Off to keilder at end of january

quickshot89

quickshot89

quickshot89

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So the gf bought me a keilder night time astro visit for christmas, as shestold me they go through astrophotography if you bring a camera with the lenes and go through how to take some good shots. Currently, I have the following

Canon 100D
Canon 18-55mm
Canon 50mm f1.8
Canon Pancake (2014 Model)
Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6

But, im happy to sink abit of money into a newer lens to get me some better shots as keilder's sky should be spectacular at the end of January. Has anyone got any suggestions? Happy to go second hand if the price is right.
 
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fast wide angle lenses with as little chromatic aberration is the key.

Its possible with zooms but they have their issues.


The key is to have a long enough exposure to bring out the detail but not to get star trails.

longest suggested shutter speed in seconds based on the “500 Rule” (500/ effective focal length).

So your 18-55 lens would manage 18 seconds at 18mm. 30 seconds is ideal but of course you can just use a much higher ISO to compensate but that introduces noise esp on long shots.

http://www.lonelyspeck.com/best-lenses-for-milky-way-photography-canon/
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1p8FSEIaDd45i97NXFEZf4fnVOQ3ifA43ecJcuS0nCJ0/edit#gid=2



I bought a rokinon 12mm lens used for my MFT purely for astro shots. It doesnt matter that its manual focus as you need to manually focus any lens for night time shots and once you find infinity focus (harder than it seems and took me two hours the first time to get it nailed) you just mark your lens and you are good to go every time.
 
I will be perfectly honest with you and say just enjoy the visit and don't bother with the astrophotography side too much.
You will be severely handicapped with your current equipment for astrophotography.
The camera wont handle high ISO very well.
The Lenses you have are either too long or too slow.
I wouldn't go throwing a few hundred quid at a problem that needs a good few hundred quid threw at it.
 
Cheers Greebo, thats some good advice on the lens.

I'll be taking the pancake, 50mm and 18-55 on that basis, I have the remote too so I dont have the manual faff :)
 
I too am going to Kielder for one of their Astro nights. I've been before and have taken my Canon 550D, I used both the 18-55mm kit lens and the 50mm 1.8 lens and found the 50mm better due to the better low light capability however as it was used in a crop camera the portion of sky was very small so the images whilst impressive (we had super clear skies) weren't as good as I had hoped. I now own a Tokina 11-16mm 2.8 which I'm expecting very good results with based on wide field of view and low light capability, what length is the Pancake lens? 24mm or 40?

I'm going to see how the 550D handles the ISO but I have been looking at the canon 80D as an upgrade, whatever you take just enjoy the skies kielder has to offer. Very few people get to see the stars like you might see them, seeing the Milky Way with your own eyes and watching satellites buzz about its fantastic!
 
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