Cheap super-zoom for night-sky pics?

I would like to shoot moon and night-sky on a very limited budget and wonder if there are any cheap super-zooms for a start (given that I don't want to spend a ton of cash on it = only a few 100 of $). What would you buy? I guess that would require something like 500mm plus, but please correct or advice as I am not experienced. I also guess that ideally night-sky asks for a fast lens (with F2.8 and faster) which of course can not be met on THAT budget but requires 1000s of $.

What are the compromises? What would be a good start given the very limited budget? Impossible? Am I reaching for the stars here? Did I forget other factors?

Ralf

ampleforth wrote in post #10647408
I would like to shoot moon and night-sky on a very limited budget and wonder if there are any cheap super-zooms for a start (given that I don't want to spend a ton of cash on it = only a few 100 of $). What would you buy? I guess that would require something like 500mm plus, but please correct or advice as I am not experienced. I also guess that ideally night-sky asks for a fast lens (with F2.8 and faster) which of course can not be met on THAT budget but requires 1000s of $.

What are the compromises? What would be a good start given the very limited budget? Impossible? Am I reaching for the stars here? Did I forget other factors?

Ralf

When you say night sky, what do you mean? Wide-field landscapes, constellations, moon and planets or are you looking to photograph images of deep sky objects?

Wide field landscapes, constellations and even star trails can be fun and can be done with a basic camera and kit lens and tripod. Lens-wise I'd say the wider the better. Of course the faster the better as well. Find a very dark site to photograph from and shoot 20 second exposures. If you see star trails, use a wider lens, or shorter exposures. Light pollution and trailing will be two big factors.

For the Moon, just get you exposure right and you should be able to take decent photo's. But most moon and planetary photographs you see are at long focal lengths like 2000mm. This FL requires a very stable mount especially for planets.

For Deep Sky Objects a very stable equatorial mount is required. This mount will be expensive. Think $1000+ and that's before the lens(scope)

The best advice I can give you is start off with what you have and then work your way up. But if you really want to spend some money and get into AP, a lens alone might not get you there.

Constellations

ampleforth wrote in post #10647408
I would like to shoot moon and night-sky on a very limited budget and wonder if there are any cheap super-zooms for a start (given that I don't want to spend a ton of cash on it = only a few 100 of $). What would you buy? I guess that would require something like 500mm plus, but please correct or advice as I am not experienced. I also guess that ideally night-sky asks for a fast lens (with F2.8 and faster) which of course can not be met on THAT budget but requires 1000s of $.

What are the compromises? What would be a good start given the very limited budget? Impossible? Am I reaching for the stars here? Did I forget other factors?

Ralf

Speaking personally, I would invest in a slightly less than new DSLR and a decent 500mm mirror lens. For example, a used Canon 10D will set you back around £150 at the moment, while a decent used Tamron 500mm mirror lens will be around £100 (both off ebay).

The Canon 10D "only" has 6 megapixel output, but it shoots a well supported RAW format and has pretty good low light noise performance. 6MP was professional level image quality five years ago! It also has a crop factor of 1.6, meaning that your 500mm lens will be a 800mm equivalent. With a 2x converter that means 1600mm

I recommend a mirror lens, because these do not exhibit Chromatic Aberration. I don't think you will necessarily need a fast lens for night sky (although it would be nice), since you will probably be stacking images. The 500mm mirrors are usually fixed at f8.

Super-zoom cameras have several issues, sensor size and low light noise performance etc, Another practical problem is finding infinity focus with the lens. No such problem with a manual focus mirror lens! Superzooms never have very fast lenses and, of course, you are limited to the one the manufacturer supplies Finally, you can't switch a super-zoom into sleep mode and expect it to wake up at a specified time and take a picture (something you might want to do, and can do with a DSLR and manual lens).

If you want to spend a bit more money, you could go for a used DSLR which has "live view" with a zooom capability, thus making accurate manual focusing easier.

Spend a bit more money on a good tripod and you will have a pretty useful setup.

Just my opinion, hope you find it helpful.

There are "cheap" telephotos around, 400-500mm, but they still give a pretty good image. Any similar "zoom" would not be cheap. Consider that the actual size of the moon (and the sun, after you filter it properly so that you don't fry eyes and sensors) is approx 9mm per 1000mm of focal length. Am.