how to see the milky way.
how to see the milky way.
my camera gear.
1.0 My Current Gear
1.1 Camera Body
1.2 Lenses
1.3 Accessories
1.0 My Current Gear
1.1 Camera Body
My current camera of choice is a Canon EOS 6D. I chose this one as it seemed like the perfect overlap between image quality (and in particular low light performance) and cost.
Initially released more than a decade ago, this camera is still performing as one of the best astrophotography cameras on the market, at a fraction of the cost. It has a 20.2 megapixel full frame sensor, which is also an ideal balance between detail and noise performance (due to the large pixel pitch). I used my 6D to take images 1, 2 and 3.
1.2 Lenses
I have four lenses that use for night sky and landscape photography, although I purchased all of them with astrophotography in mind. All four are prime lenses, meaning they have a fixed focal length, and don't zoom in or out. While this can be annoying for daytime photography, it means that the optics can be designed with one focal length in mind, and as such the image quality and maximum aperture are often better than you'd find on a zoom lens.
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Although I've only owned it for half a year, the lens I use the most is a Samyang 14mm f/2.4 SP. I've heard questionable things about Samyang's (aka Rokinon) quality control but luckily I purchased a good copy. This lens is good enough to shoot wide open at f/2.4, allowing plenty of light into the camera. A focal length of 14mm is also a classic for astrophotography, with a field of view wide enough to capture what feels like most of the sky. This is the lens I use for all of my 360 night sky panoramas, and wide angle single shots (see image 1).
This lens is manual focus so it can be somewhat difficult for daytime shooting, but at night you'll only use manual focus anyway so this isn't an issue.
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Another great lens I use is the Samyang 135mm f/2 ED UMC, famous in the tracked astrophotography world. This lens is both manual focus and manual aperture, again not an issue at night but for daytime shooting this can be a real pain. Because there's no communication between the lens and the camera, I'll often need to shoot several photos to get the exposure right, using a trial and error process. This is fine if you have enough time to compose a shot, but for any kind of wildlife or moving target this is not ideal. In terms of pure performance however, this lens is incredible (see image 2). Sharp from corner to corner, and basically no vignette when stopped down to f/2.8.
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The next lens in my collection, and one that I've only added in the last few weeks, is the Sigma 28mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art. In terms of overall use, this lens is probably the best one I own. Sharp from corner to corner and minimal vignette when stopped to f/2, plus a huge aperture which is perfect for low light (see image 3, shot at f/1.4). The lens also has autofocus, so it's much easier to use during the daytime as well.
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And last but not least (kidding this lens sucks), is my old Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM aka "the nifty fifty". To its credit, this lens is dirt cheap, but you do get what you pay for here.
Before I knew anything about astrophotography, I started using this lens on my old Canon crop sensor at f/1.8 - a huge mistake. The stars were basically all purple from chromatic aberration, and any sharpness was non existent (see image 4). After I started stopping the lens down to f/2.8, the image quality improved dramatically (see image 5), but only on my crop sensor. While definitely better than at f/1.8, the astigmatism and vignette on my full frame Canon 6D was still very apparent at the corners.
That being said, this lens is great for beginners as it gives access to a very fast (wide aperture) lens for a cheap price. It also, for better or worse, teaches you a lot about lens optics as you research why your photos look like garbage.
This lens will probably end up in my old gear collection soon, but for now it serves as my only 50mm lens, and still does a somewhat decent job during the day.
image 1: camera silhouette at 14mm
image 2: the coalsack nebula at 135mm
image 3: the milky way at 28mm
image 4: the coalsack nebula at 50mm f/1.8 (crop sensor)
image 5: the milky way core at 50mm f/2.8 (crop sensor)
1.3 Accessories
As for accessories, I have quite a few bits and pieces that I've accumulated over the years. By far the most important however is my star tracker, an iOptron SkyGuider Pro. This tracker is probably a little overkill for what I use it for, especially with the iPolar electronic PolarScope attachment, but it works amazingly well. For wide angle milky way and night sky photos, something smaller and more portable would probably be preferable as the SkyGuider is quite bulky, but if you don't mind that then SkyGuider works well.
I think making the change from untracked to tracked night sky images was probably the biggest single upgrade in my photo quality, as it finally allowed me to expose the night sky properly, even with an f/4 kit lens.
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I do also use things like a remote shutter cable and a lens warmer but honestly these aren't specific to any brand. There are probably some nice high quality ones out there, but they don't have anything to do with picture quality so you just need something that works. The same is true of my tripod, any sturdy tripod will work just fine.