Lens for astro AND terrestrial

[D33P]

Hi everyone,

My wife's work is doing workshops for staff and she has signed up for one on photography.

Rather than taking our compact (Canon G7x), I thought it would be better for her to learn her way around an SLR.

I have a 450D that I use for astro (unmodded) but I have no lenses. Is there any lenses that would be suitable for both terrestrial and astro?

I'm not looking to spend a fortune as she may not catch the shutter-bug and I'm not sure how much I would use it for astro (although wide field is quite appealing).

I'm thinking something like a used 18-200 f/3.5-6.3 might be suitable, what do you think?

 

Many thanks

[Knight of Clear Skies]

The 18-200 zoom would be a decent lens for daylight photography and very flexible, although it will struggle a bit in low-light conditions, especially a non IS version. However, I wouldn't really recommend it for AP, it will require stopping down a fair bit to reduce coma and it's a little slow to begin with. However, the good news is there are plenty of good budget options.

Kit lens shot at 18mm/f5.0, 20 minutes total exposure.

1960s vintage 135mm f3.5 Super-Takumar lens wide open, which cost me £18 off eBay. 30 minutes total exposure time. Viewed full size there is some coma apparent but considerably less than I got from my slower 50-250mm zoom lens.

I put together a quick guide to budget lenses for AP that you might find useful. In your shoes I'd consider picking up a kit lens for the photography course and an old prime or two for AP, which might work out cheaper than the in-demand 18-200. Hope that's some help.

[D33P]

Blimey, those shots on your site are stunning!

I'm going to take your advise and pick up an 18-55 kit lens just to get her going, and see where she goes from there.

I wasn't really interested in any lenses for myself, but your shots are frankly inspirational. Definitely will be on the look out for some older fast primes now.

Thank you for your reply, you have saved me some money...... on second thought, maybe not 

[wxsatuser]

The Canon kit at 18mm is surprising good and not many know that.

 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Glad I could help.

17 hours ago, D33P said:

Thank you for your reply, you have saved me some money...... on second thought, maybe not 

Yes, I bought my vintage lenses carefully and cheaply, but I seem to have amassed quite a collection.

[D33P]

I have just ordered an 18-55 stm for £59, with a years warranty too. I think that is quite reasonable.

I plan to astro mod my 450d at some point. And now that I have a lens I can see another camera in our future, even if the other half doesn't take to a dslr.

I enjoy 'normal' photography and purchased the G7x as it has dslr like quality, excellent point and shoot mode, and is nice and small and therefore more likely to get taken on outings. 

Now I have a reason (or do I mean excuse?!) to splash out on an all singing and dancing body ?

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Sounds good. The STM is noticeably better than the earlier kit lenses and also focusses silently, which makes it more suitable for shooting video as well. I'd probably use it at about f5 for AP, although that will compromise the star shapes in the corners slightly, whereas the older kit lenses I might use f5.6 - a useful increase in light gathering ability.

One thing to bear in mind if you do mod your camera is that the sensor will need to be re-shimmed to retain infinity focus with camera lenses. I had my 1100D modified by Cheap Astrophotography who took care of this for me.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Sounds good. The STM is noticeably better than the earlier kit lenses and also focusses silently, which makes it more suitable for shooting video as well. I'd probably use it at about f5 for AP, although that will compromise the star shapes in the corners slightly, whereas the older kit lenses I might use f5.6 - a useful increase in light gathering ability.

One thing to bear in mind if you do mod your camera is that the sensor will need to be re-shimmed to retain infinity focus with camera lenses. I had my 1100D modified by Cheap Astrophotography who took care of this for me.

On 10/05/2016 at 04:58, wxsatuser said:

The Canon kit at 18mm is surprising good and not many know that.

Yes, they are decent all-round lenses, by far my most used for daylight photography. In general I think the potential for lens imaging is often overlooked.