The biggest difference between using a camera lens versus a telescope for astrophotography is that camera lenses have a much more complicated design, incorporating a lot of extra things that are not useful for long-exposure astrophotography (such as auto-focus).
Whereas a telescope (such as a triplet refractor) was designed to capture images of space without any chromatic aberration. The simplified design is maximized to create a flat field image, with stars that look great from edge to edge.
Not all lenses perform well at night, but even a cheap camera lens can produce incredible results with the right approach.
If you already own a DSLR camera and lens, there are many suitable astrophotography projects to try. At a focal length of 150mm and above, the larger deep-sky objects begin to reveal themselves in a long exposure image.
Related Post: 3 Easy Astrophotography Targets for Your Camera and Lens
Camera lenses excel at wide-angle shots such as Milky Way photography and nightscapes. The key to capturing a great photo with a camera lens like this is the star tracker. The star tracker compensates for the rotation of the Earth, and a moving sky.
Some of my favorite lenses for astrophotography include the Sigma 24mm F/1.4 Art series lens, and the Rokinon 135mm F/2 mid-range telephoto. The photo below was captured using the Sigma 24mm lens on a star tracker from a dark sky location.
Taking impressive deep-sky astrophotography images is not reserved for those using an astronomical telescope. A budget camera lens can be used to take images of some of the best deep-sky objects in the night sky. A telephoto zoom lens can provide enough magnification to pull distant objects in space in for a closer look, but…
Nightscape photography involves capturing a landscape style image, at night. It can include the beautiful Milky Way, a starry sky, or your favorite constellation. This is a type of astrophotography, where long exposure images are taken to reveal the beautiful light of a seemingly ‘dark’ sky. Star photography requires quality optics, and some camera lenses…
On this website, I do my best to share information and astrophotography tips that provide value. I could pat myself on the back about all of the great astrophotography images I took this year, but it is of little interest to anyone if I don’t explain how I took the shot. In this article, I’ll…
The Sigma 24mm F/1.4 lens is an interesting choice for astrophotography, particularly wide-angle Milky Way photography. With an f-ratio of F/1.4, this Sigma art series lens can pull in a lot of light under a dark night sky. While a few lenses in their art-series line-up are well-suited for low-light photography, I consider the 24mm…
The Double Cluster in Perseus The Double Cluster in Perseus (NGC 869 and NGC 884) are two open clusters in the constellation Perseus. Also named Caldwell 14 or simply “The Double Cluster”, both star clusters are very similar to each other in size, magnitude, and age. This pair of open clusters lie about 7,000 light-years…
In a recent video, I shared my results using a $200 DSLR for astrophotography. In a hobby known for being very expensive, I think it is very interesting that such results can be obtained using an old, inexpensive camera. In this post, I’ll prove to you that incredible astrophotography results are possible with an old,…
The Canon EOS Ra camera is Canon’s first full-frame mirrorless camera dedicated to astrophotography. It is suitable for deep-sky imaging with a telescope, and night sky photography with a camera lens. Based off of the extremely popular EOS R, the EOS Ra boasts unique features such as 30x magnification (viewfinder and Live View) for precise…
In this post, I’ll explain why I think the Rokinon 135mm F/2 is the perfect addition to an arsenal of astrophotography lenses. Deep-sky astrophotography is often associated with a camera and telescope, but the truth is there are a lot of great camera lenses for astrophotography out there. In the past, I’ve covered a number…
If you watched my video about Comet 46P Wirtanen, you may have noticed that my imaging gear included a Canon EF 300mm F/4L USM Lens. This may have seemed a little odd to those that are used to seeing me use a telescope for astrophotography, but a camera lens like this can be a great…
If you are wondering how to take pictures of stars and the alluring wonders of the night sky, look no further. In this article, I’ll share an absolute, bare-bones approach to capturing a spectacular photograph of the stars above the one below. This includes covering which camera to use, the exact camera settings I recommend,…