Would I absolutely NEED a prime for a starry night photo?

I'm going camping this weekend and I'll be heading out with a T2i from work. I only a 50 1.8, but it's too narrow IMO for a good landscape shot at night. Could I get any solid results using a 3.5-4.5 zoom I have?

Kinda broke and don't wanna have to rent a prime

Prime are not always necessory, many best photos of Starry Landscapes are taken with zoom lenses.

Give a try and see how lens works out. Some lenses shows purple fringing or deformed stars, if its within acceptable range then it can be usable lens.


check out some cool and easy to shoot photos taken with kit lens

AstroPix


Best of luck.

I use the 15-85mm on mine and it's fine at F3.5

Yeah, I noticed it'll work well at least with a T2i. I aimed it upwards at the moonless sky and caught a bunch of stars I couldn't even see with my eyes. I live in a city so it really became clear to me that out in the open I shouldn't have too much of a hard time

Don't know why anyone would tell you that you must have a prime. I do all my widefield astro and landscape with a 16-35mm zoom. Love it.

Baz.