I can't see any stars on my screen. So i have to take some test shots. I have a Canon 700D with a Tamron 18-200mm f3.5 Lens. I'm looking for a lens with f1.8, but most of them are very expensive, even second hand.
@@Mattes985 That would make things difficult! The cost of lenses are through the roof. However you don’t need to go for a super expensive lens. If you haven’t already check out Samyang lenses. Whilst they are not as sharp when pixel peeping it’s hard to notice the difference with the wider focal length lenses.
Nice video. I'm a beginner in astrophotography. I'd like to know why you chose iso6400 and 15sec. Wouldn't you be able to stretch to say 20-25sec while lowering the iso? Does higher iso bring out more stars/detail in astrophotography?
@@tomprzytula Hi, thank you for your question! I chose iso 6400 and 15 seconds that night because I was using a lens with a wide aperture of f1.8. I was also using low level lighting under the tree to I help with the scene for video purposes. If I held my shutter open longer that night the tree would have been blown out. If I didn’t have low level lighting I would have used between 20-25 seconds as a shutter speed. To answer your question higher iso increases the sensitivity of the sensor it will see more light from the start. The downside of iso on some cameras is noise in the images. It’s trial and error with settings. The video should get you in the ball park though. What set up do you have? Camera,lens etc? Matt
Also depends on the focal length of your lens, but the longer you leave your shutter open, the greater chance of seeing star trails as the earth rotates - unless, of course you are using a star tracking system. You can work out focal length and shutter duration, taking into account your exact camera model by using apps that calculate it for you, such as PhotoPills.
@nightscapeodyssey.mattclarke thanks Matt. I have a nikon d7500 with Tokina 11-16 f/2.8. According to the table I saw I should be OK with a shutter of up to 25sec at 11mm. Shutting milky way with my son (Matt too) yesterday I set 3200 @ 20sec. Came out not bad. If there are no star streaks at 25sec, is it better to shut at iso 1600 @ 25sec or iso 3200 at 13sec from the perspective of overall quality and visibility of milky way? Also, should I expose for a brighter image or darker one? I'll be denoising in Topaz Denoise AI, and developing in Luminar Neo. Thanks again!
@@tomprzytula Perfect camera and lens! don’t be afraid to bump up the iso. These days with tools like topaz you can’t go wrong. As far as exposure goes I recommend using your histogram. You basically want the peak to just move off the left side of the chart. If it is all the way left it’s under exposed. Try taking test shots and fine tune your settings. Different conditions / locations require slightly different settings. Great your son is going out with you! Regards Matt
@@tomprzytula Be wary of tools like Topaz, it might remove fainter stars or distort your night photos with ghosting. I use it all the time for day photos, but night stuff I'm not sure its that helpful :(
Not sure I understand your reasoning for finding shutter speed. I have a 70-300mm APSC (450mm eq FF) Divide 450 by 500 and that is less than 1 second. You must have a gigantic lens if you divide your focal length by 500 and get 15 seconds!!!!
@@paultutton9443 looking back at the video I did actually say it backwards but my text I added with the calculations is correct. Didn’t pick up on that during editing apologies for the confusion! Matt
The 500 rule is terrible advice. I have tried it on at least 6 different cameras with different focal length lenses, and it doesn't work. I have one setup that yields a result of 20.8 (500/24mm) seconds when, in actuality, my max shutter speed is 11 seconds for no star trailing. Better advice is the NPF Rule, look it up, there are charts available. I'm not going to try and explain the formula. Then experiment to find the max your setup will allow, it won't be close to the 500 rule.
IMHO the 500 rule is a good starting point and is very helpful for someone starting out with wide astrophotography That said, the NPF rule uses the sensor pixel pitch (megapixels), aperture and focal length to determine shutter speed. FYI, PhotoPills app has a NPF calculator built in.
@ Absolutely agree keith! As a start point the 500 rule is great. But as you advance more the NPF rule can come into play. This video was more for the beginner, you have given me another video idea now 👍 regards, Matt
Nice one, Matt. Super clear and simple. Looking forward to more of your videos, especially with skies that dark!!
Thank you very much! 😊
Om1 with stary sky focus is the best way to focus:😊
Great video. Thank you
You’re welcome 😊
I can't see any stars on my screen. So i have to take some test shots. I have a Canon 700D with a Tamron 18-200mm f3.5 Lens. I'm looking for a lens with f1.8, but most of them are very expensive, even second hand.
@@Mattes985 That would make things difficult! The cost of lenses are through the roof. However you don’t need to go for a super expensive lens. If you haven’t already check out Samyang lenses. Whilst they are not as sharp when pixel peeping it’s hard to notice the difference with the wider focal length lenses.
You're not using a Bahtinov mask? I found that manually focusing gets me in the ballpark, but sometimes I still got slightly out of focus stars.
No, I have never had to use one. I do take a serious of test shots and fine tune if needed. Matt
Nice video. I'm a beginner in astrophotography. I'd like to know why you chose iso6400 and 15sec.
Wouldn't you be able to stretch to say 20-25sec while lowering the iso?
Does higher iso bring out more stars/detail in astrophotography?
@@tomprzytula Hi, thank you for your question! I chose iso 6400 and 15 seconds that night because I was using a lens with a wide aperture of f1.8. I was also using low level lighting under the tree to I help with the scene for video purposes. If I held my shutter open longer that night the tree would have been blown out. If I didn’t have low level lighting I would have used between 20-25 seconds as a shutter speed.
To answer your question higher iso increases the sensitivity of the sensor it will see more light from the start. The downside of iso on some cameras is noise in the images. It’s trial and error with settings. The video should get you in the ball park though.
What set up do you have? Camera,lens etc? Matt
Also depends on the focal length of your lens, but the longer you leave your shutter open, the greater chance of seeing star trails as the earth rotates - unless, of course you are using a star tracking system.
You can work out focal length and shutter duration, taking into account your exact camera model by using apps that calculate it for you, such as PhotoPills.
@nightscapeodyssey.mattclarke thanks Matt. I have a nikon d7500 with Tokina 11-16 f/2.8. According to the table I saw I should be OK with a shutter of up to 25sec at 11mm.
Shutting milky way with my son (Matt too) yesterday I set 3200 @ 20sec. Came out not bad.
If there are no star streaks at 25sec, is it better to shut at iso 1600 @ 25sec or iso 3200 at 13sec from the perspective of overall quality and visibility of milky way?
Also, should I expose for a brighter image or darker one?
I'll be denoising in Topaz Denoise AI, and developing in Luminar Neo.
Thanks again!
@@tomprzytula Perfect camera and lens! don’t be afraid to bump up the iso. These days with tools like topaz you can’t go wrong. As far as exposure goes I recommend using your histogram. You basically want the peak to just move off the left side of the chart. If it is all the way left it’s under exposed. Try taking test shots and fine tune your settings. Different conditions / locations require slightly different settings. Great your son is going out with you!
Regards Matt
@@tomprzytula Be wary of tools like Topaz, it might remove fainter stars or distort your night photos with ghosting.
I use it all the time for day photos, but night stuff I'm not sure its that helpful :(
Not sure I understand your reasoning for finding shutter speed. I have a 70-300mm APSC (450mm eq FF) Divide 450 by 500 and that is less than 1 second. You must have a gigantic lens if you divide your focal length by 500 and get 15 seconds!!!!
Hi the 500 rule works well for lenses up to 200mm. Best regards Matt
Hi - you divide your focal length into 500, so for example with a 50mm lens 500/50=10sec
@@paultutton9443 That makes more sense!!! In the video (4:14) you say "you have to divide that number by 500" which is the opposite.
@@NJM1948 Glad we cleared that up - not my video though! There is some confusion @4:14 but the example given @4:18 does make it a bit clearer.
@@paultutton9443 looking back at the video I did actually say it backwards but my text I added with the calculations is correct. Didn’t pick up on that during editing apologies for the confusion! Matt
The 500 rule is terrible advice. I have tried it on at least 6 different cameras with different focal length lenses, and it doesn't work. I have one setup that yields a result of 20.8 (500/24mm) seconds when, in actuality, my max shutter speed is 11 seconds for no star trailing. Better advice is the NPF Rule, look it up, there are charts available. I'm not going to try and explain the formula. Then experiment to find the max your setup will allow, it won't be close to the 500 rule.
@@charlespacer7421 hi Charles thanks for your opinion 😀 works for me and don’t have an issue. Best regards Matt
IMHO the 500 rule is a good starting point and is very helpful for someone starting out with wide astrophotography That said, the NPF rule uses the sensor pixel pitch (megapixels), aperture and focal length to determine shutter speed. FYI, PhotoPills app has a NPF calculator built in.
@ Absolutely agree keith! As a start point the 500 rule is great. But as you advance more the NPF rule can come into play. This video was more for the beginner, you have given me another video idea now 👍 regards, Matt