Photographing/Filming the nights sky - help!
 

So i'm technically a photography philistine when it comes to lenses, but i'm big on the night sky (stargazing, meteor showers, the moon).

I'm working with a t5i that works perfect for product photos with its native 18-55, but its worthless for star shots.

Can of the photography experts here share their secrets for photographing the night sky? I'd love to do video but if thats too difficult just photos would work too.

Doesnt necessarily have to be those incredible long exposure 'galaxy' shots that you see.. i just want to be able to take clear photos/videos of the moon and stars that dont look like a tiny dot in the distance.

Any beginners lens you would suggest for this hobby? Any help would be greatly appreciated, nature seems to be the only way for me practice mindfulness these days!

Thanks again :)

Galaxy/stars/meteors - need a wide angle wide aperture lens. The Samyang 14mm/f2.8 is pretty cheap (around $220) and supposedly pretty good. Exposure times over 15-20 seconds will start to get star trails.

Moon - need a pretty long lens to get much more than a dot. The Canon 55-250mm would fit your camera, is sharp, and is pretty cheap (around $200). It would give you a bigger moon than your 18-55, but still not fill the frame. Remember the moon is lit by the sun (daylight), so exposures will be short.

loads of BS...

the moon is easy captured with a good quality camera...

https://scontent-mad1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...de&oe=60DB3397

https://scontent-mad1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...7f&oe=60DD50FB

https://scontent-mad1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...19&oe=60DCAD78

https://scontent-mad1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...9c&oe=60DB9C00

these all taken with my Panasonic...

https://www.panasonic.com/es/consume...g-k.specs.html

however, for deep sky at night, i would recommend purchasing a telescope and connecting it to your pc or laptop :thumbsup

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Sony a7r IV does. You may need to watch some YouTube videos to put the camera in the proper settings.

https://i.imgur.com/VQRKt4C.jpg

Check out the pixel 4a for about 250. It has a astro / night mode and you place it n a tripod and it can get unbelievable pics via its built in processing algorithms - The picture above was taken in COMPLETE Darkness ! Imagine if I'd set it up to actually look at the sky specifically.