lense got generally rubbished by photo mag reviewers but bear in mind they think of mainly daytime photography.

One thing if you're in a light polluted area you can't fit a clip in filter with the 18-55 , so you'll have to learn a bit of image processing to remove the orange glow

As for cameras anything 450d and on will do, the less you spend the more money you'll have left for other stuff.

Dave

[JamesF]

The 18-55 lense got generally rubbished by photo mag reviewers but bear in mind they think of mainly daytime photography.

One thing if you're in a light polluted area you can't fit a clip in filter with the 18-55 , so you'll have to learn a bit of image processing to remove the orange glow

As for cameras anything 450d and on will do, the less you spend the more money you'll have left for other stuff.

Dave

You could always fit an LP filter on the lens filter ring though. Get a suitable step-down ring and a standard 2" filter will fit.

If a 350D is all that fits your budget then I guess that's the one to go for, but Live View will make life much more pleasant. Personally I'd go for either the 450D or the 1100D. If you get in quick the £30 cashback offer (or however much it was) might still apply, too.

Here's an example of a wide field Milky Way image with the kit lens (only my second ever):

http://www.tanstaafl.co.uk/2012/08/another-attempt-at-a-cygnus-widefield-image/

And since someone mentioned the nifty-fifty, here's one with that, too:

http://www.tanstaafl.co.uk/2012/11/cassiopeia-wide-field/

I'd hardly describe myself as skilled at these, but hopefully they'll give you an idea of what's possible.

James

[GlassWalker]

There's two families of 18-55 lens, with or without IS. The one with IS is considered to be quite good, the one without less so. The mk version doesn't matter as that tends to reflect cosmetic and build changes.

To clarify further, 18mm would give a very wide angle. Great if you want to get a lot of sky in one go. Around 50mm as mentioned by Olly is a smaller area than that. It would be enough to cover the main body of Orion for example.

[Adamar98]

The nifty 50 is a cracking little lens. Youll get the 1.8 mkII for about £80. And you can use a clip filter with it.

[nytecam]

The 18-55 lense got generally rubbished by photo mag reviewers but bear in mind they think of mainly daytime photography.

One thing if you're in a light polluted area you can't fit a clip in filter with the 18-55 , so you'll have to learn a bit of image processing to remove the orange glow

As for cameras anything 450d and on will do, the less you spend the more money you'll have left for other stuff. Dave

Yep - the 18-55 on my old 300D was unimpressive but the 18-55 [non-IS] on my new 1100D is very sharp @ 55 and impressively so. Tested a whole series of older full frame Pentax screw lenses via M42/EOS adapter including Zenith 85 [coma at edge] Vivitar 100-200 zoom [excellent] etc so 18-55 ok if slow.

BTW : 1100D in Curry Digital shop yesterday @ £263 incl Canon £30 cashback eg £10 less than I paid in Jessops in Oct last !!

[PorkyB]

I have just bought an 1100D and my first effort with it is here - Hyades and Jupiter. Taken using the cheaper 18-55mm lens at 55mm. 10x10 seconds + darks at ISO 800 on a static tripod (EQ mount adaptor hasn't arrived yet). Stacked with DSS and very minimal tweaking in GIMP.

[JamesF]

I have just bought an 1100D and my first effort with it is here - Hyades and Jupiter. Taken using the cheaper 18-55mm lens at 55mm. 10x10 seconds + darks at ISO 800 on a static tripod (EQ mount adaptor hasn't arrived yet). Stacked with DSS and very minimal tweaking in GIMP.

I'd have thought there'd be more in that if you stretched the histogram a bit (I assume you're working with the TIFF files and just converting it to JPEG to post here?).

James

[PorkyB]

I'd have thought there'd be more in that if you stretched the histogram a bit (I assume you're working with the TIFF files and just converting it to JPEG to post here?).

If only I knew what that meant.

Like I said, this was my first attempt. The main thing I have learned about image processing, so far, is that there is a whole lot that I don't know

Yes, I am working with TIFF files, the camera is set to RAW only. Can anyone suggest any resources to help me learn what GIMP can do?

[JamesF]

There are some tutorials, but I can't find them at the moment. However...

When you save your image in DSS, save it without the transformations applied and then load that image in GIMP. Go to "Colours->Levels" and you should get a window with a graph in it. Underneath the graph are three triangular markers at the left end, middle and right end. Grab the middle one and move it to the left about halfway (but no further than the right hand edge of the graph data). The image should start to show up data that wasn't initially visible. Accept the change and perhaps repeat it a few times to see what you get.

James

[PorkyB]

I'll have a go, thanks.

Back to the original topic, I am impressed so far with the 1100D and the cheap lens (the camera with this lens is only £13 more than the body only). The lens seems a bit cheaply built, but it will certainly do for non-astro use and will be good enough for astro until I get something better, like the 50mm f1.8.