Adventures In Astrophotography

a reply to: intergalactic fire

I've seen some deals on the bay for a d7000+18-200mm a bit over 500$

Thanks for that , now i have the choice of Erics canon and your nikon and both leave a little wriggle room for extras .

a reply to: hutch622

Here is the main thing you should look at in any case:

Camera has a decent sized CCD sensor (both the cameras I and intergalactic fire suggested do).

It has a "manual" mode that allows you to fully control the camera when it comes to things like exposure time, f-stop and white balance.

You can change the lens (to me this is a must because at some point you may want to hook up your camera to a telescope, and you'll need an adapter for that. It allows you to hook up your camera in place of the telescope's eyepiece holder).

Those will be the main things you'll most likely want to pay attention to.

a reply to: eriktheawful

a reply to: intergalactic fire

Good buy , keep in mind thats Aussie dollars , and its used , and the bidding has not ended .
m.ebay.com.au...

a reply to: hutch622

To not spoil the thread I send you a pm.

originally posted by: eriktheawful
a reply to: hutch622

Canon EOS Rebel series. I personally use a T3 (1100 D), you can get the T5 for under 400 USD now.

One of the best for astro pics is the Canon 6D, but it's got a 1,400 USD price tag, heh.

If you really want to push the boat out this is the dogs you know whats

a reply to: wmd_2008

I settled on a nikon d7000 second hand , it was a money thing more than a brand thing . Now its the lenses , hopefully something might fall through the cracks on Ebay but i doubt that happens very often . Still time is on my side . Next from me is going to be 20,000 questions . Perhaps its own thread so as to not derail .

reviving..

I finally bit the bullet and got my setup this weekend... all 2nd hand
I picked up the below for $1500 AU - thats about $1250 US

Nexstar Evolution 6"
Canon 1100D EOS
T Ring/Adapter
2x Barlow
Moon Filter
Solar Filter

I also purchased a MineLab GoldMonster 1000..

I plan on doing weekend trips to the goldfields, metal detecting/prospecting by day, camping astrophotography by night.
I'm not interested in Deep Space Objects, more planets..

I love the idea of looking at Saturn and Jupiter!

a reply to: Try2ki55me

Gimbal is not for Astrophotogarphy you need a tracking mount a star tracker, wide angle fast aperture lenses are good for night photography also fast mid range telephoto if the mount can work with the weight.

Hey folks what's up)) pictures are awesome! I'm looking to get a present for someone who is mad into their photography night sky. I know she has a Canon 500D, and only one lens, so I was thinking of getting her a new lenses and a gimbal. The trouble is I know absolutely nothing about camera gimbals! Want choose from two DJI Ronin SC or Zhiyun Crane Plus from this site. Would there be any lenses for €100-200 or less which would offer any improvement over the (standard?) lenses she has already got?
Cheers!

a reply to: Rencornat1on

Why are you looking for a gimbal? As wmd pointed out above, gimbals aren't generally used for astrophotography.

Did you mean a "sky tracking mount" instead?

As for lenses, there have been some great improvements in lenses in the last few years in terms of astrophotography performance, but most of these lenses would be out of your budget.

Your best bet would be something like a Samyang/Rokinon 24mm F1.4, which is one of the few "cheap and cheerful" options out there now, but you would likely have to buy a used copy, and the QC on them is not the best, so there are many that are not as good as they should be when used on stars. If you find a good one, it'll be pretty good on the stars when used at maximum aperture, but many people have to try at least a couple before they come across a good one.

There are further caveats - because her camera uses a crop sensor, the field of view will be reduced (it will behave more like a 32mm lens on a full frame sensor), so not great for capturing a great swath of the Milky way. If that is the aim, then she would probably do better with something like a 16mm, but that will cost if you want a lens that is also fast (gathers more light), which is important if you don't have a sky tracking mount and a camera that does not do high ISO very well - I strongly suspect that the 500D falls into this category although I don't have any experience with this body myself.

The lens is probably the most important part of the equation for astrophotography, so it's best not to skimp in that department if possible.

a reply to: Rencornat1on

If you want to do astrophotography invest in a star tracker. Gimbal is NOT made for astrophotography, as others already mentioned.
Skywatcher star adventurer, Ioptron skyguider, Polarie vixen,... Perfect for dslr astrophotography wide field and even deepsky with a small refractor(telescope) or big lens.
A basic lens will work just fine, the mount and tripod are way more important than the optics or camera.
In AP it's first the mount/tripod, then the camera, then the optics.

Couple years ago I bought a small dslr star tracker(which I still use today) and used a Nikon camera and Nikon lenses, nothing special. Price was the same as that best option gimbal from the website you posted.

Here are some results with just a dslr, 50mm and 200mm lens.
This is a panorama, 3 shots with a cheap 50mm lens.


This is with a Nikon 200mm zoom lens


Cheap 14mm Samyang lens


Last year I bought a small telescope to use with the same star tracker


and one of my latest image using an H Alpha filter and guiding setup.


So if she already has a dslr and a lens then definitely get a star tracker, that is if she wants to do astro.
If you're interested in more info on basic astrophotography(I'm still just a beginner) just ask or send me a message.