Canon kit lens

[Anthonyexmouth]

Am I expecting too much from this lens. When I zoom in on an image the sharpest focus I can get is something that looks like roundish bubbles, not the totally out of focus halo kinda thing. All looks okish when viewed on the laptop screen just can't yet pinpoint stars when zoomed. Should I be stopping down further than 5.6-6.3? Focus ring has no limits and wish is was slightly stiffer

[MarsG76]

Sounds like you're not hitting focus spot on.. but stopping down to f5ish will help... try focusing through a Bahnitov mask.

[Anthonyexmouth]

Already at f5-f6 to try and get it sharper. Would like to get a prime to try but already spent too much this month and saving for an ed72 and possibly a new heq5 or bigger. I'll upload a pic after lunch. 

[RolandKol]

2 hours ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

Already at f5-f6 to try and get it sharper. Would like to get a prime to try but already spent too much this month and saving for an ed72 and possibly a new heq5 or bigger. I'll upload a pic after lunch. 

Just my 2 cents... 
Kit Lens does not collect enough light to use Bahtinov as in Live View even Vega is very dim, daytime focusing is probably a better choice
or dark skies and something brighter than Vega is needed, someone does on Jupiter or Venus.

Yesterday, I also tried my Canon 1300D kit lens for the first time, on Cygnus, not so bad - did my focus on Vega using APT live view @F5, spent 30sec only as it was just a test if my piggyback setup is going to work and will get guided properly. 

(I managed to see Vega on APT live view only once in Focus... small turn to any direction and it disappeared, - it was kinda handy  )

I have not done flats yet, will do today after work.

Stars are more or less ok in the centre, however, they suffer from a huge coma in the corners and brighter stars do not look nice at all.... Unfortunately, I guess, I left full ZOOM ater focusing  maybe not, not sure...

 

P.S.
ED72 + Reducer/Flattener ££££> Samyang 135mm F2.0 lens 
I would go for Samyang  
If my piggyback setup will not fall apart, - Samyang 135mm is my next toy
 

[happy-kat]

Practice some more. F5.6 should be fine with kit lens. Set iso at 3200 when you get focus the very faint stars will wink on. Then turn iso back to what ever you were going to use say iso800.

I got the tip from another member. I use my android tablet to help I use dslr controller.

[Anthonyexmouth]

its the focus ring that annoys me the most, having no limits and being quite loose makes it hard to lock in, i tried a thick elastic band around it to give it a bit of friction but just made it bouncy.

[happy-kat]

Also this is best star position to focus on where a corner intersect. It spreads focus.

 

[happy-kat]

Go to max on focusing ring then wind it back a smidge. That is often about where infinity is.

[Anthonyexmouth]

on the kit lens theres no limits on the focus ring, it just spins. 

[happy-kat]

The canon kit lens is not fly by wire (term used for electronic focus mechanism) and is a manual focus mechanism even when used automatically.

And has a natural stop at each focus end.

[Anthonyexmouth]

my 18-55 is. certainly not mechanical focus

[happy-kat]

Have you a link to what you bought please?

[Anthonyexmouth]

https://www.canon.co.uk/lenses/ef-s-18-55mm-f-3-5-5-6-is-stm-lens/

[RolandKol]

11 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

https://www.canon.co.uk/lenses/ef-s-18-55mm-f-3-5-5-6-is-stm-lens/

This is what my Canon 1300D has and it has the stop at the end of the Focus...

[happy-kat]

Thanks that helped. You have the STM flavour so has fly by wire focusing. As far as I can gather the lens bought separate is not as basic as the 18-55 in a canon bundle. I assumed you bought a kit lens second hand.

[Anthonyexmouth]

1 minute ago, RolandKol said:

This is what my Canon 1300D has and it has the stop at the end of the Focus...

not the same one then. the zoom stops but the focus spins freely

[RolandKol]

It looks the same... However, I am not sure if mine is with STM  - I doubt.. I bought the cheapest option as I was not planning to use lense in AP.

[Anthonyexmouth]

9 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Thanks that helped. You have the STM flavour so has fly by wire focusing. As far as I can gather the lens bought separate is not as basic as the 18-55 in a canon bundle. I assumed you bought a kit lens second hand.

yeah, bought it from Wex at the same time i got the 760d. was an open box lens and worked out cheaper than buying the bundle 

[Atreta]

15 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

not the same one then. the zoom stops but the focus spins freely

I hate that the focus ring spins freely on my t5i kit lens too, with the t3i kit lens this doesn't happen, it has a stop at both ends and it's much more stiff. 

[Anthonyexmouth]

if it was a little stiffer it might be ok but its really free spinning. i should put my hand in my pocket and buy a decent prime lens but craving a goto mount so it'll have to wait. 

[happy-kat]

I have two fly by wire lenses and using the tip I mentioned can get focus sorted.

Fly by wire is not stiff as you are effectively stimulating the stepper motor to adjust focus so it's not a manual feel at all and my two lenses mentioned are primes

 

[Buzzard75]

I have the IS II version of this lens. It has the focus stops at either end. Wonder why they left it out on the STM version. It's what I used to take my Milky Way photo that's in the challenge gallery. It's certainly not as good as a more professional, higher quality lens, but it's not terrible. I use the FWHM feature of BackyardEOS to focus on a brighter star and then move to my target. I believe APT has a similar feature. It's better and easier to use than the live view on the camera LCD.

[Atreta]

2 minutes ago, Buzzard75 said:

. I believe APT has a similar feature. It's better and easier to use than the live view on the camera LCD.

Last time i used that lens i went for the autofocus tool in apt, but used it as a kind of manual control using the focus buttons instead of the auto( my license expired anyway). The fine focusing buttons worked great. 

[Anthonyexmouth]

well, i've purchased the full version so will give the focus control a go on APT

[Anthonyexmouth]

ok, heres a pic ive just taken using the focus controls in APT. this is the best i can get it. still look off to me, am i asking to much or am i still getting the focus wrong?

 

Thoughts