NormanTheGr8 Loc: Racine, Wisconsin

Hi Everyone
I am still trying to figure out which camera to buy, Canon feels best in hand, most of my shots are nature/landscape with an emphasis on birds including BIF, but I also would like to take pictures of the Milky Way. My SX50 just doesn't cut it :( .has anyone tried this with a T5i, or 70D

IR Jim Loc: St. Louis

First off will you be shooting with a tripod or through a telescope? Because the T5i is lighter and the 1/2 pound will make a difference on how well your telescope balances and tracks.
I do some astrophotography but use Nikon cameras. I have a D3100 and a D7000 which are close equivalents to the cameras you are deciding between.
I do use my D7000 (compared to 70D) on my telescope but it pushes the stability limit of my scope. If you want an all around camera you can do landscapes and astro I would go with the 70D. I think you would be happier with the features.
As far as milky way shots, the faster the glass the better. Here is a good chart to help you decide on shutter speeds, etc as well as tips from an experienced astrophotographer. It has been shared on this site before.
http://www.davemorrowphotography.com/p/tutorial-shooting-night-sky.html

NormanTheGr8 Loc: Racine, Wisconsin

Would be hand held I'm steady ,,,,,,,,,would be with a Tripod

Thank You

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

You should be asking this question in the UHH Astronomical Photography Forum at
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-109-1.html

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

NormanTheGr8 Loc: Racine, Wisconsin

Opps sorry didn't realize we had one of those :lol:

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I didn't either. (New guy here a little more than a week).

The website uglyhedgehog.com shows an abbreviated list of the forums with one entry at the bottom "All Sections". That's where you find the complete list of forums. (Fora?)

So looking at the list I note in the top banner that I have to "subscribe" to a forum. Presumably that will make it show up in the home page list. I'll have to try it.

[edit] I subscribed to one of the forums and now it shows up on the home page. And I unsubscribed to another forum and it disappeared from the home page.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

You can pay your subscription fee via PayPal.

<Bazinga!>

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

You might think you are steady, Norman, but the earth ain't.
Whatever you decide on, be prepare to invest in glass.
Telescope, or telephoto.
Have fun!

(I use a heavy duooty tripod, and a wired remote release. I guess I just can't let go of the old cable releases I use to have.)

Hangingon Loc: NW North Dakota

I purchased a Vivitar Series 1 wireless remote from B&H. It can be used as a "cable" or wireless remote.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

There are a number of ways to take good star pictures. I have two Sony cameras, a A57 (crop sensor) and A99 (full sensor). Depending upon what I want to accomplish, I may use either camera. I can shoot RAW and deal with noise afterwards, or use a feature the Sony camera has called "Multi-Frame Noise Reduction". This method only will work with JPEGs, but what it does is take 6 successive shots and then processes the results to remove the noise. I normally do this at an ISO of 3200 and after 6 shots and the internal processing, the amount of noise is greatly reduced. The max time I can do this with is 30 sec., but usually, 30 sec of exposure, if you don't have a really dark sky, is about all you can do. I have a number of different lenses I can use for this, but I limit this method to the wider angle lenses.

To use a longer focal length, I have an 8" reflector with an equatorial drive so that it can track the stars. I may do this through the telescope, or just mount the camera and lens on the drive and do it that way. I get incredible results with a Tokina 300mm F2.8. Haven't tried it yet with the Tamron 150-600mm zoom. I can use either the A99 for wider field of view or the A57 to make it act as a 450mm lens. I do find that prime lenses tend to work better for this than zooms. And the cheaper the zoom, the worse the results will be.

The telescope is an 8 inch reflector, as I previously said. I do need to use a coma corrector to get sharp stars across the entire frame. The scope has a 2" focuser and I use a Prime lens setup with the camera using a T-Adapter. I find that I can't use the full frame camera since it tends to vignette badly. But with the crop sensor, the 800mm FL becomes an equivalent 1200mm with no vignetting and it is really sharp corner to corner. The tracking is right on and the stars remain pin points except for the brightest ones that tend to over saturate.

This should give you an idea of shooting stars. Just be aware of how fast stars move in the field of view. At 300mm, without an equatorial drive, you are good for about 1 or 2 sec before the star trails become very noticeable. If using a wide angle, you may get to go as much as 25-30 sec without obvious star trails. Starting with just the camera is the way to get started. Using the telescope greatly increases the cost and complexity.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

You might also want to invest in a tracker. Here's a star shot (negative) consisting of five 2-second exposures at 15 second intervals. It shows the earth's motion nicely.