Night sky photography help and advice required please

David Jones

David Jones

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Dave
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Hi everyone,
Have decided to try my hand at night sky photography so thought i'd ask a few questions here before i spent any money.

Things i have....
Canon 5D mk3
Cable release
canon 50mm fast lens
24-105 lens
100-400 mk1 lens
300 prime mk1 lens
2 good solid tripods

Things i need? clear sky obviously lol

But your suggestions here would be great, do i need a motorised rotator? surely trees etc will blur using this or do i have to do something special photoshop wise to edit these out if i want a foreground.

Am truly a novice in this genre and could really do with some advice please?
Best
Dave
 
Beware the slippery slope. ;)

You can get started with what you have, but you'll be limited in your progression without getting a) a good quality 'fast' lens and b) a motorised tracker.

There are several people on here that can answer any questions you have - I just know these two points because that's what's stopping me from doing it ATM. I've spent far too much money on camera gear this year to consider starting it, so will look again next year. ;)
 
Do you *need* a motorised tracker? No, but it opens up a whole new world.

I don't use one, but do single shots or stacked multiple shots. Id like one however!

You do need a solid tripod, a camera with decent high ISO, and a fast lens, faster the better. From your list, the 50mm will have to do, although you mind find it a bit long, both for getting the vastness of space, and also the longer the focal length, the less time you have to expose without getting trails. Thats where the tracker comes in handy too.

I use either a 12mm on crop or an 18mm on full frame and I can get about 20 seconds exposure before things start moving noticeably in the frame. At 50mm, you might find its only 5 seconds. (there is a calculation you can do to figure it out properly, think its the 500 rule or something).

Your other biggest enemy is light pollution and the moon.
 
For wide field (Milky Way etc), you might want something wider than 50mm but I'd wait until you KNOW what YOU want/need before making a decision like that. For detail shots of the moon, 600mm+ would be handy but see my previous comment! Presumably your good solid tripods have good solid heads to suit. FWIW, Moon shots don't really need a tripod - decent image stabilization combined with a well lit subject make hand holding more than possible.

Have a look at the relevant photo sharing section and don't be afraid to ask for advice there.
 
Hi guys,
Thanks for the info the more the merrier in my book. so many many thanks.

I want to get an idea of what to do and how to do it, and it looks like i'm being bought one of those MSM thingys for a gift, plus i'm in Iceland for a week in January in the middle of nowhere with zero light polution so want to 'get into shape' photographic wise to at least produce some fair images.

Best
Dave
 
Iceland in January? An extra few batteries so you can swap out the cold ones when they start slowing everything down. They'll regain some performance once they warm up in an inside pocket. A red torch will be handy too so you can see without ruining your night vision. Warm finger freeing (fold back fingertips) gloves will be handy too.
 
Hi Dave,

Honest answer from someone who has been in your position, and does love astrophotography; I don't do it as much as I'd like...

I purchased the 11-16mm Tokina lens, f2.8 and the difference between my 17mm f2.8 is amazing... so I would personally recommend something like this. - although i've used it about 3 times in 1 year!

I wouldn't start out getting a sky tracker personally... I have wanted one, but don't think it would get used anywhere near enough... I've always took stacks of photos and merged them together using a sky tracking software... takes more time to do obviously, however it saves you a good chunk of money which would be better spent on a wider lens, with this wider lens you can hone your skills a bit more for astro.

To add a few bits which will be a challenge realistically in the UK if you do want to shoot the milky way;

The Galactic core's visibility is limited to around 5-10 minutes at the moment, when we hit October i'm pretty sure the galactic core's visbility goes bye bye until spring.
As other people have mentioned, Light pollution and the moonlight is 2 other factors you have to take into account. However you can try and shoot other galaxies such as andromeda, Would probably get some good results at around 200mm.

You can use something like this; to find a dark sky.

Light Pollution Map - DarkSiteFinder.com

darksitefinder.com darksitefinder.com

You can use something like this; to judge sky quality/darkness
https://clearoutside.com/forecast/53.41/-2.99

You will notice on clear outside there is "Bortle Class" on the screen;
This is how dark the sky is... you can get a good guideline of how dark the area should be...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale - This is information on the Bortle scale;


and one of the best guys i have found to help with this, a guy on youtube called Nico Carver - Nebula Photos, he is a professional astrophotographer, but he does videos showing how to use various pieces of equiptment, including an untracked DSLR;

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc1v6BjHm8U
- comparing various kit with different values.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuMZG-SyDCU
- Milky way without a tracker video

Hope this helps!
 
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