Astrophotography lens

[cichy1012]

I have a Nikon d3300 with a nikon 85mm 1.8g lens. I gave a shot at the starts last night and was having some trouble. Do i need like a 35mm lens to do this type of photography or lower? or will this lens suffice?

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

I have a Nikon d3300 with a nikon 85mm 1.8g lens. I gave a shot at the starts last night and was having some trouble. Do i need like a 35mm lens to do this type of photography or lower? or will this lens suffice?

What kind of shot are you trying to get. Recently I have started shooting the Milky Way. It is not easy. Dark Sky is the hardest part. Dark Sky is not as easy to find as you might think.

Give us some details of what you are trying to shoot and what results you are getting.

 

[cichy1012]

I know im far from taking photos like the milky way, but i would like to be able to take pictures around what you have. with all the color variations etc.. that photo is beautiful btw.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

I know im far from taking photos like the milky way, but i would like to be able to take pictures around what you have. with all the color variations etc.. that photo is beautiful btw.

There are not many things in the night sky you can shoot without a telescope other than the moon and the milky way without a telescope and some sophisticated gear. Shooting the night sky just gives you dots. the moon needs at least a 300mm lens otherwise you have to do a lot of cropping. The milky way is pretty easy once you find dark sky and figure out how to do the post processing.

 

[cichy1012]

so that picture you posted was with a 35mm 1.8 lens?

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

so that picture you posted was with a 35mm 1.8 lens?

Yes. Although I think I should have used my 11-16 2.8. IT would have given me a better field of view. Probably shot at 16mm end of the lens.

 

[cichy1012]

how did you get the 35mm to infinity when it doesnt have a window to show infinity?

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

how did you get the 35mm to infinity when it doesn't have a window to show infinity?

What you do is to find the hyperfocal distance of the lens first. For the 35mm on my camera that is 112.9 feet. So I find something that I can focus on that is at least that far away if not further. There is usually a street light or house or something that you can focus on. Once you focus to that point then everything past that (Stars for instance) will be in focus.

There is an app for figuring the hyperfocal distance or you can look online at Online Depth of Field Calculator