Is 20mm good for astrophotography?

When Sony announced the 20mm 1.8 G, it seemed to tick all the boxes: it’s compact but not too tiny, has an ergonomic design, is lightweight with a fast aperture, competitively priced and the quality looked very promising. …

Thereof, Is a 20mm lens good for astrophotography?

But what makes for a good lens when it comes to shooting the Milky Way? Ideally you want a wide-angle zoom or prime; it’s best to work in a focal range of around 14-20mm in 35mm equivalent terms (so about 10-14mm on APS-C or 7-10mm on Micro Four Thirds based camera).

Accordingly, How do I set my camera for astrophotography?


What settings do you use for astrophotography?

  1. Use manual or bulb mode.
  2. Use a “fast” aperture of F/2.8 – F/4.
  3. Set your white balance setting to daylight or auto.
  4. Set your exposure length to 15-30-seconds.
  5. Shoot in RAW image format.
  6. Use Manual Focus.
  7. Use an ISO of 400-1600 (or more)
  8. Use the 10-second delay drive mode.

What lens do I need to photograph the night sky? Since you’re trying to capture as much light from the sky as possible, it’s important to use a wide-angle lens that has a large maximum aperture (f/2.8 or lower). A 14-24mm wide-angle zoom lens ideal to use on a full-frame camera, or a 10-20mm lens on a crop-sensor camera.

Also know What type of lens is best for night photography?

Whether you are planning to shoot photos at night or in low light conditions, you will need a lens with a fast aperture. What’s the best aperture for night photography? Ideally, the lens aperture should be f/2.8 or greater. Many zoom lenses have a fixed aperture of f/2.8, such as the 16-35mm f/2.8 or 24-70mm f/2.8.

What lens is good for night photography?
Best Lenses for Nighttime Photography

  • Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM BEST FOR CANON. …
  • Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D BEST FOR NIKON. …
  • Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM. …
  • Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens. …
  • Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM. …
  • Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens. …
  • Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 E ED VR. …
  • Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM.

Is ISO important for astrophotography?

For deep-sky astrophotography, your ISO levels should generally be set high and support your other exposure settings. For some, 800 or 1600 works in bringing out the moon and stars during long-exposure shots of dark night skies.

Should I shoot RAW for astrophotography?

From this alone, it should be clear that RAW format is the winner when it comes to astrophotography. … Shooting in RAW will make all these usual steps in the astrophotography editing workflow much easier and successful, for a better image quality. Photographing the Andromeda Galaxy.

What is the 500 rule in photography?

The 500 rule is used to measure the maximum exposure time you can shoot before the stars become blurry or before star trails appear. Setting the shutter speed for longer than allowed by this rule will result in images that do not have sharp stars.

What should ISO be at night?

While the exact settings will change from picture to picture, the ideal settings for night photography is a high ISO (typically starting at 1600), an open aperture (such as f/2.8 or f/4) and the longest possible shutter speed as calculated with the 500 or 300 rule.

How do you shoot a Milky Way with a smartphone?

However, photographing in low light conditions can be a bit tricky. To help you out, here are 5 simple tips to capturing beautiful images at night with your smartphone.


  1. Get out of the city. …
  2. Use a tripod. …
  3. Get the right app. …
  4. Avoid flash and HDR. …
  5. Steer clear of digital zoom.

What lens do I need to shoot the Milky Way?

You need a fast and wide-angle lens with focal lengths between 14mm to 24mm and aperture at least f/2.8, to capture a wide scene of the foreground and the sky and photograph the Milky Way at lower ISO values.

What lens do I need to photograph stars?

A wide-angle lens with f-stop values ranging from f/2.8 to f/4 will work best for star photography. Full frame focal lengths between 14mm and 20mm are recommended.

What lens is best for star photography?


A wide-angle lens with f-stop values ranging from f/2.8 to f/4 will work best for star photography.

  • Full frame focal lengths between 14mm and 20mm are recommended.
  • Crop sensor focal lengths between 10mm and 17mm are recommended.

Which lens is good for DSLR?


Editor’s note: We’ll be updating this list of the best DSLR lenses regularly.

  1. Sigma 18-35 f/1.8 DC HSM Art Lens. …
  2. Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG HSM. …
  3. Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art Lens. …
  4. Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2. …
  5. Sigma 120-300mm F2. …
  6. Sigma 105mm F2. …
  7. Sigma 50mm F1. …
  8. Nikon/Canon/Sony 50mm f/1.8 DSLR lenses.

How much shutter speed do I need for astrophotography?

By far the simpler of the two popular rules for astrophotography is the 500 rule. It recommends that your shutter speed is equal to 500 ÷ Equivalent Focal Length. So, if your full-frame equivalent focal length is 20mm, the 500 rule would suggest that you use a shutter speed of 500 ÷ 20 = 25 seconds.

What aperture do you need for astrophotography?

Aperture: It’s generally a best practice to choose the widest aperture that is available for your lens. You want as much light as possible to hit your sensor. A range from f/1.4 – f/2.8 is ideal.

What metering should I use for astrophotography?

Best metering mode for astrophotography

For shooting pictures of the Milky Way and the stars, multi is the best metering mode.

How long do you have to be exposed to astrophotography?

You want to use a long exposure time (slow shutter speed) when doing astrophotography, this will give your camera’s sensor enough time to record those little dots of flickering light. Usually, a good place to start is somewhere in between 20 seconds and 30 seconds.

How long is bulb exposure?

The Basics: Bulb Mode is an exposure setting that is used when seeking to use a shutter speed of more than 30 seconds. Generally, this would be used in extremely low light situations, such as taking photos of the night sky.

Is a 50mm lens good for astrophotography?

Therefore, the 50mm f/1.8 STM works excellently for portraits. … For astrophotography, I would not recommend using the Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM at its wide open setting of f/1.8, as it greatly distorts stars at this setting, especially in the corners of the full frame.

How do you take night shots with a DSLR?


Night Photography Camera Settings

  1. M – Manual mode.
  2. Shutter Speed – 30 to 60 seconds. As it’s dark, a longer shutter speed will give enough time to let a lot of light to enter the camera. …
  3. Aperture – f8, f11 or f 16. …
  4. ISO – 100 or 200. …
  5. Set White Balance to Auto. …
  6. Manual Focus. …
  7. Shoot in Raw.

How do you take night photos fog?


Tips to take better Fog Photographs

  1. focus your lens manually as the auto focus function will generally not work in fog.
  2. Increase your exposure compensation + 1 EV (exposure value, increase exposure 1 F-stop or shutter speed)
  3. use a tripod for steady shots and focus on elements in the foreground.

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