Wanting to get into the Hobby
Wanting to get into the Hobby
Hey everyone, I've been a long time photographer on a hiatus. Ever since learning about the existence of EQ mounts I have been excited to get back into photography and try the astro side of it.
I have a 300mm f/2.8 lens for my DSLR and am wondering if that focal length is any good. Thanks!
I've taken astro photos with both shorter and slower lenses so you should be fine.
One thing to remember is the rule of 500 for astro. Take 500 / your size (300mm) and that's the
highestlongest shutter speed without trails (use 300 if you have a crop sensor). Unless you have a tracking mount.For bright objects (moon, planets) you could be fine with individual shots. Moon especially as it's brighter than you might think. For fainter objects you're probably going to want to do is get an interval timer (if your camera doesn't have built in) and get and learn to use stacker software to merge 10s or 100s of shots into one final result. Again less of an issue with a tracking mount.
*edit: changed highest shutter speed to longest shutter speed as highest could be confusing.
Thanks! I didn't know about the rule of 500
Also a couple of helpful links.
Clear Sky Chart http://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/index.html this is helpful in predicting if you'll have good conditions (not just weather) for taking photos. Bad atmospheric conditions can lead to blurry / fuzziness even if you do everything right.
Dark Sky Finder https://darksitefinder.com/map/?i=%2F%234%2F39.00%2F-98.00 if you live near a city getting out to places with less light pollution will drastically improve the quality of you photos. This can help you find places with less light pollution near you. Main reason I don't do as much astro now is moving from a small town to a small city in a metro area so its much harder to get a darker sky without driving over an hour.