DSLR Shots and Discussions

Titan1080

The key to getting good astro shots IMO depends far more on having a dark sky than on your lens. A sturdy tripod and a remote trigger (wired or not) can get you great shots with just a kit lens if you can get as far away from city lights as possible. If you're keen on getting something though, I've been using a 28mm f/1.8 lens and that extra bit of aperture does add some flexibility, but can be spendy:



Admittedly, I did not use my kit lens to take the shot above but I very easily could have since I was way out in the sticks with effectively zero light pollution. Pic info: ISO800, f/1.8, 10 sec exposure on a crop sensor Nikon D5000. I was experimenting with how much I could get with such a short exposure, normally I'd run around f/2.8-3.5 for 20-30 seconds since the stars will be more pin-pointy after longer exposures than if the aperture is wide open, based on similar lenses I used back when I shot 35mm film, that Tokina lens should get you what you're after if it's got good glass. With an 11-18mm range, you can probably go as high as a minute at 11mm before the stars start to trail noticeably.

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2009 370Z w/ Sport