My Astro Rig

[The Rigger]

Let's see how this goes...
Here is my gen1 S5 with a Sigma 135mm f/1.8 Art lens, mounted on a slightly modified Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTi tracking mount and a vintage Manfrotto 075B tripod. In theory, this rig should do some great wide-field and Milky Way photography. Eventually I'd like to swap in a Sigma tele-zoom; either the 100-400mm Contemporary or the 150-600mm Sport, for shooting nebulae and star clusters.
Let the fun begin!

 

[Oíche]

Hardly any Lumix astro photographers. The problem with zooms is focal length creep unless you can lock them, most cannot, same with focus creep.

I've to do any astro/astro landscape with my S5ii. I had Pentax APSC before and an add-on unit which turned the sensor with Earth rotation, it could work quite nicely for several minutes with UWA lenses and less time for long focal lengths. It wasn't as good as an equatorial mount but obviously without all the bulk and I hiked with it up mountains.

That new Sigma Art 14 f1.4 is nice for UWA astro landscapes and it has focus lock.

 

[The Rigger]

Hardly any Lumix astro photographers.

So I've noticed.

The problem with zooms is focal length creep unless you can lock them, most cannot, same with focus creep.

That's why there's gaffer's tape, otherwise known as "zoom-lock on a roll." I've taped my old Canon L-series lenses to prevent a focal length shift before, and while it may look kind of "ghetto" it works just fine. Focus creep is a normal part of astro-imaging, if for no other reason than the change in ambient temperature over the course of a few hours of shooting. You just check focus every so often and press on.

 

[Oíche]

That's why there's gaffer's tape

Ain't no way I'm ruining my new Lumix gear, besides it wouldn't work with the design.

However I tested it and it doesn't creep, I doubt I'd be using this 70-300 anyway without a mount. I'll try the 24-105 f4 which I've seen good Milky Way done with or probably use my Samyang 14mm f2.8 which is bordering on too wide for the amount of MW I can see from here but 1/2 landscape 1/2 sky should work.

Obviously you're doing pure astro with 135 f1.8 which is amongst the highest light gatherers there is. I'm sure you use stacking and I'd love to see your results, it might even spark a new interest in members here.

• Xiaomi - 24069PC21G
• 4.9 mm
• ƒ/1.6
• 1/25 sec
• Center-Weighted Average
• ISO 250

No creep, too nice for tape

 

[The Rigger]

No lenses ruined; that's why one uses gaffer's tape and not cheap-o duct tape. The adhesive on gaffer's doesn't leave a residue. Never did on my Canons, anyway, and I can assure you that Canon L-Series lenses - even their tele-zooms - are every bit as high-zoot as anything Panasonic or Sigma ever put out.

You're correct that I'm stacking, and the more the merrier. My solar eclipse session from this past April resulted in around 24 subs stacked in Siril, which was about all I could shoot in the not-quite-four minutes of Totality. But the coronasphere came out incredible. I hope to do at least as well with the Lumix; I'm intending on capturing as many hours' worth of imaging as I can practically get. There are a few Dark Sky preserves within a reasonable drive from my home, that I plan on visiting.

 

[The Rigger]

However I tested it and it doesn't creep, I doubt I'd be using this 70-300 anyway without a mount. I'll try the 24-105 f4 which I've seen good Milky Way done with or probably use my Samyang 14mm f2.8 which is bordering on too wide for the amount of MW I can see from here but 1/2 landscape 1/2 sky should work.

I'd be tempted to try a Live View Composite shot or two with the 14mm, depending on which direction you're shooting and how the half-landscape looked... Star trails can be pretty cool, especially during a metior shower. I had the Rokinon version of the Samyang 135mm prime once upon a time, and it was a great lens.

 

[Oíche]

I'd be tempted to try a Live View Composite shot or two with the 14mm, depending on which direction you're shooting and how the half-landscape looked... Star trails can be pretty cool, especially during a metior shower. I had the Rokinon version of the Samyang 135mm prime once upon a time, and it was a great lens.

I'm still a noob with S5ii and out in the open...

 

[GeorgeHudetz]

That's pretty interesting. I've thought about using the 135 for astro. Good luck and please do post your results. Where do you shoot from?

I've been shooting astro with my S5 for about 4 years now. All have been "astroscape" however. Have used the Sigma 14-24 F2.8 Art, the new 20mm F1.4 Art, the older Sigma 28mm F1.4 (of the same vintage as your 135), as well as the Panasonic 50mm F1.8 and Sigma 65mm F2. All have returned great images. I use a tracker as well, which has been really helpful for all focal lengths, but obviously becomes more important as the focal length increases. Although I find that at wider focal lengths, a single F1.4 exposure produces remarkable images.

And yes, Live View Composite is awesome for star trails. Just set it and let it go. No advanced PP needed.

Have you considered modifying the sensor? One of my astro shooting buddies has a modded S5; it works quite well for him. I'll probably do it eventually.

Some tips:
- Be sure and set your shutter to Mechanical. All other shutter types have a bug that terminates a bulb exposure after a little over one minute. Used to drive me crazy until I figured it out.
- The AF system has a "low-light" feature that works quite well for astro. I normally set the camera to MF, then I use BBF and wait for the green indicator dot in the lower left of the screen to indicate focus lock. So much nicer than actually manually focusing. It normally locks in about 1-2 seconds.
- You can set the EVF and/or screen to "night mode" where everything is a shade of red, if you prefer.
- I normally shoot with Constant Preview set to ON. This is a little controversial, as it requires the preview to take exactly as long as the shutter speed, but it gives accurate previews. So, when composing an astro shot, I normally set the SS to 1 sec and the ISO to 512,000 when composing, and then I get a reasonable 1 Hz update speed in the viewfinder with enough brightness (if fuzzy) to allow me to judge the comp. Once the composition is good, I reset the SS & ISO to whatever I need for the image. Then just shoot away. Not sure if this makes sense for what you are shooting, but for astroscape it's quite useful, given that I normally try several different comps during a given outing.

Again, good luck. I really want to hear how the 135 works.

 

[Travis Butler]

Looking forward to seeing what others have done here!

So far, almost all my astro has been done with M4/3 because of the crop factor; it's all been single events like the eclipse, the December 2020 Jupiter/Saturn alignment, or comet Neowise in July 2020. The only L-mount astro I've done to date was a couple attempts to shoot the aurora in May, and they were so-so at best.

 

[Oíche]

So far, almost all my astro has been done with M4/3 because of the crop factor

I've a good whack of experience in astro and you want FF and not cropped over M43 anyday all day, all night?

I'll not get into it but read up on the clear aperture rule, longer focal lengths at a given aperture gather more light.

FF obviously superior high ISO to M43 is the other.

500/focal length on FF is the general rule for exposure in seconds without a tracking mount, I tend to use 300/focal length.

For pure serious astro stacking is a must, typically 60 to even hundreds of exposures. You can also use stacking to get around not having tracking equipment to some extent.

The specialist astro lenses and cameras are generally better but a road I'll never tread as I'm not that into it. I used a remote telescope in Mallorca one time for a week doing under-graduate research in astrophysics at the Open University, after the 3 month project I had enough of it, you got to be a super uber geek for that.

I'm happy with astro landscapes including light painting as you can still be a creative photographer obtaining unique images. Pure astro is science and the pros etc. do it better so better off just looking at hubble and JWST stuff etc. if you're the average photigrapher with existing gear who wants to try it. If you are into pure astro so be it but not for me.

 

[The Rigger]

That's pretty interesting. I've thought about using the 135 for astro.

It's actually a pretty good focal length for widefield work, such as the Milky Way and auroras, depending on sensor size.

Where do you shoot from?

I live in central Michigan, USA. There are a few pretty dark corners of the state, mainly in the northern parts, that are a reasonable drive from home, including a dedicated Dark Sky Park that overlooks the northern end of Lake Michigan near the Mackinac Bridge, and a recently-dedicated International Dark Sky Sanctuary (one of only 11 in North America) out on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, a short ferry ride from the village of Charlevoix. I'm in a pretty big city with Bortle 8-9 skies, but occasionally I can get 15-20 miles out of town and shoot decent images with a light-pollution filter.

Have you considered modifying the sensor?

I thought about it for about two minutes. Kolari charges just shy of us$500 (plus shipping) for modifying an S5 for full-spectrum work, and that's just too much. One can get a fairly decent, one-shot-colo(u)r dedicated astro camera with a cooled sensor for not much more than that, which would shoot rings around an S5.