A little more on my astrophotography

[CuriousMike]

In the "photo of the day" thread, I made a point to note that I frequently use panorama's for my Milky Way photos.

This is primarily because I don't have a very fast, wide lens.

For example, my 14mm f/2.8 would be great -- but it isn't fast enough to capture all the light I want.
My 24mm f/1.4 is captures much much more light, but it isn't wide enough to capture the entire milky way.

I've used the pano to create vertical or horizontal stacks of the night sky using Lightroom which does an amazing job and stitching.

I've had lucky using both the 24 f/1.4 and even my simple 50mm f/1.8

Why do I love the 24 f/1.4 so much? Out of the camera, the image looks great and with a small bit of shadows and exposure tuning, you get a great looking file.

The original source image after vertical stacking of 3 images

 

[CuriousMike]

As a comparison point, here is an unedited version from my 14mm at f/2.8; notice how it has twice the exposure time yet still doesn't match the f/1.4 with half the time.

 

[Syborg1211]

Wow that's crazy. The t-stop on that 14mm must be higher than 2.8.

So with pano'ing and stitching, you don't run into issues with the stars moving over time? I haven't done much astro, but there's a point the stars turn into light streaks due to the movement of the stars. I guess that's in shorter time than 2 15 second exposures?

 

[CuriousMike]

With the 24mm, I'm either taking 15 or 20 second exposures - and with 3, 6, or 9 images -- you bet the stars have moved!
When I get a good alignment (with my tripod), you'll see Lightroom creates a more "stair-stepped" result of the alignment.

It's remarkable for how well LR does its job.

The 14mm f/2.8 is the internets go to recommendation for the work - and that's how I started. But I wish I would have skipped it and just went directly to the 24 f/1.4 - it's not that much more expensive and the results speak for themself. Plus, stitching.

Regarding the light transmission for the 14, I'm not really sure. There's a formula for general effectiveness for a lens for astrophotography that takes into account the focal length (directly affects exposure time) and the maximum aperture.

http://www.lonelyspeck.com/lonely-specks-ultimate-list-of-best-astrophotography-lenses/

 

[bigrash]

Thanks for all the info, CuriousMike! I'll be taking a trip to Oregon next week so I'm going to attempt taking pictures of the night sky for the 1st time. I never have the chance to do that living in NYC.

 

[CuriousMike]

If you're semi-serious about taking a good shot of the night sky, depending on your camera, ensure you have some knowledge of how to (a) manually focus and (b) focus at night. See my https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocfzCBuwZjs (If you have a mirrorless camera, depending on the model, it may be easier or harder.)

Also, I suggest looking at the phase of the moon - we're going into a full moon which isn't great for stars - but the end of next week could work.
https://www.calendar-12.com/moon_calendar/2017/june

Also, I suggest the free app Stellarium (on desktop - the mobile app is good too, I just find the desktop easier to use) - you can set date/time/location and see where everything is - i.e., point it to the east at 11pm and verify the Milky Way will be up.

Thanks for all the info, CuriousMike! I'll be taking a trip to Oregon next week so I'm going to attempt taking pictures of the night sky for the 1st time. I never have the chance to do that living in NYC.

 

[Nohr]

Very cool Mike, I didn't realize you could create panoramas in Lightroom. That might be a reason for me to upgrade from version 5..

 

[CuriousMike]

Very cool Mike, I didn't realize you could create panoramas in Lightroom. That might be a reason for me to upgrade from version 5..

IMO, pano's and its HDR functionality are the prime considerations going from 5 to 6.

 

[bigrash]

I looked over your youtube vid. That's very helpful. Guess it'll take practice trying to focus at night. I use a Mark III and do mostly landscape photography so I rented a 16-35mm f4 for this trip. Not sure how well that'll do with astrophotography, but I'll give it a shot. From reading the tutorials over at Lonelyspeck, It seems like my 50mm f1.8 might be a better option for the night sky.

I didn't even think that the phase of the moon might makes a difference. That sucks cause I'll be shooting mostly during the waning gibbous period. I have the app Night Sky on my phone. I checked out Stellarium but it's a paid app now, but I think Night Sky does the same thing.

If you're semi-serious about taking a good shot of the night sky, depending on your camera, ensure you have some knowledge of how to (a) manually focus and (b) focus at night. See my https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocfzCBuwZjs (If you have a mirrorless camera, depending on the model, it may be easier or harder.)

Also, I suggest looking at the phase of the moon - we're going into a full moon which isn't great for stars - but the end of next week could work.
https://www.calendar-12.com/moon_calendar/2017/june

Also, I suggest the free app Stellarium (on desktop - the mobile app is good too, I just find the desktop easier to use) - you can set date/time/location and see where everything is - i.e., point it to the east at 11pm and verify the Milky Way will be up.