17-40 for stars

[sokun]

Hey guys,

I'm going out to the dessert next weekend in so cal to take some pictures of the milky way. My main wide angle lens is a 17-40 f4 and I was wondering if that was too narrow to take night shots.

[Celestron]

No it is not too wide ! i use a 18-55mm and it's ok for WF images . Is your camera a 1.6x crop ?If so that puts that 17 up to about 27mm lens anyway . I have a 28mm lens on my old film camera but it takes great WF images :D ! I've seen images with a 17-40 and they make some great images ! Check out this MILKYWAY (http://www.schursastrophotography.com/dauroracam/080208/sagJup072708.html) .

[sokun]

Phew.. Nice pic!

I'll be using my 1.6 50d with a remote shutter

[siriusdogstar]

should be fine wide open at ISO 400 for nice star trails...

[sokun]

Why not ISO 100 to avoid noise?

[Celestron]

Why not ISO 100 to avoid noise?

The ISO at 100 would be too low to capture enough lights from the stars to make a star trail . The only ones you might catch would be the brightest ones possibly .

[Tdragone]

Sokun.. Read this.
http://www.pbase.com/samirkharusi/image/48721927
You already have the nifty 50.

At least it points you in the right direction for higher iso short shutter speeds to prevent trails.

I'm DYING to go BACK to death valley and try some REAL astro photography and not the star trails I have gotten to this point.

[sokun]

Thanks for the link TD. I'm heading to the mountains (Lake Arrowhead, Ca) and will post some of my pics early next week.

Two more questions I've got.

Have my in camera noise reduction setting on cause I don't really know how to PP all that noise just yet. Should I just turn it off to save battery or just leave it on since it does a descent job clearing up the noise and battery life isn't severely drained by this method.

Also, what's the average battery life (minutes) for my canon 50d battery? I've got 4 x bp-511 7.4v 2000mAh

[Tdragone]

I don't know about the 50.. it's only a week old.
My 30D's could shoot sunset pictures + at least 3 25-30 minute star trails on a single battery

I find it's more of a function of temperature than anything else. If it's above 50*.. it'll last for a long time. Below 50* (joshua tree in winter) it doesn't last nearly as long.. Had to keep batteries warm in my pocket.

Personally I turn OFF in camera NR; because I use Noiseware.
Others use Noise Ninja..

[Hulka]

The ISO at 100 would be too low to capture enough lights from the stars to make a star trail . The only ones you might catch would be the brightest ones possibly .


I did tonight using ISO 100. read from this guy here to use ISO 100: http://blogs.oreilly.com/digitalmedia/2008/11/stacking-star-trails-tips-tech.html
I guess everyone has their own way to do things.

Came out OK for the first time trying to do it I would think. I just woke up and said, let me give it a try and see what happens.


Here is the unedited file converted to Jpeg. It is light due to me taking it in my back yard. The neighbor had his light on.

Canon 40D
24-105 L at 24mm
ISO 100
5 minute exposure

[Adrena1in]

Have my in camera noise reduction setting on cause I don't really know how to PP all that noise just yet.

I'd certainly recommend you leave In Camera NR off, for a few reasons.

1) As you said, it'll drain your battery.
2) If you want to take lots of shots, one after the other, perhaps to make a star-trail stack or a timelapse movie, the NR will ruin this.
3) You might see a meteor or something and want to take a shot, but the camera might be tied up doing the NR.

It's not a problem at all to remove the noise later on, and would be good practice.

[VIGER]

y main wide angle lens is a 17-40 f4 and I was wondering if that was too narrow to take night shots.

I just answered this in my post. the wide fields are do with a 17-40L

Cheers
Michel