What lens should I buy? - Recommendations for astrophotography and more

[LiamB]

I was gifted a T5i with an 18-55 kit lens, 50mm 1.8, and a 75-300mm. I recently got into astrophotography and also birds, and a lot of other types of photography and just doing whatever. I have been wanting a longer lens especially for astrophotography. I have been looking at the Sigma 150-600mm because it is a lower budget telephoto lens. I am mostly into photographing individual planets or birds or other animals that are far away which is why I want long range. I have a budget of less than $1000 preferably but could maybe expand if needed. I was hoping for more than 500 or 600mm but want to hear the community’s thoughts.

[Waddizzle]

If you wish to explore astrophotography, then I suggest that you research how the images are captured.  It’s complicated.  You have the gear to start small by shooting the night sky and the Milky Way.  All you need to add to get started is a fairly robust tripod, and perhaps a faster, wide angle lens.  For example, the Benro “Series 3” tripods are robust enough to withstand wind breezes and gusts.  For exposures longer than 30 seconds you will almost certainly need a tracking mount for the camera/len rig.

 

Astrophotography can become an expensive hobby.  It requires long exposures, much longer than what you might use to capture wildlife.  If you are interested in capturing images of planets, then a telescope is probably what you need.  

There is a lot of material on the web for beginners to advanced astrophotographers.  I think YouTube is a good place to begin.  Some of the videos will give some idea of what type of gear you need, and how to use it.  YouTube content creator Astrobackyard is pretty good for absolute beginners.

https://youtu.be/lIPXT4P-nWg?si=Qv931iZ9ee_EqWcq 

[Waddizzle]

Here is an example of more costly gear to capture “deep sky” images.

https://youtu.be/Oj1lDHS6Qi0?si=YFH4inISibjmAECO 

[ebiggs1]

I am going to ignore you budget and tell you what I would buy if I was you. You can figure out the budget and/or if it is possible. Buying a 150-600mm super zoom today I would get the Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 for Canon. It is a better lens than the current Sigma C version. It is a bit more expensive but I already delt with that. There is always the used market and this a good candidate on the used market to buy.

For deep sky I would buy the Rokinon 14mm F/2.8. It is a full manual lens with outstanding IQ and very inexpensive.

You will need a good sturdy tripod. You also need to d/l the free from Canon DPP4 editor.

[ebiggs1]

Here is another free at no additional cost piece of advice. 😁 The 600 Star Rule.

This rule claims that the maximum exposure time of a camera with full frame sensor should not be greater than 600 divided by the focal length of the lens. Exceeding this you will get star trails and or blurry images. Needing longer exposure time will require you to track the sky.