Astro photography with DSLR only, which lens?

[emadmoussa]

I am curious as to which best suited Canon lens for astro photography. I am not talking telefoto lenses that cost a zillion quid wide field celestial photography that I saw was breath-taking, hence the curious question.

[Ohmless]

this one is known as the nifty fifty and I have seen many nice captures made with it from my observing buddy.

http://www.adorama.com/CA5018AFU.html?gclid=CMXGtamaqrYCFe8WMgod4U8AUA

[Psychobilly]

I am curious as to which best suited Canon lens for astro photography. I am not talking telefoto lenses that cost a zillion quid wide field celestial photography that I saw was breath-taking, hence the curious

You wont go far wrong with the EF 50/1.8 mk II the "Nifty 50" Stopped down to aroud f4 its a cracker...

Even with a growing list of exotic L's there's still room in my bag for one of them...

Although you might be thinking of something a bit wider perhaps?

There's a couple of shots I took with mine here...

Peter...

Sent from my GT-P7300 using Tapatalk HD

[skywatcher58gb]

Amazon are selling the nifty 50 for £85, however you might pick one up on fleabay for about £60-£65.

Dave

[emadmoussa]

Nifty 50 it is, good news.., I happen to have this lens. Never tried it for asto photography. Incredibly clear tonight, but unfortunately can't be bothered spending 30 minutes setting up the gear while I have a long day at work tomorrow. That's a shame, was hoping for some Panstarrs imagery...but what the hell! There will be more stuff to look forward to seeing in the future. It seems with Summer knocking the doors the hobby will have to rest for a bit

[skywatcher58gb]

PS - This is a superb portrait lens into the bargain.

Dave

[Rosencratz]

I use a Nikon myself but if you intend to get a nifty-fifty, mostly any 50mm lens is one, I wouldn't bother paying for auto-focus. I always thought the "nifty-fifty" term was used specifically when referring to the easily acquired-for-cheap 50mm lenses that exist on ebay and such from back in the days when (practically) all cameras were sold with a 50mm on the body, going back to the ol' days when you had rolls of film andnever knew if the shot worked until you got home..

The upside is you get a cheap lens with a very wide aperture, the downside being that they're manual focus only, personally though, I found the manual focus only to be a boon to my photography skills as time went by.You quickly learn to focus faster than the AF would have with different results.

When shooting the stars you've got to go full manual anyway so the auto-focus is a bit wasted.

A cursory glance at ebay is showing manual 50mm f/1.8 lenses for canon going for about £30

I don't know if Canon remained consistent with their lens-fixture mounts over the years or not but some small research should identify whether it'll fit your camera.

If you can afford a wider angle lens with a similar or better aperture go for it but otherwise a nifty-fifty is a reliable way to get a decent aperture for a justifiable amount.