Newbie questions..please excuse me

Hi all
Im a sports action tog but the last 15 months or so, shown an interest in your astronomy work.
Ive played with startrails and using startrax and really enjoyed but have to say im inspired by the images presented here, theyre awesome.

So im toying with playing further and have a couple of basic questions......im guessing they've been asked a 1000 times, but please indulge me.

im looking at buying an ioptron skytracker or something similar.......does have anyone have any other recommendations in the price range of an ioptron?

ive a range of lenses, all canon....17-40, 24-105, 50 1.4, 135, 200, 70-2002.8is, 100-400, 300 2.8mk2 along with bodies 1dx 5dmk2 and a pair of 1dmk4, so from this list what lenses would you recommend as a starting point, I would prefer to try with what I have rather than add another lens. ive used the 17-40 for startrails so far.

ive seen mention in some of the posts here when stacking, 25 images and 25 black images...do you cover the lens with a black card for intermediate exposures?


thanks for any replies in advance

Darks are the exact thing as your Lights, don't change anything, just put the lens cap on. You want the temperature to be pretty close to the same as you lights, so do them right after you get done with your lights. you then stack them in Deep Sky Stacker (DSS). I don't have ioptron skytracker, but I've sen good images with them.

To give you the best advice, useful to you I need to know more about what you have in mind and what is that your are looking for to achieve.
For now and with limited info on that regards:

1- You definitely need a tracker. iOptron is an excellent choice to start it and you can always keep it in your gadget bag, due to light weight and providing you that mobility. I recommend the White color as when in action, you are in jet black condition and any non-hurting/assisting color would come bonus. Limit is the payload that is about 3Kg or under 7 Lb, including your ball-head/camera body/ lens weight. This should cost you under $300 (LINK) and the service provided is priceless. You can switch / add larger trackers later on, if you find this way photography adequately interesting and rewarding.

2- Your camera list is perfect. You don't need a modded camera at all, to start. In fact that could only complicate your start. Your 5D II is as good as it gets.

3- Your lens list has nothing really wide enough, especially if your are looking for that wide field images as I see the craving in your notes. I see you don't like to add, but frankly you ultimately need a Rokinon/Samyang 14mm F2.8 (Under $300). The earlier you get one, the happier you would be. You can get a Tokina 11-16, incase you wand the AF but that is not FF, though usable on your 5D at 16 or 15mm without any vignette. As of now and if you insist in start with the current list, Your 50 F1.4 is quite good but to cover adequate field of sky, even to cover a bit of Milky way, or a good starry sky distorted field you may have to rely on a lot of software stitching, in case you are good on that.
Not sure what is the F on your 135 and 200 prime but if F2 and F2.8, you are on the fast track to astrophotography, in mid range mag.

Tell more about you want to achieve and you get better and more refined advice.

Here is something you may like. It is also a good time of year for Andromeda. It's almost straight up early in the night now. Kind of a neck strainer, but It's worth a shot. Also check into M42 (The Orion Nebula). The are both bright (for astro) so you can take fairly short exposures, which you need before you have a tracking mount. These may help you get an idea of what type of targets you may want to shoot later.

https://www.youtube.co​m …er_embedded&v=e​0JSTF8SGi4!

thank you for the replies.

I think I will go ahead and buy the ioptron, my ambitions are not great, I just want to do something a little more than startrails, I know its horses for courses and im a sports photographer first but I would like to experiment a little. I live in London, so light pollution is going to be a problem, and so im probably limited to taking pics when away on holidays.
The 135 is an f2 and the 200 is an f2.8.
I know nothing about astronomy, but admire the pictures of the milky way and the like, so just want to give it a go.
As I said in my first post, im interested in playing further and see a tracker as a benefit to start with my existing lenses, and if ok may add a lens later, just testing the water now, but do you think a lens should be the priority over a tracker?

thanks for the explanation on the blacks, that's helpful and the link too.

thank you for your time in answering, its appreciated

steve

Hi Toxic Coolaid...thanks for the link, that's inspiring and educational, answers many of my questions....cheers