p.2 #1 · Beginner Astrophotography (Milky Way and Star Trails) - 24mm Wide Enough?
Thanks for the advice on bringing some bait!! Unfortunately, the people I am traveling with (e.g. two adults and their middle school aged kids) will be fast asleep in the hotel, while I take the car and drive to take these shots. So no decoy for me!! Wondering if I need to get a GPS since possible no cell signal lol
p.2 #2 · Beginner Astrophotography (Milky Way and Star Trails) - 24mm Wide Enough?
Looking into the world of flashlights and don't want to go too deep into it. Looking at the Fenix Tk75 2015. Supposed 4000 lumens. Go big or go home right? Haha
I'll look to get a cheaper 1000-1200 lume light in case the Fenix fails.
Two23 wrote:
I just looked up the specs. The Revolt is a paltry 200 lumens. That's nothing in a wilderness. There is no way I'd head off into wilderness with something like that as my brightest light. It just isn't enough--outdoors at night really eats up light. It's also mounted on your head so you can't swing it about, scanning as you walk. It would be OK when you arrive and are setting up, but otherwise very inadequate. I always take two powerful lights with me along with a small headlight like you have. I ALWAYS have a powerful backup light for when something happens to the main light. I'm out alone in very remote areas on the Northern Plains two or three nights a week, and have experience. I suggest a hand held flashlight with at least 800 lumens. Mine are 1200 lumens.
p.2 #3 · Beginner Astrophotography (Milky Way and Star Trails) - 24mm Wide Enough?
What a "coincidence" haha
Cancelled my Amazon order. 2-4 week shipping delay and don't want to get a lens that might need to be returned if there are flaws. Instead, probably going to purchased a good used copy from Lens Rentals. I'd rather have them check my lens for decentering and all the known issues, rather than myself lol
dgdg wrote:
The 24mm is a good lens. Don't get me wrong. I had it briefly but just not enough room in the bag. I researched the lens and found comparisons at f2 vs wide open. I clearly benefits from stopping down to f2. How much it matters for your Astro depends. I'd check the moon phase though while your away. My wife used to tease me when I was planning some trips out west. "So that's when it's a new moon?!?!". I'd joke, "hey, wow it is!".
p.2 #5 · Beginner Astrophotography (Milky Way and Star Trails) - 24mm Wide Enough?
Ming-Tzu wrote:
Wondering if I need to get a GPS since possible no cell signal lol
If you stay within sight of a a road and your car, you should be OK. I always take a gallon of water with me when going out to places like that as well. Leave behind a map of where you'll be with your friends and when you expect to return. Always tell someone responsible where you are going if venturing into remote area you aren't familiar with, and especially if you lack basic outdoor skills. Make sure your car is filled with gas, also. You should be fine, just use some common sense and a little planning here.
p.2 #6 · Beginner Astrophotography (Milky Way and Star Trails) - 24mm Wide Enough?
So, if it's dark enough you really won't have any trouble spotting the Milkyway. It will be fairly obvious. It's a dense band of stars in the sky. And you can get a lot of neat star clusters in the Milkyway.
If you do track, you will not be able to have foreground in your image. The field rotation during tracking will render your foreground a blurry mess. Depending on your composition, you may be able to delete it out and replace with a foreground taken around sunset. But it won't be an exact replacement because the field rotation will cause the foreground to take a somewhat larger section of your image.
Middle of April this year is around full moon, so your astro photos may get washed out by moonlit sky. Astro photos look better during new moon, unless of course you are going for a moon shot. Those are kind of cool too.
p.2 #7 · Beginner Astrophotography (Milky Way and Star Trails) - 24mm Wide Enough?
With tracked images of the Milky Way or stars in the sky, I usually shoot my matching landscape by stopping the tracker between the star shots and shooting the same or a longer exposure for the land lit by the starts and milky way. That way I have matching landscape for every start shot. Another approach is to plan your night so that you can get your landscape after the Moon has risen. As a last resort I will shoot around dusk or dawn, but I always want the "correct" landscape that matches the Milky Way images. Then of course a combine in post processing puts the two sharp images together.
Another way to get interesting landscape with your Milky Way shots is to shoot with the Moon up, but at a phase that is only 10% to 30% of full. That gives plenty of light for interesting landscape, but still allows the Milky Way images to not be washed out by Moon "light pollution".
Also, some trackers have a half speed setting available. That allows you to double your exposure time over what would be sharp with no tracking, and the result is fairly sharp for both the land and the sky, with no post processing required.
p.2 #8 · Beginner Astrophotography (Milky Way and Star Trails) - 24mm Wide Enough?
Greetings -
Two dilemmas I faced, not so successfully at times, of which one is focusing at infinity. The hard stop infinity setting may not actually be at infinity. Two solutions: First, at the end of the day, put your camera in manual focus setting, turn off IS (if you have it), and focus on something you know is at infinity. Then put a small piece on tape on the lens to make sure the focus does not change when you are fooling with settings in the dark. Alternative is use live view to focus on a bright object in the sky, using max magnification. Second dilemma is foreground movement.
If windy, lots of ghosting of the foreground. Poor solution is to use immovable foregrounds, like rocks, or to do a quick light paint. Quick light paint is tricky. Alternative is to shoot the foreground at dusk, don't move and then shoot the stars, layering them later. Can be tricky though. I am a novice too. I get less than 5% keepers. Zion/Bryce skies are awesome. Better in cooler months, no moon.
Cheers,
John
p.2 #9 · Beginner Astrophotography (Milky Way and Star Trails) - 24mm Wide Enough?
all good advice but it's a pretty aggressive schedule for only 10 days, unless you already have specific shooting locations in mind. good luck & have fun..
remember, mountain lions most often attack from behind, so setup your gears accordingly.. ha ha.. :')
p.2 #10 · Beginner Astrophotography (Milky Way and Star Trails) - 24mm Wide Enough?
certainly shoot panos its th eonly way to get the MW arch in really. Start small (4-8 single row) and work up ( 3-4 rows/60 shots).
Are you already proficient in shooting at stitching panos?
issues for astro panos
- vignetting make sure you overlap up to 50% if you are shooting wide open on heavy vignet lenses, stopping down you can overlap 25-30%
- foregrounds you dont want to focus stack so make sure you have nothing super close, also try an additional set at longer exposure times if you want a brighter foreground and its super dark.
- be consistent and get horizons level - really helps stitching
- process to tiff before stitching (unless acr/lr gets it right). really helps if you boost those shadows etc.
- its sometimes better to shoot 360 ( aka all around) rows this helps stitching
- if the MW is over head its a biatch to shoot wait until its lower ( 60-70degrees or lower)
- always shoot an extra frame wider/higher...
- panos take a long time, plan on 30min per shoot, so be careful with clouds etc
p.2 #12 · Beginner Astrophotography (Milky Way and Star Trails) - 24mm Wide Enough?
Ming - Since Mountain Lions sneak up behind you, walking backwards will let you see them before they pounce on you - just kidding. I took bear spray with me to Wyoming, but did not need it, and I saw bears several times. You will be fine, but recommendation for boots that cover your ankles is a good idea, in case you step on a Rattle Snake. Tarantulas are out there too, but are not aggressive. I saw several in Zion. And in my opinion, 24-70mm is a good lens for night shots of the sky at 24mm. I used the Canon EF24-70L and found f/2.8 to be great at gathering distant light. I took my Canon EF17-40L with me and used it at 17mm, but f/4 is harder to work with in my opinion.
Cheers,
John
