Nipar wrote:
Dear Marco, first thing: I really do thank you for the whole post you had the effort to write.
Really, really, thank you.
You are entirely welcome. The very reason I took many of these photographs was just to share the results with the forum members here.
I premise: I had previously some experience of night photography: I have a tripod and the three lenses I mentioned.
Sounds like you have all the essentials. Be sure to bring a flashlight with you to see your camera buttons and just in case you drop something... (like your phone)... in the dark. I've done this. In fact I dropped both my phone and my flashlight at the same time during an exposure in long grass after midnight. Not pleasant.
I asked how to get the best out of I could with these lenses as for now I would prefer not buying another lens as I'm going to leave for a central asia trip next week and I'm already carrying three lenses. Furthemore, buying the 22mm would be not using anymore the 11-22 and it would be a pitty for me
These two lenses share a 22mm focal length but they produce very different results due to the aperture on the EF-M 22mm f/2 STM lens. It's also incredibly affordable and makes for a terrific travel lens. There's just a subtle amount of Bokeh on the EF-M 22mm f/2 lens that makes it terrific for portraits or closer subjects. It's not as strong as on the EF-M 32mm f/1.4 lens but it's nice and smooth and it tends to enhance the shot.
.
Below are some Images taken with the EF-M 22mm f/2 lens that I didn't post before. I'm only posting them now so you can see that this lens is a practical one for wide-field astro. But if you don't need the lens otherwise, your EF-M 32mm f/1.4 lens should make do with a tighter framing.
.
EOS M6 + EF-M 22mm f/2 STM lens. This is a single exposure but it's been very carefully edited to enhance all the necessary details. Saturn is in the scene and appears as the bright blue star. A touch of color was added or enhanced at the very top of the frame. Edited only in Photoshop. Shot in RAW (for once... all my other shots were taken in JPEG). Note that I've used a Tungsten White Balance in my images.... something you may not necessarily want to do. Not quite a Bortle 3 sky.
Setting up the EOS M6 with the EF-M 22mm f/2 lens for the shot Above.
EOS M6 + EF-M 22mm f/2 STM lens (2x shot vertical panorama with Mars)
That's why I want to try some "settings already tested" for the lenses I have to get nice pictures
I've never thought of taking night sky photography with the 32mm indeed as I know, even though a fast lens, not suitable because of POV.
Don't be discouraged. In fact a lot of people with Full Frame cameras like to use a 50mm lens for their Astro Landscapes.
The fact the 32mm hasn't IS has been misunderstood as I was refering the fact (untold) that the last trip I took most of the videos with the 32mm but came back home I realized the were shaking....because I didn't know the missing of IS.
Ah, I see. Yes, I took some video with another lens recently (EF-M 28mm f/3.5 IS Macro) and was pretty unhappy with the amount of camera shake... although that lens does have Image Stabilization. I ended up having to stabilize the footage further using software. If you are new to this lens and use your camera with Auto ISO, or Auto shutter speed settings, I find that the camera shutter speed needs to be set to at least 1/80 second to avoid camera shake when taking shots in daylight if you are not standing perfectly still. The camera will often prefer to defer to around 1/60 sec for some reason and whilst most shots turn out in daylight, it's sometimes just a little too slow unless you are standing still.
.
The EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens does have a narrower Field of View but it comes close to a 50mm lens when seated on an APS-C sensor camera like the EOS M-series. This means it's a very good overall lens for portraits and travel. But it's still useful as an astro lens because it's fairly darned bright at f/1.4. It's also VERY sharp even with the aperture wide open at maximum.
.
EOS M6 + EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM - Red Moon during the Australian Bushfires
EOS M6 + EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens.
A two shot blend taken together (the sky required a slightly longer exposure)
EOS M6 + EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens (Canon have since borrowed this shot from me - *with the 'Protage' logo removed from the lens warmer strap.)
EOS M6 + EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens - my favorite tree.
EOS M6 + EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens
This would best be described as a two-shot exposure 'fantasy piece'.
EOS M6 + EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens - the large Magellanic Cloud (Dwarf Galaxy)
EOS M6 + EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens - a closeup of a crystal sphere (inverted)
EOS m6 + EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens - Comet 46P/Wirtanen (slightly cropped)
Did you set this value in M-mode according to your "eye" or you used A-mode?
I took a number of shots with each lens and sorted through them on the computer to select the best ones as finals. I did this to determine what the very best results would require for each lens. This way I can quickly set up the same settings in future if shooting under similarly dark skies using the same lenses.
Do you think that over ISO 5000 the picture will start being noisy?
Unless shooting with a larger sensor with Full Frame, then yes. BUT.... you can sometimes shoot with higher ISO and capture more detail. A noisy image isn't necessarily a bad one. Plus you may be able to use modern software (like DeNoise A.I. by Topaz Labs) to reduce noise later during editing. I generally won't shoot over ISO 2500 with the EOS M cameras although occasionally I may try to use ISO 6400. I've included a shot below that was taken at ISO 5000 with the EF-M 11-22mm lens on the EOS M6 camera. It's not too bad, actually. Not ideal but better than on the old EOS M (Mk 1) camera from 2012.
Just one more question: how can I disable the AF and set the focus to infinite with the 11-22 or 32mm?
Most of the recent EOS M cameras have a Manual Focus/Auto Focus button on the back of the camera though the M200 might require you to go into the menu for this. On the EOS M6 that I use, the AF/MF button is on the rear of the camera. From memory, I seem to remember you can switch to MF with the menu.
.
EOS M + EF-M 11-22mm lens - a 2x Shot Panorama. Note that this was pushing the sensor as far as it could go on other older 2012 model EOS M. The details of the milky Way were smeary. The glow on the horizon was from the city of Sydney in the distance. Bortle 3 (rural) location.
EOS M6 + EF-M 11-22mm lens - better results from the EOS M6 camera. Not as bright a lens as you might want. But nice contrast and you can still coax out the major details from the galactic core. This was with ISO 5000 ... and the lens performed better on the newer sensors.
.
Once Manual Focus has been selected, Zoom in on a star and then manually turn the lens focus left and right until you feel that the subject is perfectly in focus. If you are not confident with your ability to manually focus the lens, consider takeing a few shots and then manually refocusing the lens again before taking a few more pictures. Review your images on the LCD screen to see if the pictures are in focus. Cold temperatures can sometimes alter the focus on a lens during shooting. So it helps to check your focus every half an hour or so. It may not change but it can happen. I also like to use the self timer to ensure no vibration occurs. A 2 second timer is usually fine. The touch screen can also be set up to trigger the self timer and this can add even more stability.
Some lens have a specific leverage but EF-Ms don't (the 32mm has but I don't know what it serves..)
I'm not sure if I understand what you mean. Are you saying that the 32mm lens seems not to have a special purpose for users because of the 32mm focal length?
