How is it done?

[Gracyirl]

Hi guys

What lens can i use on my 500D to take pics of the moon stars etc?

Thanks

[Jill-of-all-Trades]

What lenses do you have?

[Gracyirl]

At the moment i have body only, just bought the camera

[Jill-of-all-Trades]

Well then, the next question is going to be: How much money are you willing to spend? I use my EFS 55-250mm IS and get some decent shots of the moon. It's a low cost lens. From there, just start going up in price. Depends on what type of pictures you want to take. Close ups of the moon, wide view with the moon and stars in frame, deep space.

[Gracyirl]

My budget is about 500 euro. I would like to take close ups of the moon and stars!

[Jill-of-all-Trades]

Hmm... well I have no idea what 500 euros will get you. Just because I don't know how it relates to Canadian. There are lots of people on here from Europe, so I'll leave it up to one of them to suggest something.

[VIGER]

I would suggest a Canon 200mm L prime. or the 400mm L. Be prepare to motorized your mount ....

Cheers

Michel

[Gracyirl]

Thanks for all your replies will research the lenses you have mentioned

[Footbag]

Just keep in mind that for shooting Deep Sky(Galaxies, Nebula, etc...)the mount is the most important thing. Most will say spend 90% of your money on the mount. Buying a mount also means that you will have to learn a bit about the locations of the stars. Because you will have to align the mount on Polaris.
For Planetary imaging, you can get away with much less of a mount or even a tripod depending on your target.
Because it is the best resource on the net, you may want to check here... http://www.astropix.com/
(http://www.astropix.com/)

[Nighthound]

With your somewhat limited budget you may have to consider some quality used lenses. Prime lenses are the way to go for deep-sky and go for the best color corrected glass you can afford. A good zoom would give you a more flexible range for various targets as it would for day use. I have a 500L and a 100-400L. I haven't used the 500 for astro but I'm confident it would work very well, I have used the 100-400L and had very good results with it, I imagine you could pick one up used for under 700 Euro.

You will want to think ahead to the tracking part of this. Without the ability to track, even the finest glass won't be able to get you where you want to go.

I highly recommend this site for reference and stunning inspiration.
http://www.allaboutastro.com/

Jay Ballauer is the real deal. Great guy and a fountain of knowledge and talent.

[ejicon]

Nice site reference

[Michael_B]

Just for star trails and catching meteor showers and the ISS and Iridium flares. the common kit lens the EF-S 18-55MM IS is a gem!