Shoot night sky with the Canon 100D?

[Newphotographer312]

Hi as seen by my username, I'm new to photography. I have been experimenting with macro, landscape, usual stuff and wanted to have a go with the night sky. However I'm not sure what settings to go for?
I have tried full aperture and iso at 3200 is that too low?
Or do you just need a better camera for this type?
Also will I need a tripod ?
Thanks

 

[Jannyfox]

Your camera will be fine for night sky stuff. You definitely need a tripod as your exposures will be long. You also need a cable release. You can get a very simple type where you press a slider to open the shutter and slide it the other way to close it, or an intervalometer which allows you to set a delay, an exposure time and the number of exposures you want. Whichever you get, make sure it has the correct connection for your camera. You should find that information in the manual. Use your lens wide open and a high iso, but your shutter time will be dictated by how long you can go before the stars start to trail. If you aim at stars higher in the sky they will 'appear' to move slower than the ones lower down (I say appear because the stars are not moving - we are). In theory there is a way of calculating maximum exposure time but you're as well doing it by trial and error. Because the time is limited, a wide aperture and high iso are required, so if you have a lens with a 2.8 or 1.4 aperture, so much the better, and use a short lens. Lower magnification = longer time before trailing. Also you need to be well away from lights. Any image of the night sky will need quite a lot of processing to look reasonable. Even 10 sec or so should get you the brighter stars, then experiment. To get really long exposures you need a tracking (driven) mount, but that's a whole other can of worms.

 

[Tringa]

If you want to take single photos of the night sky with the stars appearing as points rather than trails then you won't need anything other than a tripod. You could get away with resting the camera on any solid surface and pointing it skywards, but that would really limit what you could take. A tripod makes it much easier to select an area of the sky and perhaps get some foreground in, and it has other photographic uses too. The maximum shutter speed of your camera is 30 seconds which, if you are using the kit lens, is longer than you'll be able to use for this sort of shot.

The calculation Jan mentions is often referred to as the 500 rule and is

Max exposure in seconds before the images of stars start to form trails = 500/(the focal length of the lens x crop factor of the camera).

'Rule' is a misnomer because, as mentioned above, how fast the stars appear to move depends whereabouts in the sky they are, but it is a reasonable starting point.

I'm guessing the crop factor of your camera is 1.6, so the 500 rule would suggest a maximum exposure, with a lens of 18mm, of about 17s -- 500/(18 x 1.6) = 17.3. Its a matter of trying it and checking the results.

I don't know if you have the 18-55mm kit lens with your camera but if so, then you'll be able to record stars. As noted, a faster lens of 2.8 or 1.4 would make things easier but the kit lens will pick up quite a few stars and the MW at an ISO of 3200.

Dave

 

[the black fox]

Good info there even for us old hands that want to try something different .thanks

 

[Applemuncher]

I have the exact same camera as you and have been slightly obsessed about photography in the dark (sky photo's / painting with light etc) your camera is more than capable of giving excellent results.

As all the others above have said, tripod is a must. Go out, set it up and experiment - when it works, it's phenomenal and will just leave you wanting more.

If there is any chance you live anywhere near the Merseyside area then I would be happy to show you.