I'd like to take pics of stars

R

rob3342421

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Robert
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Hi people

I have a Canon 400D and a standard, 35-80MM lens

I'd like to take some pictures of the sky at night, mostly the moon and stars and such =p

Me and a friend have been talking (because he knows alot more about photography than me) and he says that a lens simply wont cut it. I thought this myself anyway but I wondered if anyone could tell me about using a telescope?

I know it can be done, I just have no clue how. After a quick google it seems theres an adapter but I don't have a telescope in the first place.

So anyone who knows how to do this, or does it themselves please help me out :)

thanks
 
Hi Robert , use the search function , there are lots of tutorials on star trails. Im sure your lens will be fine though , a tripod is a must as well as a shutter cable or remote . Good luck :thumbs:
 
Whoops !! apologies i mis read that as star trails !!:bonk: Think you would need a bit more reach ! Once again there will threads on this topic if you put it in the search function. :thumbs:
 
As has been posted, tripod and a remote release/trigger are required.

As to lens/telescope all depends on how close you want to get and what your budget is.

There are some adapters for telescopes to allow you to use a camera on the telescope (some mount directly, others via a lens adapter).

You can look into m42 mount and adapter.
Or something like a 100-400 with a 2x or 1.4x
Or a sigma 50-500...

Good luck :)
 
I have tried the lens I have, with a tripod and a shutter cable =]

heres the outcome:
LL


but for the moon its still not close up enough so I'm thinking a telescope

ecniv said:
As has been posted, tripod and a remote release/trigger are required.

As to lens/telescope all depends on how close you want to get and what your budget is.

There are some adapters for telescopes to allow you to use a camera on the telescope (some mount directly, others via a lens adapter).

You can look into m42 mount and adapter.
Or something like a 100-400 with a 2x or 1.4x
Or a sigma 50-500...

Good luck :)
Click to expand...

I don't really have a budget tbh at the moment I'm just looking into what I'd need to do it :\

I'd mostly use it when I'd go down to Cornwall because where I live I have way too much light pollution :( damn you lights :P and in Cornwall there's next to no light pollution :D
 
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Donnie said:
Dont think you did too bad there with that shot frankly considering the lens.

I mean its certainly good enough that I recognise that straight away as Orion.
Click to expand...

yeah :) I have to admit that came out okay but as for light pollution...
LL

and (I think this was Jupiter)
LL

better show the level of light :P

compared to Cornwall its filled with light ;p
 
Not a bad photo at all, I think.

There is some info on this thread.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=383227

If you want long exposures then you'll need some means of counteracting the rotation of the earth. This could be manual (Google for Scotch Mount) or by a powered telescope mounting.

However, I think I have heard that DSLR sensors may overheat if used for a long exposures, but if you have even a little light pollution it will have an impact fairly quickly, which would rule out long exposures.

You could try stacking - combining a number of short exposure photos. Have a look at

http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html

If you can find a dark sky even a 20sec exposure will show quite a bit.

Dave
 
Opps, I've managed to delete my post while trying to edit it. haven't got time to retype it at the moment, sorry.
 
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Can't really see if that's Jupiter, where and when was it taken? Jupiter is setting pretty ealy to the west at the moment.
 
Yes, mount is the main thing for longer exposures and stacking software to enable you to get the most out of the images you take.

I used to use a sigma 28mm prime for a lot of my widefield shots, but a good lens to use would be the cheap little nifty fifty...
Primes are better than zooms as they have less elements in them and so there is less chance of internal reflections and artifacts.

It's work knocking up a barn door mount to play with if your good with your hands, they're pretty cheap to make..
http://www.homebuiltastronomy.com/barndoor/index.htm

For decent lunar shots you will need either a long lens or attach your dslr to a telescope using a T mount.
 
I recently took some photos of a half moon with my 7D using my Sigma 150-500 OS and a Kenko Pro300 DGX 1.4x TC giving me a total FL of 700mm (according to the exif data) and the moon is approximately 15" in diameter when viewed at full size on the computer. Not done any star shots though, I think you'd definitely need a telescope and adapter for that.
 
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