Brand new at astro photgraphy need help!

[tyler16123]

Hello, I'm trying to get started with astrophotography and have some basic questions I'd like answered if possible.  First my equipment so far is a Canon Rebel Eos t5 with a Rokinon 14mm F2.8 lens. I have a tripod coming and am probably going to invest in a star adventurer 2i pro pack or the mini version. I'm just curious what settings i should set my camera too with this lens. I have a vague understanding of the 500 rule I just wanted some second opinions and to make sure I don't miss any other settings that need to be adjusted. Also, any easy "target" ideas to start practicing on would be great! thank you!

[900SL]

YouTube is full of very useful tutorials for the budding astrophotographer. Peter Zelinka, Lonely Speck, Mike Sprill spring to mind

[Elp]

I don't think you have to be too technical about settings, as with any photography you set iso and shutter speed accordingly. For astro (stars) i generally don't go above iso 1600 (moon or solar (with the correct filter image train) are much shorter sub second exposures), your shutter speed will depend on what you're imaging and how good your polar alignment is which is way more important when photographing the stars.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Elp

[Astro Waves]

Personally I'd say go for the Star Adventurer Pro 2i, if you end up wanting to get into doing some deep sky imaging which I think may happen once you realise how awesome it is to shoot space I don't think the mini would be able to handle the weight of a larger 135/200mm lens.

In terms or targets 14mm is pretty wide, you could just point it at the sky in general and get some interesting shots to practice with but something like Barnard's loop would be a good one thats very much coming into full view soon.

[michael8554]

You might need to stop down the aperture to get best results, read up on it's use for Astro imaging.

Michael

[woldsman]

That is a great lens to image the winter Milky Way with.  Sky at Night magazine this month have a feature on the MW that it would be interesting to read. As well as a tripod, you will need a remote shutter / intervalometer. I have the lens and it is sharp at f2.8 but you can also try f4. For the camera you have, ISO 800 is reported to be optimal (there is a noise /iso trade-off). The lens is so light you could just buy a Omegon clockwork tracker but you will doubtless want to buy some heavier lenses in due course so a staradventurer pro is well worth considering. But you can actually get away with just a tripod for Milky Way shots with a 14mm - rule of 500 gives you up to 35 seconds which is huge. To help align the target, a red dot finder would also be useful which you can mount on the flash shoe.

[woldsman]

PS I forgot to add that to help with “white t-shirt” flat frames, I bought a filter holder which attaches to the tulip  lens cover. If you take flats, darks and bias frames to go with your lights you can process using Siril which is a very friendly and free piece of software. I started using deep sky stacker and GIMP which are a lot more frustrating for newbies.