Quote:
Originally Posted by snowyskiesau
Good info, thanks Doug.
Thought I might try piggybacking at first. I can get some experience in drift aligning while I'm at it.
Still trying to decide which lens option to get with the 40D. One of the deals is with a 17-85 wide angle zoom , another with a 24-105 standard zoom.
The first sounds better for astro work, the second may be better for terrestrial stuff.
It's a long weekend so an extra day to decide  |
Hi again
I've got the 17-85mm lens, it's a good daytime walk around lens.
For astro widefield stuff I find it a bit slow at f4-5.6. Saying that, I still haven't had a chance under dark moonless, cloudless skies since I bought the camera to be absolutely sure.
I would favour fast f ratio prime lenses for astro work.
If you wanted to dip your toe - the Canon 50mm f1.8 is probably the best bet to start with. It's cheap $149 rrp , a bit plasticy!!! Build quality is not the best but results are sharp. Check out Bill Christie's widefields (2020BC) in the Deep Sky images section - they're fantastic...taken with the 50mm lens. I have been looking to get a decent budget Canon prime, and the voices in my head are telling me to get the 85mm f1.8
which is around
$500 on ebay.
The Sigma 17-70mm gets a good name - iceman has taken some nice widefields with that, so some zooms do a good job!
All the best
Doug
