Milky Way widefields

[cruiser (Brett)]

I finally got out a few days ago with the camera and some clear skys while camping down the coast south of Sydney (about 4 hours south). Didn't have my astro gear with me but I did have my trusty 40D and my wide lens's (10-22mm this time). First 2 shots I went walking across the dunes to near the beach while the 3rd is from the caravan park campsite (a few lights to light things up)
All shots were taken at iso1600, f4.5, around 10mm. Times on shots were 129sec, 94sec & 86sec respectively (It was dark, no torch and I just random counted in my head

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_2r9eqlTPDhc/S8...UY/Stars_1.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_2r9eqlTPDhc/S8...FA/Stars_2.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_2r9eqlTPDhc/S8...7E/Stars_3.jpg

It would be nice to have the widefield lens @ f2.8

Brett

[Scorpius51 (John)]

Nice ones Brett, particularly 2 & 3. It doesn't take much gear to get some decent astropics. I did some similar shots last week from the suburbs, but they don't rate with yours from a darker sky site.

Cheers
John

[duncan]

Wonderful shots,i love the beach. Can't wait to get home and start taking some pics myself.
Cheers,
Duncan

[multiweb (Marc)]

Great stuff Brett. My fav would be #2 & #3 with #2 my pick. Great colors and framing with the dune on the beach. One for the poolroom.

[soundworthy (Michael)]

Very nice location, I really appreciate the 86sec shot, doesn't take much hey.

[Jeffkop (Jeff)]

I like them Brett ... great effect ... geeze those ppl in the last picture dont move much in 86 seconds ... ya sure they are not still there ????

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

Excellent pix's, although not that easy especially at the dead of night. I tried last night to do the same thing and failed out of focus big time. Just couldn't see out of the eyepiece to focus properly.

I too am considering a decent widefield lens as well.

[alexch (Alex)]

Very nice indeed. Properly lit foreground makes it special.

Alex

[cruiser (Brett)]

Originally Posted by Jeffkop

I like them Brett ... great effect ... geeze those ppl in the last picture dont move much in 86 seconds ... ya sure they are not still there ????

Yes those people sat pretty still for a while. They had some sort of lamp with them which ruined my first shot but I'm glad they finally turned it off. Not sure if they were fishing or having a D&M .

Originally Posted by mswhin63

Excellent pix's, although not that easy especially at the dead of night. I tried last night to do the same thing and failed out of focus big time. Just couldn't see out of the eyepiece to focus properly.

I too am considering a decent widefield lens as well.

It wasn't easy trying to get focus on a far distant town light at 22mm. Camera couldn't auto focus on the light so I had do visually do it. Cold must have gotten to my brain while down there as I forgot about the liveview feature .