Telescope Reviews: DSLR imaging with a telephoto

Ah good point - reading comprehension -1 for me.

I went with primes to get better glass for both day time and night use. Havent been disappointed in either realm. I have the stock 28-135mm zoom but I haven't used it past the first few days as the other lenses serve me well.

I've seen some very nice shots with zoom lenses but unless you spent serious dollars I think the primes would be better. Also with a variable focal length its hard to compare images and image scale from one shot to the next. One more thing for me to think about when shooting, which is generally a recipe for making a mess.

For example the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS and EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L both look like fine telephoto zooms, but as I said serious dollars.

That said, I think anyone taking any astro photo with any type of lens or imaging setup is positive step and a pleasure to accomplish, even my very first hand held 1 second shot of Orion was a blast to see the results emerge. I've only been imaging for 9 months or so and each shot is an experiment and a culmination of a lifetimes wondering if I'd like doing it - the answer is yes.

So I'd say - try it out, see if you like it and also to define the lens limitations. Lots of other things to think about, like what mount to use for tracking. Then start an upgrade plan, there's always one more piece of gear to desire so I know I'll never be done with upgrading and changing things around.

Mark

EDIT: James, I just read your blog, I see where you're at now. I was in the same spot last year. I had a nice OTA and mount in the Vixen stuff, but no camera or lenses. I wanted to try astrophotography but instead of learning with the Vixen at 3000mm focal length, I figured using a camera and lens in piggy back would be a smarter way to start.

I got the Canon 40D and the 100mm prime macro as I use it for close shots for work a lot. Once I stuck the lens on my mount in piggy back and saw the results, I got the 50mm, and looked for a 200mm which I got a couple of months later. Taking constellation photos is great fun, I learn a lot each time I do one as I use the image to identify targets that stand out - reading about them and imaging them are two different things and the knowledge sticks a lot faster if its your own image.

This gave me a path to learn the nuts of bolts of how everything works together and figure out what bias / darks / flats / tracking / processing / and a ton of other stuff is all about. Now I feel like I understand what I;m doing well enough to plan for the future.

Edited by Doubleglaze (09/20/09 11:57 PM)