Newbie from Pembrokeshire (SW Wales) Dark Sky Area

[John Wick]

Hi

Been interested in astrophotography for sometime, recently decided to show more of a practical interest...given the location i live in, offering dark sky locations on my doorstep.

I was initially impressed by how good stacked images are taken with my current phone a Note 20 Ultra.

I have done a fair amount of research and have narrowed my search to look to purchase a modified 800D, seem to be good value 2nd hand, as for a lens, current favourite is the Samyang 14mm f2.8. I also own a tripod that can function for camera and as it turned out my phone.

I do possess Lightroom and the whole Adobe suite already.

Would my choices of equipment seem like a good beginners choice?

[banjaxed]

Hi John, welcome to SGL.

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

[barbulo]

Hi and welcome to SGL. 
IMHO your gear is a good starting point. If you want to take longer exposures you would need a star tracker or an equatorial mount. Though with your short FL you can skip this for the moment. 

[Starwatcher2001]

Welcome aboard SGL. Good to have you with us.

I once took a holiday in Pembrokeshire and the skies were amazing. Far too good to ignore. Good luck on your astrophotography journey.

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL 

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi John, welcome. 

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire 🙂

[John Wick]

Thanks everyone, if i wanted to take images of Nebula (Orion etc), Andromeda etc would my lens be suitable, or would i be better of also buying a nifty fifty?

Milky Way will be my first starting point.

I assume stacking is preferred with any lens?

[scotty38]

It could be done of course, exposure length permitting, but you'd probably need something a bit longer. Just for comparison below is the view of Orion you'd have with your 14mm and the green bit in the middle would be the view I'd get with my GT81 at 382mm which is not a "long" scope by any means but you see what I mean.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by scotty38

[John Wick]

So, nebula photos are a whole different 'ball game' in terms of equipment purchasing?

 

What about something like Andromeda?

 

[Richard_]

Welcome, from another Welshie! 

You can use the website below to help frame your targets. Go to the "imaging mode" tab and choose your equipment from the dropdown menus. If they're not listed, you can leave telescope or camera on "custom" and just type in the information. 

https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

I find it really helps in figuring out what combination of cameras and lenses/telescopes best frame a given target!

Also read up on the "rule of 500". In a nutshell, you divide 500 by the focal length of the lens/telescope which gives you a ballpark figure of the maximum exposure time needed before seeing star trails if you're not using a star tracker. For a 14mm lens, this is 35 seconds whilst a 250mm lens yields 2 seconds. This rule is not absolute, but gives you a general idea of how far you could go. 

Finally, I'd tell you to be careful. This time last year I was in the same situation as you and now I'm hooked on this hobby!! Thin edge of the wedge 😁

[scotty38]

18 hours ago, John Wick said:

So, nebula photos are a whole different 'ball game' in terms of equipment purchasing?

 

What about something like Andromeda?

 

It's just the size of the objects really. As above have a look at the astronomy tools site, it's where I got my examples to show you.

The 14mm is really for very wide views of the sky, the Milky Way as mentioned. If you want to stay with camera lenses have a look at what can be done with 135mm, the Samyang being the favourite at the minute. There's a whole thread dedicated to its use and some amazing images.

[Peterson]

Welcome to SLG

[Pitch Black Skies]

Welcome to SGL.

Sounds like a good set up to begin with.

I had an 800D unmodified and found it very good.

The tripod and short focal length lenses would be great for wide field shots, especially of the Milky Way and constellations. Longer focal length lenses will be more restricted due to more noticeable star trailing.

A star tracker would be a great addition, and maybe an intervalometer if you haven't already gotten one.

HTH

Enjoy!

[Geordie mc]

Welcome to the group. You've certainly got some great skies there in Wales if it stops raining long enough. 

[Sunshine]

Welcome!