Milky way photo help

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Name
Ben
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Hi guys,

I have the following kit:

D800
16-35mm f4
70-200mm f2.8
50mm f1.4

I'm looking for some help on what settings to use on my kit and which lens, i'm guessing the 50mm or 16-35mm?

I've read alot about the 500 rule and lens being f2.8 or less so not sure if the 16-35mm is any good??
 
Sub f/2.8 is obviously better for you but I see no reason why if you should have any issues at f/4 hell the majority of my star trails and star scapes at shot at that....the biggest thing is getting somewhere with minimum light pollution

Personally I'd be using the 16-35

Unless you fancy doing a load of stitching with the 50/1.4 as you'll really be limited to 10-12s exposures with that...
 
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I use the a 16-35 to pretty reasonable effect, you lose a stop of light vs. f/2.8 lenses but the ISO performance on the D800 should easily make up for that.

The new 20mm f/1.8 would be a great lens for starscapes.
 
Ok, ill go with the 16-35mm. I mainly do model photos so this is new to me. What setting would you use?
 
Ok, ill go with the 16-35mm. I mainly do model photos so this is new to me. What setting would you use?

30s / f/4 and the ISO to expose the scene...likely north of 4000 but it really is dependant on ambient light pollution...ideally I'll actually go down to 25s the to make sure I don't get trailing in the stars but at 16mm theoretically you should actually be able to shoot to a little over 31s before trailing is visible but always best to aim a little below that (y)
 
Cool ok thanks :) if the clouds clear i'm going to try and head out tonight
 
Yeah, 500/focal length = time in seconds you can shoot before getting noticeable trails (unless you are pixel peeping) so use that and up the ISO to get the desired exposure.
 
Be aware that stars close to the ecliptic plane (i.e. where the Sun and planets are) move an awful lot quicker than those at the pole.....
 
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