Could anyone recommend a half decent astrophotography lens at all please that’s compatible with a 6d mkii? I’m struggling to find one.
Hi many seem to like the mirror lens like the 500 F8 mirror lens nice and compact you can also use a 1.4 or 2x converters. A lot have used the Tamron ones with the EOS adaptors but check the lens well before buying as can get mold and crusties inside plus separation in the mirrors. Can use on tripod which gives more scope for longer exposures or hand held.
what type of subject target are you going for, wide night sky / milky way, nebulae, globular clusters, planets etc, we have a few really good astro shooters here, a bit more info will help them hone in on what you want
Camera itself is no the important factor, you have 3 primary approaches, 1. the wide shots like shooting the milky-way using an ultra wide lens in your EF mount. I have the rokinon 14mm which is perfect for that. 2. Then you can get any nice long telephoto you like and as was mentioned you can put a teleconverter on for additional reach. 3. Then lastly you will want to look into probably getting a metal T ring and attaching your dslr to a good telescope for the shots you cant get with a telephoto lens.
I would grab the rokinon 14mm for this fun, its wide and fast and if you can get where its really dark to see the milkyway you will have some great shots. I picked up the one with th AE chip that gives focus confirmation, this is a manual focus lens. https://astrobackyard.com/budget-astrophotography-lens/ for some example/info on wide angle The lens I grabbed... https://www.amazon.com/Rokinon-FE14...prefix=rokinon+14mm+canon,aps,120&sr=8-3&th=1
Looking at the link you sent me I do actually have the EF 24-105mm 1.4L IS II USM and could probably borrow the EF 50mm f1.8 STM Lens of a friend, I’m pretty much a novice, nothing to do with camera settings stays in my head lol, I wanted a decent camera a few years ago and the 6d mkii seemed good
Your lens will fair well, just so you know its actually a F4, you will find the lens use a ration 1:x for example the x being the widest aperture. You should be able to get some nice shots, I simply suggested getting a wider and faster lens for the milky way, and gave my personal choice. Rokinon also makes a F1.4 at 24mm if you like the focal length, but its a little pricier than the 14mm. The 50mm stm is you can pickup your self for about as cheap as you can pick up a new EF lens for, I believe it may be a little soft outside the center given its design, so it probably is not be ideal for night astro shots. That lens would be better suited for portraiture.
I would start with what you own now before going out any buying any new gear. Even if you can borrow the 50mm from your friend for a couple of nights to try and see how things pan out for you. To start with, plonk your camera on a tripod, set your iso to 3200, set the focus to manual, open the aperture to as wide as it will go, and set your shutter speed to manual. Try different shutter speeds. Use a cable release if you have one. Focus with the rear screen of the camera, and zoom into a bright star to try and get good focus. Using the 50mm at f 1.8 may not give you great stars, but using f1.8 will let in more light. Just give it a go and see what happens. Yell out if you want or want any more pointers. Gary
