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Shoutout to the guy who helped me pick between a telephoto and a wide angle lens
I was stuck for like a week trying to decide which lens to buy for my first real astro shot. This dude at the camera shop near downtown told me to go with the wide angle because it'd catch more of the milky way. Ended up grabbing a used 14mm f/2.8 for $250 and took it out to a dark sky spot last Saturday. The photo of Orion's nebula came out way better than I expected, even with some light pollution. Has anyone else had good luck with budget wide angles for night sky shots?
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the_christopher27d ago
Wait you got a 14mm f/2.8 for $250? Used or not that's a steal. I've seen those go for double that easy. Honestly though I'm more surprised you nailed Orion's nebula with that lens on a first try. That's not easy even with good glass. Light pollution is a killer too. Most people end up with a blurry smudge and get discouraged. Sounds like you got lucky with both the deal and the conditions. Keep at it the milky way core is totally doable with that setup if you stack a few shots.
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alicehernandez26d ago
That 14mm f/2.8 for $250 is a solid deal no doubt, but I gotta say I'm a little skeptical about how good that Orion shot was on a first try with light pollution. Most people end up with a washed out mess unless they're stacking frames and using some serious processing. I've seen beginners get lucky once or twice, but it usually takes a bunch of tries to get something that looks decent. Also, that lens might be fine for wide field stuff, but for nebula detail you're really pushing it at 14mm. You'd need some heavy cropping or a star tracker to get anything close to sharp. Just saying don't expect to repeat that result every time out.
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