Advice please on Canon lens

[carastro]

Thanks Gina and Michael.  All copied into my useful info folder.

Michael what sort of battery pack do you take for the dew heater?  Bearing in mind  for holidays abroad it can't be too heavy.

Carole 

[michaelmorris]

I take a large 14ah pack, so not at all suitable for abroad.  Mind you, if your in warmer climes dew may not be such a issue.

[lensman57]

A quality zoom lens will also have a much better manual focus ring and will work fine for astrophotography (I use a quite nice Sigma IF EX DG HSM F/2.8 24-70 mm) but you will have to pay a premium for the added flexibility. In the focal length range of around 35-70mm a prime lenses can be both cheap, fast and good. If you want a good ultra wide lens or a long focal length lens you only get to choose two out of three...

Yes, but if electrical power (or cost, a dew band, controller and battery is a non-trivial cost) is hard to find a chemical hand warmer or two (available at outdoors stores) fixed with a couple of stout rubber bands can work just as well.

The best advice I can give you is to practise. Practice using our camera and lens, learn its features and characteristics. Then do the same in the dark, it will be much harder. If you have little experience with telescope mounts get the Astrotrac (or similar) well in advance of the trip and learn to set it up. Again start indoors in good lighting and then move out and do the same in the dark. Practice until you are confident.

A good astrophoto book is a life saver, it will teach you things you don't even know you should ask about. If there is a local astronomy club nearby that is even better, there is no substitute to face-to-face discussions or hands on help.

Me and a couple of friends went to Tenerife. The main purpose was to observe with a airportable 38 sm Dobson but we had some tripods a Astrotrac so we made this

video:

Lovely video, almost as good as the track.

Regards,

Ali

[gary1968]

I like the idea of controlling the camera from a tablet. ...

[happy-kat]

Thanks Michael I'll try that AF lock trick when I next use my 1100d with my nexus 7 though I can't get the remote release to work if the tablet is plugged in as well so I was using DSLR controller functions instead.

(Also use my tablet with a webcam in the telescope)