Suggested DLSR Setup for Astro Landscapes

[Misplaced (Craig)]

Originally Posted by raymo

You can't use "Live View" to focus on the milky way; in a wide field the
stars are too small[and therefore too dim] to register on the screen. It
only works with fairly bright stars.
This Jupiter is still over exposed, 5 secs is much too long. ISO 3200 is
noisy and unnecessary, as Jupiter is bright. I suggest using 800 and start
with around 1/10th sec. Enlarge the resulting image to maximum on your
LCD screen, examine it, and shorten or lengthen your exposure as necessary
for each ensuing attempt until you get it right. Have you not got a lens
longer than 50mm?
raymo

Thanks Raymo. I did try photographing the moon last night as well and dropped the ISO down to 800 but all I got was a bright blob....lol

Right! My plan of action tonight is to drop the ISO down on Jupiter and try different exposure lengths.

I do have another lens and it 70mm-300mm. Would you suggest using that?

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

Yeah the Milky Way won't show up until you've got at least a few seconds on the sensor. Use live view to focus using a bright star and then don't adjust the focus afterwards. By bright, I mean go for something around mag 2, as the brighter ones like Sirius might cause some glare or bloom which would make finding focus harder.

Annoyingly, I did have really good focus on a nice bright star but then moved that focus when I decided to do the Milky Way. I thought afterwards I should have left the focus alone!

Still learning and it is getting clearer to me but I need to think more!!

Thanks guys.

[raymo]

300mm would be good. Serious planetary imagers use much longer
focal lengths, 2000mm and up. You will find that the 300mm needs longer exposures than the 50mm.
The moon is incredibly bright, and with your 50mm would need
exposures much much shorter than Jupiter. Try ISO 200 and 1/250th
sec as a starting point. You need very different exposures for the moon
at different times, as obviously, a full moon is far brighter than a partial
one. With a DSLR it is beneficial to use a high ISO on the moon, so that
the correct exposure is achieved using a high shutter speed. This is because DSLRs suffer from shutter and/or mirror vibration which can
affect the image. I personally use around ISO 1600 and 1/3200th as
a starting point with half moon. All things for you to try.
raymo

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Originally Posted by Misplaced

Annoyingly, I did have really good focus on a nice bright star but then moved that focus when I decided to do the Milky Way. I thought afterwards I should have left the focus alone!

Still learning and it is getting clearer to me but I need to think more!!

We're all still learning mate

Yeah the thing is that the Moon, planets and any faint fuzzies are all far, far away, so you're focussing on infinity. Some lenses have that marked at one extreme, but it doesn't necessarily mean it actually is in focus on night objects...only one of my lenses is actually in focus on when it says infinity

But yeah basically once you've focussed, you shouldn't need to change it, unless you happen to knock it out (one of my lenses is very twitchy and this is easy to do!), or the temperature changes drastically or whatever. It's worthwhile checking your focus every once in a while just in case though.

70mm should give you some nice wide shots. The 300mm will also give you some nice close-ups of star fields, and combinations of objects, like the Lagoon and Trifid for example, would be nicely framed at that focal length. Lots of things to try

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

We're all still learning mate

Yeah the thing is that the Moon, planets and any faint fuzzies are all far, far away, so you're focussing on infinity. Some lenses have that marked at one extreme, but it doesn't necessarily mean it actually is in focus on night objects...only one of my lenses is actually in focus on when it says infinity

But yeah basically once you've focussed, you shouldn't need to change it, unless you happen to knock it out (one of my lenses is very twitchy and this is easy to do!), or the temperature changes drastically or whatever. It's worthwhile checking your focus every once in a while just in case though.

70mm should give you some nice wide shots. The 300mm will also give you some nice close-ups of star fields, and combinations of objects, like the Lagoon and Trifid for example, would be nicely framed at that focal length. Lots of things to try

yep we sure are - here is me teaching myself timelapse - as you can see the camera slowly went out of focus all by itself
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80336656@N07/14077367612/ wouldn't it be nice if it did it the other way - for reference I think they were with a 50mm lens. and when I get to using it again I will be using tape or bluetac to keep it in focus!