Lens for DSLR astrophotography

[Night Hawk]

Hi,

I was just wondering on what the best second hand lens would be for astrophotography? I currently use canon 100d unmodified with the kit efs18-55mm lens, on a tripod. The budget is as cheap as possible as I'm saving up for a SW Star Adventurer. Basically I just want to have a bit of fun and not take things to seriously but be able to take deeper/longer subs once I get the SW adventurer.

I've done a bit of research on tamron 70-300mm and the canon ef 70-300m and they seem to be comparable.

What about the canon efs 55-250mm? I've read the efs sit closer inside the camera which gives a slightly better image. 

Any ideas on what the best purchase would be? are there better lenses to look at?

Any pointers would be great as my tech knowledge is limited. Ideally I want a lens I can slot straight in without having to add adapters etc. I'm a plug and play sort of person 

Many thanks

[matt-c]

I know you said you don't want adapters but m42 super takumars are amazing for the price if you change your mind.

Other than that I'd try and avoid zooms they tend to produce poorer images compared to primes but you also pay for it.

Alot of people on here go with the m42s,once you've got the adapter it's no different than attaching a lens.

[Tinker1947]

A Prime lens will be a better lens, i use a Canon 100mm F2 stopped down to F2.8 give a fast shutter speed and round star edge to edge, zoom lens will be soft not something you want in a astro image....

[happy-kat]

Don't see a problem with adaptors.

I have several m42 lenses, each one sits with a £8 eos to m42 on it all the time.

I just swap the lenses around on my 1100d as I need I don't even notice which have adaptors as they all fit the same on the camera. It is only a faff if you don't have an adaptor on each lens then you have to faff and swap it around if you have more than one m42 lens sharing one adaptor.

[Night Hawk]

Thank you for your feedback. I never thought of just a prime lens! I'll keep my eye out for either a super takumar or a canon prime lens. I guess I would just need to buy an m42 adapter to attach this lens to the canon?

[matt-c]

Yeah that's all you need, just make sure that it states it can focus to infinity.

I can't recommend the takumars enough someone who does them credit is a guy on here called knight of clear skies If you have time check out some of his pictures.

Good on the wallet aswell so you can be up and tracking.

[RichM63]

If you look at my signature you will see that I have pretty much all the zoom lenses that you initially listed #1, but I would not use any of them for Astro' work unless I was forced to. The only zooms I have that I would consider are the 70-200 f4 L and the Tamron 200-500 all costing many £100s more than the great Ashai Pentax Takumars. (and even then).

Using fully manual old prime lenses is a sound idea as you will be in Manual mode any way.

For matt-c, I agree, but....this one is a beast.   http://www.ebay.fr/itm/XXL-M42-Asahi-Pentax-Super-Multi-Coated-Takumar-4-5-500mm-4-5-500-/151917135308?hash=item235ef785cc:g:mXEAAOSwnipWUFT8

Cheers,

Rich

[matt-c]

If you look at my signature you will see that I have pretty much all the zoom lenses that you initially listed #1, but I would not use any of them for Astro' work unless I was forced to. The only zooms I have that I would consider are the 70-200 f4 L and the Tamron 200-500 all costing many £100s more than the great Ashai Pentax Takumars. (and even then).

Using fully manual old prime lenses is a sound idea as you will be in Manual mode any way.

For matt-c, I agree, but....this one is a beast. http://www.ebay.fr/itm/XXL-M42-Asahi-Pentax-Super-Multi-Coated-Takumar-4-5-500mm-4-5-500-/151917135308?hash=item235ef785cc:g:mXEAAOSwnipWUFT8

Cheers,

Rich

:o

Nice find!!