Nikon D50 for astrophotography

skerry

Hi folks, looking for advice on getting started with astrophotography. I had posted in another thread looking for advice on whether the camera and lenses I have access to would be any good as a starting point and I was advised to start a new thread, so here I go.

I've been following some of the other threads on here with interest for a few months now and amazed by some of the pictures some of you guys are getting without breaking the bank on equipment.

I was hoping to try my hand at some astrophotography. Have no experience whatsoever and was just wondering how I could get started without spending a lot of cash. I'm aware that a lot of the pics on here take a lot of time and skill to produce but I think its a hobby Id enjoy immersing myself in and see where it takes me.

The missus has a Nikon D50 she never uses, comes with a standard Nikkor 18-55mm lens and she also has a 30-700mm lens. Would these be a suitable starting point to tool around with or are these lenses/ cameras suitable for astrophotography at all?

Pretty sure she has a tripod in the attic too so hoping I might have enough to get started in some shape or form and maybe progress from there.

Any advice on what else I might need, or if the above if enough to get started, is greatly appreciated.

Iancar29

30-700mm lens? Typo me think ha ...i'll guess that it should be 70-300mm

But yeah you could definitely go hunting some star shots and even some milky way photos to start you off.

To start off practicing nights when there isnt much of a moon out then the 18-55mm lens would be good.

Some tips before settings.. tripod is a MUST for night sky shots, you want everything to be as still as possible, to help this more a shutter release cable can be bought for about €20 on amazon, make sure its compatible with the D50.

Settings
-Manual mode
-Auto focus off. Set focus manually to infinity, try zooming in on a distant light or something.
-Zoom all the way out to 18mm
-Set aperture / f - stop to 3.5 ( it will only go to that value at 18mm focal length)
-ISO 1600
- Shutter speed - 20 seconds.

Fire away !
If you can't get your hands on a shutter release cable, then turn on timer delay of about 5 seconds , this will help steady the camera as much as possible.


If your in a good dark location, you will be able to pick up the milky way with those settings on a moonless night.


With the 70-300mm lens you should be able to get some very low detailed shots of the andromeda galaxy M31 ( download stellarium to help locate it ) and M42 orion nebula during the the winter months.


Hope these tips help,

Any questions feel free to shout!

skerry

Iancar29 wrote: »

30-700mm lens? Typo me think ha ...i'll guess that it should be 70-300mm

But yeah you could definitely go hunting some star shots and even some milky way photos to start you off.

To start off practicing nights when there isnt much of a moon out then the 18-55mm lens would be good.

Some tips before settings.. tripod is a MUST for night sky shots, you want everything to be as still as possible, to help this more a shutter release cable can be bought for about €20 on amazon, make sure its compatible with the D50.

Settings
-Manual mode
-Auto focus off. Set focus manually to infinity, try zooming in on a distant light or something.
-Zoom all the way out to 18mm
-Set aperture / f - stop to 3.5 ( it will only go to that value at 18mm focal length)
-ISO 1600
- Shutter speed - 20 seconds.

Fire away !
If you can't get your hands on a shutter release cable, then turn on timer delay of about 5 seconds , this will help steady the camera as much as possible.


If your in a good dark location, you will be able to pick up the milky way with those settings on a moonless night.


With the 70-300mm lens you should be able to get some very low detailed shots of the andromeda galaxy M31 ( download stellarium to help locate it ) and M42 orion nebula during the the winter months.


Hope these tips help,

Any questions feel free to shout!

Yeah it's 70-300mm, more of me not having a clue than a typo

I was browsing the forum here for a while and was thinking it would be something worth getting into. Only dawned on me last night that herself had the Nikon with the two lenses up in the attic idle for ages. Checked last night and there's a tripod too, should go up to the attic more often.

Will look into tracking down the remote for the D50, I seen a few last night and guessing it's one of the wired ones as I'm pretty sure there's no wireless connectivity on the camera.

Thanks a million for the tips on settings, bit of a minefield trying to figure out where to start. Hopefully I can get started soon enough if we ever get some clear skies again. In the meantime I'll order the remote and be ready to pounce.

I was researching software like DeepSkyStacker also, would you need this kind of software for Milky Way shots using the settings you mentioned above or is this kind of software only necessary for astrophotography with telescopes where star motion would be more exaggerated?

Thanks again for all the info.

Nerro

skerry wrote: »

I was researching software like DeepSkyStacker also, would you need this kind of software for Milky Way shots using the settings you mentioned above or is this kind of software only necessary for astrophotography with telescopes where star motion would be more exaggerated?

If you will want more detail in the images you will need DSS an PS or similar for post processing final image taken with telescopes or DSLR. It doesn't eliminate "star trails" and doesn't make bad shots good, the program just makes your life much easier getting best from your shots if you know how to use it.

Hotblack Desiato

According to here it takes an ML-L3 wireless infrared remote

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d50.htm

rolion

Welcome...

My friendly advice to you, as I have been in same position months ago with a D5100, is to start learning the basic of the cameras:

-Learn what is aperture, ISO, timing & exposure, tripods and filters.

-Get some photos in day light and play with manual settings until you are completely bored and can get the settings and touching buttons with your eyes closed.

-Connect camera to laptop and play transferring files.

When you are a master of your camera with closed eyes, then start learning about sky, stars and planets / Moon.
Check online pictures of other users and see how they doing, how that particular photo captured the sky, star or moon "his" way and not "your" way.
There is a tons of resources online, just read all and make your own mind / settings / profile.

Once you have above on your hands, then start looking at some automated software or interfacing with the laptop.
If you start with laptop and software, then you have no patience (it will take hours of starring at sky to get that photo out of other tens of even hundreds)and no knowledge (astrophotography is all done in manual mode and pleasant inspiration !

Have fun...