Milky Way Photography With A Nifty Fifty

In this video I photograph the Milky Way core with a 50mm lens. I use both crop sensor and full frame cameras. I also show the difference between tracked and untracked photos. No panthers were harmed in the making of this video. As a matter of fact they were fed well and snuggled with me all night.

[@michaellorentzen1672]

Of all the Astro KZbin channels out there, yours is consistently my favorite.

[@deltaastrophotography]

That really means a lot! Thank you!

[@FMJAmerican]

I love your videos. Incredibly helpful!

[@henrycowsert3999]

Love how you're just being yourself. I appreciate it

[@dencyy-3205]

Thank you so much for making these videos!

[@grortyphx]

Another great video, Walt! I'm eagerly awaiting to see how you stack/process this. I'm going camping for a couple of days in a Bortle 2 area, so this has given me inspiration to try my luck at this too. Your videos are funny, but also very informative. Thank you!

[@carlreid4161]

My first watch of your channel and followed the accompanying processing episode thanks for producing this content Walt!

[@mirtacota]

Love your videos!! They are so interesting ❤️

[@fouuladvand48]

You are such a freak. Love that humor man!

[@shutterbug49]

Walt can't wait for the processing video. I have learned a lot by watching your videos. Don't have a tracker and not sure I will ever have one but the processing has helped me in other areas too. Thank you.

[@meninomichael]

That was great!! Thanks for the info. A great tutorial, looking to watch more, Thanks.

[@NESMASTER14]

Great video, love the humor haha and useful tips as always. Cheers

[@Paperflowerhills]

Great video, Walt! Very informative, and you crack me up. One of these days we are gonna float the Buffalo river and when we go,I want to shoot the Milky Way with the beautiful bluffs in the foreground.

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Great video & it's good to see that you water your lizard lol, stay safe from the black panther & clear skies!!

[@astrodad-simonb277]

Really enjoyed the video!! I have a Nifty 50 with a full modded Canon 700D and tried last year (with a 35mm lens) when I went to Majorca in the Mediterranean - was not that good to be fair as it was my first attempt at the MW, however, I got my son in the picture and he was overwhelmed at the MW. This video is perfect timing which I have learnt some new things - thank you fo this - best Simon 👏👏🙏

[@neild108]

Very interesting and enlightening to see the difference in results for the different types of camera and approaches to using them. I also appreciate the discussion of aperture and image quality for the nifty-fifty--I have that lens and will find your points very useful! (I just got an astro modded Canon 6D and MSM tracker, and am really looking forward to shooting this Milky Way season!)

[@rings1th487]

Man you are great keep up the good work my man

[@dw.in.michigan]

Great video, and entertaining as always. I just recently had an opportunity to use my 50mm f1.4 for some landscape astrophotography, with my Nikon full frame. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, overall. I bought the lens on the cheap through ebay, and the brand is on the bargain end anyway - Yongnuo. I've been a little apprehensive about how it would perform, so I'm pleased my gamble paid off. Not technically a nifty-50, but I also have its little brother, which is a f1.8 nifty-50, for my modified Canon T7. I'll be looking forward to using them both on my tracker, after watching this video. Thanks!

[@alexandreastronomy8022]

Very good video, keep going! from QC Canada!

[@jamshedtreasurywala]

Great content Walt. for someone just starting out into the astro photography realm, awesome videos & so much information to learn from ! A quick question, between each image have you used any time buffer or just straight out shot 30 images ? Once again, thanks for all the videos, & stay spacey !

[@Sarimae23]

comes in just to the right time, thanks

[@T.K.9]

There are a lot of video guides out there but yours is probably the more fun to watch. Its like just you being you. Others.. well I better not say haha! Been gathering up parts to do some milky way shots myself, atleast trying it on a Bortle 4 rural area which is in a field of wind turbines.

[@w3tua]

Holy cow! I used my 'new to me' Canon 6D Mk II in a Bortle 2 site a few nights ago for the first time. It blows my mind!

[@deltaastrophotography]

I really want the 6D Mk II!

[@thatonetimeatbandcamp]

Love these videos.. dude is watering a fake lizard. So amazing lmao..

[@deltaastrophotography]

😂🤣

[@Djankie49]

Going to try this out without the star tracker wish me luck :D

[@ludupgyatso7]

thanks for wonderful teaching. I am astro photographer. I never used use and purchase star tracker machine. which star tracker is better to buy? please guide me. I use sony mirrorless full frame.

[@211milkman]

As usual, another great video. I've shot the milkyway core and RHO OPHIUCHUS together with a nifty 50. A really good combination. One question. You used Vega to focus on. Just wondering why you use Antares instead? Clear skies!!!!

[@deltaastrophotography]

Thanks! The T5i live view screen isn't very bright and I can see Vega better than Anteres.

[@nossoflareact]

God! I Need a star tracker 🤯 In Brazil everything is so expensive 😓

[@jackbernstein3029]

Good job! Now, if I can get rid of my awful light pollution gradient over the core, I’ll be a happy boy.

[@deltaastrophotography]

I just started using the Optolong L-Pro filter. It's amazing for Milky Way light pollution!

[@jackbernstein3029]

@@deltaastrophotography I used a Rokinon 14 on a Modded Canon 5D Mkiii with an L-Pro. The light dome of Richmond, IN extended over the core. Processing doing OK but needs more work.

[@astronomy_star]

Please make video of editing Milkyway image with star tracker😍💫🙏🏻

[@davidpippin3460]

Walt, great video as always. Are both cameras astro modified or just the T5i?

[@deltaastrophotography]

Just the T5i!

[@dw.in.michigan]

Awesome images! What brand of 50mm lens did you use?

[@justdigit]

He is using a Canon 50mm f/1.8.

[@allenbaylus3378]

Milky Way question - what stars would you use as a guide to center on the Milky Way with - I have a fairly good view of the East (except for light pollution from the city at the horizon) but I have a tree line at the south east. I am trying to find a few sets of starts that would be good to look for to make sure that I have optimal view (the 50 has a pretty wide view - thinking about trying my 24-240 lens at 24 and see how it does - but it is slower 50 is f1.8 and 24-240 starts at f3.5).

[@deltaastrophotography]

Look dead south about an hour after dark. You should see the orange star Anteres in the constellation Scorpius. The Milky Way core should be just to the left.

[@Sarimae23]

btw, i once heard , that birds carry stones sometimes at night, to hit those streetlights Edit : Lol...i see you heard about those birds ;)

[@BigScope]

2:05 HAHAHAH My friend and I also have our favorite field with a street light that is messing up our view. We also considered throwing rocks at it xD

[@deltaastrophotography]

I think about it everyday 🤣🤣

[@v4led]

Dude how u stacked them without a star tracker? Probably cropped af

[@deltaastrophotography]

Haha! Yeah I definitely couldn't use very many photographs in the stack. The stacking artifacts would have been a nightmare!. It's been a few months since I did this, but I remember I could not use even half the frames that I actually took.

[@christopherfountain7129]

I have a question that has nothing to do with astrophotography, it's about your music studio I was looking at in your video. Did I see a pair of Event 20/20 studio monitors in the background? More to the point...I just bought a Canon M50 mk ii And I'm not sure if I will be very successful attempting astrophotography. What do you think?

[@deltaastrophotography]

Hahaha! Good eye! Yes I got the Event 20/20s off of a studio that was closing down about 17 years ago. I only paid about 200 bucks for them and they have been extremely reliable after all these years! The camera should be fine. You could seriously get good results with a camera from 10 years ago! You're just going to have a hard time finding lenses with that new mirrorless camera.

[@bluenose8442]

It should be ok on polar alignment with a nifty fifty but I’d check it after you’ve added the ball head and camera. PA might get knocked out.

[@deltaastrophotography]

The only thing I really hate about the Skyguider Pro is the ball head attachment. It totally blocks the polar scope. The nifty fifty is the only reason I'll ever use that attachment, and it usually works fine. Otherwise I'll use the counterweight kit so I can check PA as often as I want.

[@justdigit]

Is your 50mm lens f/1.8 or 1.4?

[@deltaastrophotography]

1.8

[@kevinashley478]

4:30 what music is that?

[@DesignedbyWill2084]

Be careful watering those things. we've got 12+ ft ones around here.

[@DPImageCapturing]

Can you say “nifty fifty” one more time!!!

[@johncarter591]

Yep those Nifty Fittys have really Bad Coma I ended up getting a Sigma Art 40mm for a cost of $1100 Australian Dollars

[@jackbernstein3029]

You need to stop down 1-2 stops and that pretty much fixes the coma.

[@johncarter591]

@@jackbernstein3029 yep only really good to do this if tracking otherwise increasing the Noise if shooting untracked