First attempt at the Milky Way

I recently got a Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 and decided to try it out in a dark sky location I visited for Labor Day. Here is my first try at catching the Milky Way.

advnturer said:

I recently got a Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 and decided to try it out in a dark sky location I visited for Labor Day. Here is my first try at catching the Milky Way.

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Very nice for your first try, I would say the only thing wrong is the focus. Remember to disable auto focus and know where your infinity focus is at its sharpest. You can do this by zooming in live view on a bright star and adjusting the focus ring when its sharp note or mark the position on the lens that way you will always know where to set it in the dark. Keep up the good work.

Scott, Thanks for the suggestion. My Ronkinon is Manual Focus only, and I had it set at infinity. I see and agree there is a focus issue, but was thinking it may have been too long a shutter as I had it at 15 seconds. This was my first attempt not only of the milky way, but also using this lens. I was using Live View to keep the mirror up and a remote shutter release, so I am pretty sure it is not a camera shake either. I will take my lens out and shoot single stars with it and learn how to better focus. Also, not sure it has anything to do with anything, but I was also using "Noise Reduction on Long Shutter Release."

i have read on here that infinity on the lens isnt really infinity, you have to turn back a little bit, think thats what Scott is saying?

Great first attempt by the way, keep threatening to try this myself.

here is a second photo of the same night.....

stupid question, what happens if you shoot from a non dark spot, is it just a little more bright?? which is not what you want/need, correct.

Try this, there is a L shape at the end near infinity focus the focus ring to the short part of the L and not to the end, I think you will find this alot sharper. If it was due to blur it would show up as star trails. I use the 14mm Rokinon so have some understanding about these lenses.

EDIT: Also turn off any noise reduction and do that afterwards, will make it a lot faster in taking images.

All looking good to me, never tried this myself though.........