Seeking info for first night sky shoot.

I am planing a trip to White Sands, NM in a few days and am looking for as much information as possible so I get more than just a trip out this. The gear I have now is Canon EOS 7D, EF 28-135mm and EF-S 55-250mm, sturdy tripod and for now my laptop with the EOS remote shooting software until the TC-80N3 remote I ordered gets here.

So I guess for starters, is my 28-135mm a good lens to for astrophotography? I was thinking about renting the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM. What shooting mode is best for this?

Any information would be greatly appreciated!!

You could use the 28-135mm but keep your shots below 50mm zoomed cause trailing will start on a 50mm at about 25-secs . If you have a tracking mount then use the 55-250mm but as far as the 28-135mm i haven't heard anything on that lens for night imaging . Now if you rent that 16-35mm it's probably a killer for night shots providing you expose correctly . But if you do any imaging from a tripod non-tracking you are pretty much limited to 30-secs and less per shot . Now if you want to do star trail shots on a tripod only i would use the 16-35 wide open ! Then you could take alot of images and stack them for a nice trail image . Others i'm sure will help you with more info . Good luck tho !

Celestron wrote in post #13332466
You could use the 28-135mm but keep your shots below 50mm zoomed cause trailing will start on a 50mm at about 25-secs . If you have a tracking mount then use the 55-250mm but as far as the 28-135mm i haven't heard anything on that lens for night imaging . Now if you rent that 16-35mm it's probably a killer for night shots providing you expose correctly . But if you do any imaging from a tripod non-tracking you are pretty much limited to 30-secs and less per shot . Now if you want to do star trail shots on a tripod only i would use the 16-35 wide open ! Then you could take alot of images and stack them for a nice trail image . Others i'm sure will help you with more info . Good luck tho !

Thanks! I do think I will rent the 16-35mm. I gather that being limited to only 25-30 sec exposures I wont get really amazing shots of say the milky way? Do you have any more info on tracking mounts?

There is a few here that use a "Astro-Trac" but to me a little expensive cause you still have to have a mount of some kind whether be a tripod or telescope mount . But for near the same price there is several scopes you can buy that have a tracking or Go-To mount which you have a mount to use or take the scope off and use the mount only . Either way some are pricey and some are not but depends your needs and what you want to get out of the equip . Me , i prefer a scope and mount you you can use the mount only or piggyback a camera with any size lens and get double use .