Canon EF 50mm F1.8

[Paul Herts]

Hello and a Merry Christmas all

Does anybody have any thoughts on the suitability of the cheap Canon EF 50mm F1.8 STM for astrophotography with the star adventurer mini? Had a layoff from work so haven't bought the mount yet - also still toing and froing between the 2 star adventurer mounts but it's likely to be the mini as I reckon it would be the best choice with my travel tripod, 3 legged thing Cory.

But the lens? Is it worth considering or are there any other cheap alternatives for Canon, FD mount maybe?

As an afterthought, any thoughts on ball heads? The one that came with the tripod is perfectly good unless the head's base is at an angle - if the weight of the camera is to the right of vertical it's fine but once at 12 o'clock it slowly unscrews from the tripod. It's perfectly fine for normal use but won't work on top of a polar aligned tracking mount.

Paul

 

[kiwi2]

I haven't used the STM version but I did have the earlier II version.

It wasn't particularly sharp wide open so it was more like a f/2.8 lens in practice. But the worst thing about it for astro work was its sloppy focusing ring. (the STM may be different) It was hard to get accurate manual focus with on a star, and the slightest bump could throw focus off again.

By all means use it if that's all you've got. Perhaps a few sessions off a fixed tripod first to see how it goes at focusing and how sharp it is wide open. If you like the results then by all means get yourself a inexpensive tracking head and push it further.

Though there are better and relatively inexpensive lens options out there for your Canon camera.

 

[Paul Herts]

Thanks kiwi2. I found a couple of threads about it which also mentioned the sharpness and the advantages of stopping down but hadn't seen any thoughts on the focusing - doesn't surprise me with these lenses to be honest so thank you for bringing that up.

Other lenses at a similar focal length then, will keep searching!

Cheers

 

[starman1969]

Definitely, but if using on a tracker you might as well stop down to f2.8 & that should hopefully sharpen it up a bit as well as lesson the colour fringing around stars that fast lenses are prone too when wide open.

 

[kiwi2]

Definitely, but if using on a tracker you might as well stop down to f2.8 & that should hopefully sharpen it up a bit as well as lesson the colour fringing around stars that fast lenses are prone too when wide open.

Yeah, here's one I made with the Canon 50mm F1.8 II some years ago with a 300D (Canon's first Rebel DSLR)



It was piggybacked on the main telescope at my local observatory that had a fairly substantial concrete pier mounted drive.

If memory serves me correct it was something like a 5 minute exposure at f/2.5 ISO 400. (some EXIF seems to have been lost)

Interestingly this is a 56mm shot I took a couple of months ago...



Only a single 4 sec exposure off a fixed tripod, but at f/1.2, ISO 10,000.

--
https://www.flickr.com/gp/158098310@N03/ja5n6b

 

[starman1969]

Definitely, but if using on a tracker you might as well stop down to f2.8 & that should hopefully sharpen it up a bit as well as lesson the colour fringing around stars that fast lenses are prone too when wide open.

Yeah, here's one I made with the Canon 50mm F1.8 II some years ago with a 300D (Canon's first Rebel DSLR)



It was piggybacked on the main telescope at my local observatory that had a fairly substantial concrete pier mounted drive.

If memory serves me correct it was something like a 5 minute exposure at f/2.5 ISO 400. (some EXIF seems to have been lost)

Interestingly this is a 56mm shot I took a couple of months ago...



Only a single 4 sec exposure off a fixed tripod, but at f/1.2, ISO 10,000.

--
https://www.flickr.com/gp/158098310@N03/ja5n6b

Really nice. Lovely colours on the Southern Cross. I have been lucky enough to see that.

--
Steve

 

[Paul Herts]

Interestingly this is a 56mm shot I took a couple of months ago...



Only a single 4 sec exposure off a fixed tripod, but at f/1.2, ISO 10,000.

--
https://www.flickr.com/gp/158098310@N03/ja5n6b



That's a great shot, don't expect the lens you used was in the same price range ;-)

I've been giving it all some more thought - I have a horrible tendency for doing that - and I'm leaning towards the original Star Adventurer again and not the mini. I've seen some more photos taken using that and a Canon 400 f5.6, which I have in my kit already. I know it's pushing the limits, but even a single good frame at that focal length would be worth it

Lucky for me the stars are going nowhere, by the time I have made a decision we'll be looking at different constellations!

Thanks everyone for your input

 

[Paul Herts]

Not quite sure what happened to my comment there, must have deleted it somehow when I was posting. Abridged version:

Love that shot - bet it wasn't taken with a £100 lens

Leaning towards the full star adventurer again - extra payload over mini

Thanks for the input