Photos with DSLR

[stedavey123]

Could anyone recommend or suggest a lens for nebular and deep space ? i have a Nikon d3300 and would like a lens for good quality photos however i wouldn't like a bank loan

[Bobby1970]

Have you considered an old M42 fit lens??

Pleanty on ebay for peanuts. I have an old Pentacon 200mm F4 thing that i got for about £20 and have used with my Sony A57 on the Star Adventurer mount.

 

 

[stedavey123]

no and im not going to lie i dont even know what a m42 lens is lmfao !!!!!! haha anything you could tell me about what it is or what it will do for me lol

[Bobby1970]

M42 fit lenses are from the old film SLR cameras, you can get adaptors to use them on a modern DSLR cameras. They can only be used manually though, your camera will not be able to sort out aperture, shutter or any other settings, including focusing.

Some lenses from this era are better than others, but for the price i found it a good option to experiment with.

 

 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Unfortunately M42 lenses won't reach infinity focus on a Nikon body.

[Bobby1970]

1 minute ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Unfortunately M42 lenses won't reach infinity focus on a Nikon body.

Oh dear

 

[Bobby1970]

Apparently you can get adaptors which do allow the lens to focus on Nikon, they have an extra piece of glass to ensure that focus is achieved.

Not sure how much the adaptor for Nikon is. Never had any issues with my Sony.

 

 

[Tinker1947]

Do you have a EQ mount for tracking, a Long'ish focal length will mean long exposure times.....???

[Bobby1970]

I found this site quite interesting:-

http://www.budgetastro.net/

[Davey-T]

Plenty of Nikon fit Sigmas on EB, mostly zooms.

Dave

[stedavey123]

1 hour ago, Tinker1947 said:

Do you have a EQ mount for tracking, a Long'ish focal length will mean long exposure times.....???

i have a alt az mount at the moment i am looking into an eq mount very soon my telescope fl is 1500mm and my digital camera is 18mm-55mm hence the upgrade need for camera 

[happy-kat]

I would get the skywatcher l-bracket £19.90 from FLO and attach the camera straight to the mount assuming it uses a dove bar and have fun with the kit lens to get going with whilst you decide where you are going and what kit you might buy. There is lots to learn on the processing side.

[stedavey123]

2 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

I would get the skywatcher l-bracket £19.90 from FLO and attach the camera straight to the mount assuming it uses a dove bar and have fun with the kit lens to get going with whilst you decide where you are going and what kit you might buy. There is lots to learn on the processing side.

i think your right i think im going to buy the bracket and take photos with the lens i have and learn the program side of things  how ever i am still none the wiser of what kind of lens i should be looking around for .... is it a telephoto lens im looking for or is it a zoom lens ? either way there probably the same thing But do i got for a high mm lik 150mm or 200mm or less ? any help is always welcomed to a newbie like myself

[happy-kat]

Primes all the way I think. Ideally with a manual focus not fly by wire.

Whether wide angle or long is a personal choice with what you are going to image as it effects FOV. I've got a 50, 85 and 135mm lens.

[wxsatuser]

200mm is a reasonable focal length for a lot of nebs.
Quite a few of my images were done with a Sigma 105mm macro lens.

[stedavey123]

OK guys as i am a very inpatient person i have been out today and bought a SIGMA 70-300mm macro lens. what do you guys think to this ? hoping i have made a wise choice on this one  

[Davey-T]

That's good, you'll be able to zoom in and out and see which targets suit with apertures, be careful the zoom doesn't creep when aimed at the sky.

Dave

[happy-kat]

Though if you have back button focus capability on a Nikon and turn it on and once focused switch to AF the focus in theory should hold and not go randomly off to refocus or slip.

[stedavey123]

18 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Though if you have back button focus capability on a Nikon and turn it on and once focused switch to AF the focus in theory should hold and not go randomly off to refocus or slip.

that just blew my mind away ??? lmfao i am just going to use manual focus ? 

[happy-kat]

Yes but see post by Dave lens can slip. Use manual and see if it hold if it does job done.

[abhoriel]

M42 lenses won't achieve infinity focus on a Nikon SLR. You can can get adaptors with lenses in them, which will allow you to achieve infinity focus, but they are generally of poor quality and reduce image quality.

Don't worry though. I use a Nikon DSLR (Nikon D5100).

I use a few lenses:

• Tamron adaptall 500mm f8 lens with a Nikon adaptor (I got this on ebay for about £50, but it usually sells for a little more)
• Nikon 200mm f4 prime lens (this is a very old lens, I got it on ebay for about £30)
• For wild field shots: Nikon 50mm f1.8 prime (ebay ~£90), Sigma 24mm f2.8 prime

You're going to need some kind of tracker to avoid star trailing though.

[wxsatuser]

11 hours ago, stedavey123 said:

OK guys as i am a very inpatient person i have been out today and bought a SIGMA 70-300mm macro lens. what do you guys think to this ? hoping i have made a wise choice on this one  

Sigma lenses normally have a nice stickiness to the focus ring and don't tend to creep, so should be ok.

[Astrosurf]

Have you thought about the SW Star Adventurer mount for DSLR and lens? It can be mounted on a sturdy tripod. http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-star-adventurer/skywatcher-star-adventurer-astronomy-bundle.html It will also hold a small refractor, if you want to get one later. It's much cheaper than going for the entry EQ mount for AP (astrophotography): the SW HEQ5 Pro or equivalent. But that depends on if you want to do AP with a larger scope, then the HEQ5 or EQ6 are best.

Your long focal length scope is best for planetary and lunar, I'd say.

Alexxx