Astrophotography. Anyone done it? Anythoughts? Cheap equipment?

[ProfJohn]

So I am spending about a week in Zion national park and other wild places in June and want to try some serious astrophotography, but don't want to drop a ton of money on equipment.

So does anyone have any pointers?

And any thoughts on cheap telescope with the right type of mount for my Nikon D70s.

At the least I'll do some moon and sunset shots, but would like something more interesting.

 

[soydios]

For getting tight shots of the moon, between 1200mm and 1800mm is about the right focal length. I've used a 400mm f/2.8 with a 2x teleconverter on my D50 (1200mm f/5.6 effective) for moon shots. You can get away with smaller apertures like f/11 or f/16 shooting the moon, even at ISO200, because it's actually very bright.
I've never actually done any star trails; there's too much light pollution wear I am now. Some time this summer perhaps I'll drive out to the mountains and get one. A normal (35mm on DX) or wider lens would probably be best, to get the most sky in the shot. The key for star trails is to get some foreground in the frame and in focus to give a sense of scale, just like a landscape shot.
For sunsets, be creative. 😉

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

The problem that I had when I was in Big Bend NP in Texas just a week ago was light pollution... from the moon itself. Not sure about Zion, but during this time of year in Texas the sun sets and the moon immediately rises afterwards. When the moon sets, the sun immediately rises. There's no span of time when the sky is completely dark except for the stars.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
The problem that I had when I was in Big Bend NP in Texas just a week ago was light pollution... from the moon itself. Not sure about Zion, but during this time of year in Texas the sun sets and the moon immediately rises afterwards. When the moon sets, the sun immediately rises. There's no span of time when the sky is completely dark except for the stars.

i see you didn't take astronomy