Quote:
Originally Posted by MadChemist
Could go for some advice on DSLR lens. Almost all of my photography that I do it at night, when I have free time. I really would like to do a little bit of astrophotography. I saw that canon released a new lens today, 10-18mm, but the downside is the F stop ,4.5-5.6. Anyone have experience with the Tokina 11-18mm f/2.8? I am thinking of pulling the trigger in a day or so.
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The key to getting good astro shots IMO depends far more on having a dark sky than on your lens. A sturdy tripod and a remote trigger (wired or not) can get you great shots with just a kit lens if you can get as far away from city lights as possible. If you're keen on getting something though, I've been using a 28mm f/1.8 lens and that extra bit of aperture does add some flexibility, but can be spendy:
Admittedly, I did not use my kit lens to take the shot above but I very easily could have since I was way out in the sticks with effectively zero light pollution. Pic info: ISO800, f/1.8, 10 sec exposure on a crop sensor Nikon D5000. I was experimenting with how much I could get with such a short exposure, normally I'd run around f/2.8-3.5 for 20-30 seconds since the stars will be more pin-pointy after longer exposures than if the aperture is wide open, based on similar lenses I used back when I shot 35mm film, that Tokina lens should get you what you're after if it's got good glass. With an 11-18mm range, you can probably go as high as a minute at 11mm before the stars start to trail noticeably.