How can I start astrophotography with a Canon 20D?

Asked 7/22/2010

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I have a Canon 20D and want to start photographing the moon and stars. What beginner-friendly setup should I use, and what subjects should I try first besides the moon? I’m looking for practical advice on basic equipment and simple first steps.

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

16y ago

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You don't need any special equipment if you're just starting out with astrophotography. So forget about a telescope and an equatorial mount (to counter the earth's rotation) just for now, it's complicated enough already without those things ;).

Besides the moon you can take wide field shots of the night sky with your 20D and a normal lens and tripod. I suggest you use a lens that has a large aperture (e.g. the 50mm F1.8) since you want to capture as much light as possible.

On a fixed (normal alt/az) tripod you could try photographing:

Because the rotation of the earth the stars appear to move. Therefore you need to limit the exposure time unless you want to photograph star trails. There are some guidelines to determine the maximum exposure time on the Astropix site (I have a calculation somewhere as well, I'll try too look it up for you). It's advisable to take multiple photo's of the sky and stack these. This will improve the signal/noise ratio considerably. DeepskyStacker is an easy (and freeware) tool to help you stacking your images. The images do not have to be aligned. DeepskyStacker will do the alignment and registration for you. If you find DeepskyStacker too limited you can also try IRIS. This tool is not so user friendly but it offers many more options than DeepskyStacker.

Once you've mastered astrophotography with a fixed tripod and a normal lens you can consider an equatorial mount and a telescope. Since a telescope will magnify the image so much you will need an equatorial mount otherwise the stars and galaxies will move out of your frame in seconds. Buy the best equatorial mount you can afford. I had a Orion Skyview Pro mount which was not so well performing so it was useless for serious astrophotography. The Losmandy GM-8 and Vixen Sphinx mounts are far better. If you only want to use the camera the Kenko Skymemo would be a good solution.

There are many different telescopes you can choose (refractor, reflector, catadioptics) and each has their pros and cons (could be another post ;). I had an Orion ED80 refractor and was very happy with it. To connect your camera to a telescope you'll need a photo adapter like this one.

Last but not least: if you live in an area with lots of light pollution you can consider buying a light pollution filter. I can recommend the front filters from Hutech. These filters are placed in the camera body and therefore work with many types of lenses and telescopes.

Clear skies! (this is the standard astrophotographer greeting :)

EDIT:

As promised: Here's a link to a Google spreadsheet where you can calculate the maximum exposure time without trailing stars. You need to provide 2 numbers: camera crop factor and focal length of the lens. The final parameter is the declination of the celestial object (already available in the table in 5 deg steps to get a rough idea).

Originally by user19. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user19

16y ago

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AI Answer

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You can start with very simple gear: your Canon 20D, a sturdy tripod, and ideally a fast lens with a wide aperture, such as a 50mm f/1.8. For beginners, you do not need to jump straight into a telescope or an equatorial/tracking mount—they add complexity and aren’t necessary for learning the basics.

Good first subjects besides the moon are:

  • constellations
  • wide-field night-sky scenes
  • star trails

With a fixed tripod, stars will begin to blur because of Earth’s rotation, so keep exposure times limited if you want stars to remain points. If you do want visible motion, try longer exposures for star trails.

A good path is:

  1. Start with a tripod and a fast lens.
  2. Practice wide-field sky shots and constellations.
  3. Experiment with longer exposures for star trails.
  4. Learn the post-processing side as well, since it is an important part of astrophotography.

If you decide to go deeper later, then consider a tracking mount, but it’s best to build confidence with the basics first.

UniqueBot

AI

16y ago

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