Question Best canon lens for starry night shoot.

[WolfandTheJoker]

I am looking for a lens that works real well for shooting astronomical type photos. No budget at this moment, but I need several lenses to choose for variety reasons. Any and all suggestion greatly welcomed.

Also fine with canon compatible lenses as well.

 

[maxamillionfeettall]

What body are you using? ef-m, ef-s, Rf mounts? What is your ideal focal length, do you want to take landscape shots with a starry sky, or do you want tight shots on a small portion of the sky?

 

[WolfandTheJoker]

What body are you using? ef-m, ef-s, Rf mounts? What is your ideal focal length, do you want to take landscape shots with a starry sky, or do you want tight shots on a small portion of the sky?

Body is a EOS Canon 80D. I am not to familiar with ef-m,ef-s, Rf mounts. I would like to take landscape shots with night sky.

 

[kanewolf]

I am looking for a lens that works real well for shooting astronomical type photos. No budget at this moment, but I need several lenses to choose for variety reasons. Any and all suggestion greatly welcomed.

Also fine with canon compatible lenses as well.

Do you already have a 50mm F1.4 or F1.2 ? Canon also has a 35mm F1.4. Some of these choices are $1500 glass.

What exposure duration have you been working with? Have you investigated HDR processing? That is probably what you need for eye-popping photos like you want.

 

[WolfandTheJoker]

Do you already have a 50mm F1.4 or F1.2 ? Canon also has a 35mm F1.4. Some of these choices are $1500 glass.

What exposure duration have you been working with? Have you investigated HDR processing? That is probably what you need for eye-popping photos like you want.

Well I plan on renting the lens(es) and no I don't have any of the lenses or parts listed. As for tor the HDR processing would Lightroom count. (Not sure if this is what your asking about)

 

[maxamillionfeettall]

look into rokinon 14mm 2.8, or 24mm 1.4. The sigma 35mm ff1.4 art dg lens is utterly fantastic and can be found used for ~$600. The 80d is an aps-c camera so multiply the lens focal length by 1.5 for the true length. You might be able to find a used rokinon 14mm ef mount for cheaper.

These are manual lenses, but for astro photography, manual is best.

If the $300-$500 pricing of the rokinons are too much for you, maybe just start out with a 24mm 2.8 canon stm pancake lens.

 

[kanewolf]

Well I plan on renting the lens(es) and no I don't have any of the lenses or parts listed. As for tor the HDR processing would Lightroom count. (Not sure if this is what your asking about)

Look at what your rental agent has. Since you are using an 80D with an APS-C sensor, I would recommend the wider 35mm focal length. Maybe even a 28mm F2.8
You can do HDR in ligthroom. Here is a how to from Adobe -- https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/hdr-photo-merge.html There are also youtube videos. But the big thing about HDR is doing bracket exposures with a very stable camera.
You might also look at renting a wireless remote trigger. Camera vibrations can be cause by "pushing the button" A wireless remote will eliminate that problem.

 

[jonbuder]

I'd say the 24mm 1.4 will be pretty good. When I did a lot of night photography I was using an 18-55 2.8-4 lens on a 1.6x crop camera such as yours and I almost always kept it at the wide end.

You might find you want even wider. The 16-35mm 2.8 zoom costs a whole lot but it adds versatility, but then it's going to make you want a full frame body to really use the wide end as a wide end.

I think Rokinon makes a 12mm f/2.0 for crop cameras, might not be of quality conducive to huge prints but for a hobby if you're willing to do some tinkering after the shot i'm sure it's fine.

It's going to be a lot of trial and error. There's a website called DarkSky that lets you see the forecasted amount of haze/light pollution/moonlight, etc that will interfere with your shot.

If you want to do star trails, look into stacking. I've used a program callled StarStax a bit on Mac, there might be a windows version or similar solution if you're on windows.

The suggestion of a remote trigger is good, but using the self-timer is also good.

 

[WolfandTheJoker]

Look at what your rental agent has. Since you are using an 80D with an APS-C sensor, I would recommend the wider 35mm focal length. Maybe even a 28mm F2.8
You can do HDR in ligthroom. Here is a how to from Adobe -- https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/hdr-photo-merge.html There are also youtube videos. But the big thing about HDR is doing bracket exposures with a very stable camera.
You might also look at renting a wireless remote trigger. Camera vibrations can be cause by "pushing the button" A wireless remote will eliminate that problem.

Thanks for the info. As for the remote trigger luckily camera's so advance now i can use my phone as remote trigger, but I can also set time delay from button press to shoot to eliminate the vibration thing.

 

[WolfandTheJoker]

I'd say the 24mm 1.4 will be pretty good. When I did a lot of night photography I was using an 18-55 2.8-4 lens on a 1.6x crop camera such as yours and I almost always kept it at the wide end.

You might find you want even wider. The 16-35mm 2.8 zoom costs a whole lot but it adds versatility, but then it's going to make you want a full frame body to really use the wide end as a wide end.

I think Rokinon makes a 12mm f/2.0 for crop cameras, might not be of quality conducive to huge prints but for a hobby if you're willing to do some tinkering after the shot i'm sure it's fine.

It's going to be a lot of trial and error. There's a website called DarkSky that lets you see the forecasted amount of haze/light pollution/moonlight, etc that will interfere with your shot.

If you want to do star trails, look into stacking. I've used a program callled StarStax a bit on Mac, there might be a windows version or similar solution if you're on windows.

The suggestion of a remote trigger is good, but using the self-timer is also good.

Yes I have heard of DarkSky but haven't used it yet. I am still looking for a good area to shoot with low light pollution. Problem I am having is finding public land with a good landscape view.

 

[jonbuder]

That is always a challenge. We lived in Oklahoma when I did the most night shooting, there were plenty of lakes available but they had lights on poles nearby that would throw off the colors and introduce challenging ambient light on the foreground so I had to do post processing.

Here in New Mexico, there are fewer lakes but more places with absolutely no ambient light, however it's a big time commitment to head out into the middle of nowhere at night and it's disruptive for the kids' routine if we all go as a family.

Light pollution in the background isn't a show-stopper if you have a mostly dark sky and clear conditions - here's an example (took effort to clean up but it turned out alright and printed nicely)
https://500px.com/photo/102893787/M...=1&from=search&ctx_type=photos&ctx_q=jonbuder

 

[saurabh2033]

According to my use of experience EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM is the best for night photography.

 

[jack46606]

Yes I have heard of DarkSky but haven't used it yet. I am still looking for a good area to shoot with low light pollution. Problem I am having is finding public land with a good landscape view.

used it in due time. definitely worth the money

 

[MiggyBroadfoot]

Hi,
A friend of mine does some astro photography (as well as traditional landscapes). He uses one of these...
Star Tracker
You can then use any lens with a smaller aperture for less aberrations and shoot for as long as you like!
His website has some examples https://www.dansantillo.com