Affordable Telephoto Lenses for Lunar photography?

[alanm161]

I have very recently started astrophotography and at the moment I am concentrating on photos of our Moon. I have a Canon EOS 550D but my EF-S 55-250mm Lens does not get me close enough! My wife would kill me if I bought one of the larger Canon Tele Lenses therefore does anyone have a suggestion, preferably based on firsthand experience, of Lenses with a focal length > 500mm which are affordable (say less than 1,000 GBP/€)?

[S_J_P]

Re: Affordable Telephoto Lenses for Lunar photography?

Hi and welcome alanm161.

Don't underestimate the power of cropping! Some users on these forums have produced some excellent lunar images using 55-150 and 70-300 lenses.

I've used a Sigma 150-500mm zoom for some lunar photography with some success, and coupled with a 2x teleconverter you'll get around 50% frame coverage.

You should be able to pick up the big Sigma for around £700 and a t/c like Kenko's for around £125 or Sigma's own for around £225.

I'm sure there are better value alternatives to this set up (I've used a £100 500mm mirror lens with some success, as you're doing all the set up manually even with the AF lenses) but the big Sigma is a reasonable quality super-tele lens which has a multitude of uses beyond lunar photography.

Here's an image taken with that set up...
Moon by S.J.P, on Flickr
Canon EOS 60D/Sigma 150-500 @403mm with 2x T/C (806mm) 1/250 @ f/16 ISO400

[alanm161]

Re: Affordable Telephoto Lenses for Lunar photography?

Being brand new to the forum world I hope I manage to get this reply correct, here goes =>

Many thanks for your very interesting and useful input S_J_P, exactly what I was looking for :-)

[colin C]

Re: Affordable Telephoto Lenses for Lunar photography?

Mrs C killed me when I bought my 500mm .......... twice, but it was worth it!

Wouldn't a telescope with a camera adapter be more useful and also less expensive?

[alanm161]

Re: Affordable Telephoto Lenses for Lunar photography?

Hello Colin C,

Sorry to hear about your passing away :-(

To my shame I have a telescope and all the necessary Adapters already and one of these days/weeks/months/years I might actually get around to setting it up software-wise (despite the crappy Celestron User manual!) ;-)

Thanks for your posthumous input :-)

[Hereford_EOS]

Re: Affordable Telephoto Lenses for Lunar photography?

Hello Colin C,

Sorry to hear about your passing away :-(

That is funny .....

[colin C]

Re: Affordable Telephoto Lenses for Lunar photography?

Colin C, AKA ............. Lazarus.

[Nathaniel]

Re: Affordable Telephoto Lenses for Lunar photography?

Colin C, AKA ............. Lazarus.

This is how ghosts and phantoms appear and haunt places of interest!

[MX5]

Re: Affordable Telephoto Lenses for Lunar photography?

Something like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opteka-Telep.../dp/B001LZOWFC.

[alanm161]

Re: Affordable Telephoto Lenses for Lunar photography?

Hello MX5,

Sorry for not responding earlier. I did not receive any E-Mail notification of your input and haven't been online for a few days.

I actually have the Opteka 500mm Lens on my Amazon candidates list - with quite a few others. Do you personally have any firsthand experience with this Lens?

Thanks again and ..... zoom, zoom :-)