[choong_dc]

Guys, I need some advice.
I have a K30 which intend to use it for my Milkyway shot.
However I have a couple of lens, which would be ideal and what setting to use?
1) DA 18-55mm kitlens f3.5@18mm
2) SMC 28mm f2.8
3) DA12-24mm F4
4) 31mm f1.8

Which would be best? Please help me out! Thanks in advance!!!

[Tsuken]

Guys, I need some advice.
I have a K30 which intend to use it for my Milkyway shot.
However I have a couple of lens, which would be ideal and what setting to use?
1) DA 18-55mm kitlens f3.5@18mm
2) SMC 28mm f2.8
3) DA12-24mm F4
4) 31mm f1.8

Which would be best? Please help me out! Thanks in advance!!!

If it were me, I'd try the DA12-24 at 12mm first. You should get up to a 50 second exposure without significant star trailing. That should at least make up for it's smaller aperture, and the wider FOV ought to be really good.

[Stone G.]

Which would be best? Please help me out! Thanks in advance!!!

I have got very decent images of the Milky Way with the DA 18-135mm at 18mm and f/3.5 and you can probably use all of your lenses for this kind of astrophotograhy.

BUT, you should try all your lenses at an approriate star field. I needs not be the Milky Way, just a field with plenty of stars:

Use a tripod, some 10s exposure (at 31mm) to some 25s, or maybe even more as suggested by Tsuken (at 12mm); use high ISO around 1600-3200. Examine the star field images at 100% viewing, particularly at the corners, where aberrations such as coma and field curvature will become particularly noticeable.

My guess - but it is only a guess - is that your smc 28/2.8 will be the poorest performer, because these vintage wide-field lenses just weren't optimized for THIS kind of photography.

[choong_dc]

hohohoho.... i forgot my FE DA1017 f3.5 is also available by today...

[hughdgray]

I bought the K-50, as a complete novice, a couple of days ago and decided to try some astrophotography.. Any feedback/suggestions? Many thanks

[VE2CJW]

Here are a couple of shots taken with my K30 and a 50mm lens at 1.8. Exposure was 15 seconds at ISO 800 in both cases. In one picture, you notice the passing of a satellite, in the other it's a plane. I didn't use the astrotracer for these shots. The other is a picture of the sun at 300mm with a sun filter. Exposure was short.

[Evie]

OK, worked a bit on Summer milky way shot from my trip in Sardegna - got much more noise, but much brighter view


Also started using O-GPS unit.... still need to improve precise calibration and other options. Got no clear sky for some months...

[Bringass]

[/COLOR]

My K-30 and Sigma 17-50mm F2.8.

Cant wait to go back there and shoot again, I didn't knew a lot of things that day, my focus is WAY OFF.

[Evie]

Love your photos
I started working more on astrophotography, however, I got more questions now...

1: what white balance do you use for astro shots? Daylight? Custom white?
2: Do you use any software for stacking? If yes, how and what? I do not especially like DSS, and I found only the tutorial for lessening the noise for PS.

My latest tries:
1. New postprocessing of old image - started working with PS. Single frame with Sigma 17-70 F2.8-4 on 17mm F2.8 30 s. Without O-GPS unit.


2. Panorama of 11 images: Sigma 50mm F1.4 . 11x60s exposures Need to learn working on colors... really bad Final image more than 11000px length...


3. Single frame with Sigma 17-70.


4. And here tried stacking of multiple images. 6 x 15-50s exposures (was working with remote... and it made some rubbish with the exposures and delays.


Any advices?

[mcrice]

Hi there, I'm planning to get into some deep-space and planetary astrophotography with my K-50 and Meade LX-90 (or piggy-backed Meade 2045-D).


I'm hoping to find a page or list of optimum camera settings as a starting point to apply as a user-setting.
In particular, the best trade-off between ISO, exposure times, noise reduction and white balance.


Attached are some first efforts. Without any particular planning I'm fairly happy and sure I could do a lot better with the right settings, RAW files, and some post-processing, image stacking etc.


FWIW they're all taken at prime focus of Meade LX-90 (2000mm f10) on an alt-az mount. I also have an equatorial wedge so longer exposures will be possible though I don't have a formal guide-scope set up.


- IMPG1665 is comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) 10 sec at ISO51200
- IMGP1680 is the Lagoon Nebula 15sec at ISO25600
- IMGP1683 is the Eagle Nebula 30sec at ISO25600
all acquired in JPEG, NR & SR off, auto white-balance and that's about it.
all have been re-sized small for posting here

Thanks for any advice

[SunValley]

@Evie Colors may be difficult to control if you're shooting in a light polluted area. Not sure if that's your case but there seems to be a lot of pp in your pictures. That tends to saturate the stars a bit much. Shoot raw and stack. DSS is the easiest. Convert your files to tif if you have problems with it crashing. If you stack 10 frames or more of the same field while shooting at iso 2500 or less, noise will disappear like magic. Zooms and stacking don't always work well together because of distortion. Be sure to recenter your frame frequently or use primes. My Pentax-A 50 mm f/1.4 @ f/2.0 is by far my favorite lens for astro work. Use the astrotracer whenever you can, longer exposures give you better signal to noise ratio. Don't worry about WB, when you open your files in Camera Raw just apply "auto" and that usually does it. If you need a darker site you can spot one on darksite finder (click here for link). I tend to shoot in yellow zones or darker

Good luck and clear skies to you!

[Bringass]

I need to get a better tripod, but I'm very happy with the results, already bought a K-S2 but haven't arrived yet, I bet the flip screen is going to help with this kind of photos.

[SunValley]

Very nice!

[Bringass]

Very nice!

Thank you SunValley! the more I do this type of Photography the more I like it!

[photographerclare]

Hey guys,

I am a beginner to astrophotography, but I need your help. I have been trying to shoot stars and I cannot get them stable. Im on a k50, but I hear they are quite similar
a little background:
DA 35mm lens, ISO 3200 f2.4, 10 seconds (I think) I use a tripod and remote, NR and SR are both off. I can't get a picture that is completely stable. When I turn my camera to live mode it shakes, so I am thinking there is some setting on that I need to turn off or vice versa. Can anyone help me?!