Astrophotography!

[benguin]

Hi from Australia!

I want to get into taking some awesome photos of the night sky, is anyone able to recommend me a good beginner camera and any extra lenses that may be needed?
As it's just starting out as a hobby, I want to try and keep the camera set up as cheap as possible!

Any advice would be great, thank you

 

[wfooshee]

"Awesome photos of the night sky" is actually a bit vague... Night sky, as in stars, moon, or what? Stars are difficult because they require long exposures, and they actually move during the exposure, becoming streaks, even in as little as 10 or 15 seconds. I separate the moon because the moon is not night photography, it should be treated as fully sunlit, because... well, it's fully sunlit.

Most of the impressive night shots you see, like the Milky Way, or night-time landscapes with stars, are composites, several long exposures stacked on the computer with special software. I've done some star trails by setting the camera out for several hours with the intervolometer tripping the shutter automatically every 15 seconds or so, then stacking those images. I've never stacked anything for the Milky Way, just shot a 10- or 15-second exposure with a fast lens at f:2 or f:1.4.

You basically need as much light as you can get, which means fast lenses. You need wide angle if you're looking for star fields, but long lenses if you're looking for shots of the moon.

 

[PhotoHobbyist]

Try cloudynights site. It is all they do.

 

[Peeb]

I have a Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 wideangle zoom that is configured for crop sensor. If you slap it on a full-frame mirrorless nikon, the camera goes into 'crop' mode but it still autofocuses and works with the FTZ adapter.

Here is my 'hack': if you set it to 16mm on a full frame camera using a 'dumb' adapter (one with no electrical contacts) you can still fill the framewithout vignetting so on my 24 MP Z6, I get a full 24MP image instead of the 9 MP image you get in 'crop' mode. You lose AF, but you get a full image. Am I explaining that in a way that makes sense?

 

[wfooshee]

^^^^

What he's saying is that if you mount a crop-sensor lens on a full-frame camera, without the camera switching to crop mode, the lens will cover the full frame at the long end of the zoom range. You end up with an ultra-wide, full-resolution image.

A prime lens for a crop-sensor camera will have dark corners if the camera doesn't switch to crop mode, and zoom lenses will have the dark corners at their widest zoom range.

I myself have a Nikon 10-24 DX lens for use on my D7200, but if I mount it on my D800 and disable DX lens auto-crop in the menu, I can use the lens full-frame on the D800 down to about 15mm before it start vignetting the corners. That gives me the same field of view as the 10mm zoom when on my D7200, but at the D800's full 36 Megapixel resolution instead of the D7200's 24, and the D800 is much better with low light and high ISO.

None of these cameras or lenses are what you'd call "beginner" items, though, although the D7200 is a fine camera and widely available used for really good prices. Personally I prefer a used D7200 over a brand new D5600 for its better support of legacy lenses.

 

[RacePhoto]

Yes to what @wfooshee wrote. There are so many choices and it's such a diverse subject. I call it Night Sky because, it could be anything from a single shot of the stars, to trying to get close, to composites or a telescope or anything in between. Most of all, Have Fun!

My version of Night Sky is mostly startrails. Minimal equipment, a standard camera and lens and a cable release, or self timer or, really easy, set the camera for 30 second exposures and lock it down. It will take a photo every 30 seconds, as fast as it can, which is one every 30 seconds, plus the time to process, and then, it will start another 30 second exposure. As easy as falling off a bicycle.
Single shots are more complicated, using a telescope or telephoto, it gets more complicated.
Here's another astro photo website that I like: Why You Should Still Use the 500 Rule for Astrophotography And the 500 rule, because the Earth is rotating and that means the stars and Moon and everything else up there, appears to be moving.

Free things to start with =
Star Trails: https://www.startrails.de
Image Stacker: DeepSkyStacker - Free

You can use any camera and lens that you already have, if the idea is just getting started. For those stunning Milky Way shots, things get into trackers, and the cost of having a good time, goes up.

I used a 10-D until I burned it up, then I moved to 20-Ds. And I Still have a coupe of old 10-D since then. Any old kit lens will do. The point is, getting started, without spending a lot of money, and deciding what direction to head in, after that.

Shot in the back yard, with an old DSLR and a manual lens, exposure manual and the shutter locked on, taking a photo ever 30 seconds. Startrails (ps set to tungsten for the nice blue sky)

 

[RacePhoto]

GoPro night timelapse

 

[RacePhoto]

A walk down to the lakefront, 10-D 8mm lens.

 

[wfooshee]

Here's a site that describes rather nicely the different options for shooting the night sky, and the opyions you have for using single or multiple images to produce your shot. Clicky-thingie.