Curious to try my hand at astrophotography

[Porksodaguy]

Greetings!

I recently decided to spring for a new camera, a Canon EOS 1000D, and some lenses. Once upon a time I had a budding interest in astronomy, but it kinda died when I realized that when you look through a telescope you don't see those pretty technicolor images in national geographic right away, and that I was a long, long way away from being able to afford the equipment the more experienced people were using.

Well, I got a basic set of photography gear now, so I figured maybe I'd see what I can do with the gear I have, and maybe some minor additional purchases.

I have:
Canon Rebel XS camera body
Canon kit 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 image stabilized zoom lens
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 telephoto zoom lens
Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens
Basic understanding of astronomy & SLR photography techniques

I intend to get:
Tripod (not sure what size/brand/type)
UV & polarizing filter
DIY remote shutter release

What can I do with the above equipment? What are some purchases I could make to expand the capabilities of this set of equipment with relatively low investment? What are some recommended resources for learning about astrophotography techniques?

Thanks for your help! :smile:

-soda

[AstroBob]

Welcome to the site mate.

I would definitely say star trails and lunar work. I'm no astrophotographer though, the others here may be able to help more.

Maybe a cheap mount on a wedge to do some widefield work to.

Bob

[poppasmurf]

Welcome to the site, firstly there are people here with a wealth of experience so if you have ANY questions, ask away. Having said that I have had some quite desent results with my Fuji S9600 on a tripod. Mainly widefield, but you are restricted to 30 sec or less exposures which can then be stacked in software like registax or deep sky stacker to give basically the equivalent of a longer exposure. Some excellent pics can be obtained of the moon as well. If you want to go for the images more like National Geographic you will need to invest in a mount that can track the sky, to take longer exposures. As I said, I am no expert but there is my two cents worth, hope this helps.
Regards poppasmurf AKA Shane

[Radar]

What can I do with the above equipment? What are some purchases I could make to expand the capabilities of this set of equipment with relatively low investment? What are some recommended resources for learning about astrophotography techniques?


Certainly widefield work. Certainly star trails. Possibly comets, definitly eclipses and meteor showers.

Make sure your camera lens aperture is wide open, then bring it back by one stop or two stops. This helps with a flatter field.

If you can find a cheap mount somewhere you could do some guided exposures and really catch the sky well. That said, if you simply do a 30 second exposure and a static camera, with the aperture wide open and the ISO turned right up you may be surprised at what you get. Use a widefield lens for this. Just point at an interesting part of the sky. Maybe get some interesting foreground inside it as well.

Ray

[BitsyLon]

Welcom to the group, Soda!!

A Barn Door Mount is probably the cheapest way to get into some wide field astrophotography (and with a proper telephoto lens, a little less than wide field astrophotography).

Here is just one link to get you started:

http://www.eskimo.com/~rachford/widefield/barndoor.html

I'm sure if you goodle "Barn Door Mount" you'll find many others ;)

Cheers,

Lon