Which Ultra Wide Fast lens for night sky?

Sorry for thread jacking I have a t3i would the $299 10-18 f4.5 be enough for night photography ?

ITS ME DAVID wrote in post #17132857
Sorry for thread jacking I have a t3i would the $299 10-18 f4.5 be enough for night photography ?

Heya,

You could attempt it, but it's going to be a tough, noisy fight. You can do 30 second exposures without trailing at 10mm on APS-C. And the T3i is capable of decent ISO 1600-3200 performance. You could do higher, but it will be quite noisy. F4.5 is a really holding that system back a bit though, as you're losing a lot of light during that 30 seconds, due to that narrow aperture.

There's a 16mm F2 lens by Rokinon for APS-C that is stellar for a fast ultrawide for night work like this. That's two stops faster via aperture. That's the difference between shooting at ISO 6400 and shooting at ISO 1600 instead.

There's of course the staple Rokinon 14mm F2.8 as well.

At the end of the day, if you really want to do wide field astro, or even some of the closer deep space objects, a tracker is a superior way to go. Then you can disregard the camera's ISO performance and you can more easily deal with slower lenses. A simple tracker runs $350. But it opens the sky up to all kinds of possibilities.

Very best,

Rokinon 14

16-35 f/4 is not that fast!

The rokinon 14mm wasn't wide enough for night sky on a crop body, for me at least, and I was shooting in very dark areas. I was getting slight trailing even at 20 seconds. For a crop body which isn't going to perform as well at high ISO/low light, you really need as much light as you can get. For crop, just get the 11-16.

iOptron skytracker is sold out everywhere

I know, eBay has it, but I rather buy from B&H.

I am leaving in 2 weeks to Iceland, and need it quick

But it is no use in HK, we don't have dark sky here

HKFEVER wrote in post #17133293
iOptron skytracker is sold out everywhere

I know, eBay has it, but I rather buy from B&H.

I am leaving in 2 weeks to Iceland, and need it quick

But it is no use in HK, we don't have dark sky here

Here is an alternative. You can buy an additional spotting scope for aligning to Polaris, but its not really needed unless you want to track really long exposures or use a super tele lens.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …Polarie_Star_Tr​acker.html

And the scope if your feeling frisky:

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …_Polarie_Polar_​Scope.html

Look at what I just received

HKFEVER wrote in post #17138801
Look at what I just received

a new mouse ?

Reservoir Dog wrote in post #17139568
a new mouse ?

Seriously dude. That mouse has been around since the original Mac. Clearly it's a brand new notebook scribble pad he's talking about.

Any luck on a tracker HK?

Dudes, I hate to keep on changing battery for wireless mouse. So I force all the staff to use wired mouse

No luck for the tracker yet :9

HKFEVER wrote in post #17140120
Dudes, I hate to keep on changing battery for wireless mouse. So I force all the staff to use wired mouse

No luck for the tracker yet :9

Logitech. Marathon. Mouse.

hiketheplanet wrote in post #17140186
Logitech. Marathon. Mouse.

Hey that's my mouse too.

Haha, find the tracker in EU site.

S.R.M. wrote in post #17129022
I'd consider trying another copy. I picked up one a couple of weeks ago and it's nice and sharp wide open on my 6D:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/oFTR​uD Under the Milky Way #1 by mudge.stephen, on Flickr

How the hell do you all get the stars so bright man. I tried so many times and all i get is about a few hundred stars. You get so many more in how do you do that? I mean i use the 16-35Lii at 16mm and 2.8, making 30s exposures. Isnt that enough or what am i doing wrong?

Do i need higher ISO than 100-400 or what?

davidfarina wrote in post #17143968
How the hell do you all get the stars so bright man. I tried so many times and all i get is about a few hundred stars. You get so many more in how do you do that? I mean i use the 16-35Lii at 16mm and 2.8, making 30s exposures. Isnt that enough or what am i doing wrong?

Do i need higher ISO than 100-400 or what?

Heya,

Yes, ISO 1600 to 3200 would be a starting point at F2.8 and 30 seconds. Also, that image is processed, it didn't come out of camera that way obviously.

Very best,