New Canon Lens?

[WilliamAstro]

Just gotten a Canon EOS 350D and found out it is too old on my laptop... So I wanted to use it for lunar imaging instead!

I just want to see what lens I can afford from 30-60 pounds that can see the Moon's craters.

And small affordable lenses for capturing planetary conjunctions and milky way or etc.

Edited May 8, 2020 by WilliamAstro

[JamesF]

My recollection is that the 350D doesn't have remote operation of the shutter over the USB port and requires an extra cable, but if you can find older releases of Canon's driver code (posting a specific request somewhere here might help) you may find that it will work with your laptop -- the problem is, as far as I recall, that Canon dropped support for some older cameras from their current software.  For precisely that reason I have a copy of the drivers that support my 450D tucked away just in case Canon decide they're going to drop support for that as well...

An alternative might be to look at using an intervalometer to control the camera.  I don't know what's available for the 350D or how it works, but the one I bought for my 450D was not at all expensive from Amazon or Ebay.

If you want to capture individual groups of craters on the Moon you're going to need some serious focal length.  I have used a Skywatcher 127 Mak with my 450 for capturing full disc images of the Moon at 1500mm focal length and they cover almost the entire sensor.  You can have some fun with the stock 18-55mm lens for wide field images or star trails.  It's not the greatest lens in the world by a long shot, but there are things you can do to help avoid the worst of the distortion.  The Canon "nifty-fifty" 50mm f/1.8 is also a good lens for wide field work.  You might also be able to find old 200mm screw-fit lenses on Ebay that can be used with a suitable converter.  I'm no expert on these though, so I'm not sure which the good ones are.  A 200mm focal length lens should get a nicely-framed image of the Andromeda Galaxy.

Just as an example of how things might fit in the frame, this is an image of the Moon taken with my 450D and 127 Mak.  It's been cropped to square, but the image does take up almost the entire height of the frame.

And these are a couple taken seven or eight years back of M31 and friends, and the Cygnus region of the Milky Way, both with the stock 18-55mm lens.

(There's a bit of amp glow at the top of the last one.)

James

[DaveS]

If you're looking for a lens for AP to fit Canon, then I would forget Canon's own offerings and look for a second hand M42 / AKA "Pentax / Praktica" screw thread lens and an adaptor, both of which can be picked up for, if not quite peanuts, then not far off.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

On 09/05/2020 at 11:45, DaveS said:

If you're looking for a lens for AP to fit Canon, then I would forget Canon's own offerings and look for a second hand M42 / AKA "Pentax / Praktica" screw thread lens and an adaptor, both of which can be picked up for, if not quite peanuts, then not far off.

This could be the way to go. I was lucky enough to pick up a Prinzgalaxy 400mm f6.3 M42 lens for £10 and got this with it. On the other hand, focusing could be tricky on a 350D without liveview. Have you considered a second hand zoom lens? MPB Photographic are well thought of and have a large stock.

I put together a bit of a guide for using old M42 lenses for AP that you might find useful.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Knight of Clear Skies