Canon prime lenses for astrophotography?

[winterlight]

Hi,

I am thinking of getting a small refractor for astrophotography but have seen in a few places that Canon L prime lenses also do very well. In particular I am looking at the 200mm 2.8 or 300mm F4 IS or a small refractor. Apparently the camera lenses do not need a flattener/reducer. Has anyone tried these lenses?

Cheers

[jgs001]

I've not got any L lenses (maybe one day) but my 50mm does a really nice job. I've also seen some stunning images with old prime lenses, m42 and pentax k mount, so if you have an L prime I'd expect decent results.

[steppenwolf]

I use the Canon 200mm L Series telephoto lens on my Canon DSLR and with my SXVF-M25C and SXVF-H9 ccd cameras and it does work quite well giving a good wide field but although it does have some UD glass elements, there is still some chromatic aberration. Although none of these are prize winners, here are some images taken with it:-

Canon 200mm L Series telephoto lens with SXVF-H9

Canon 200mm L Series telephoto lens with SXVF-H9c

Canon 200mm L Series telephoto lens with SXVF-H9c (not my best image!!)

Canon 200mm L Series telephoto lens with SXVF-H9c (with Ha filter)

Canon 200mm L Series telephoto lens with EOS 300D DSLR

[LukeSkywatcher]

The Canon L lens' kick ***....................as shown above.

[winterlight]

Thanks very much for the replies. On the basis that the Canon lenses have daytime use I am inclined to save up for the 200mm L. The images are fantastic! With an Astrotrac it can be an ultraportable setup.