Update: Camping in Utah totally upped my astrophotography GAME.

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4 Comments

How did you even start picking a spot out there? I mean, Utah has some of the darkest skies I've ever seen, so idk if you used a map or just got lucky. The biggest thing for me was finally getting a solid tripod that could handle the wind on those plateaus. Maybe it's just me but playing with the exposure time made way more difference than a new lens at first. You just have to take a ton of shots and see what works.

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betty_wells7mo ago

Ever think @joel_clark37 just needed a better tripod?

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the_tyler7mo ago

Disagree completely... a good lens changes everything from the start. Picking a spot means studying detailed light pollution maps online, not just getting lucky. A steady tripod is fine, but if your lens is cheap, all those long exposures just show soft stars. I found a faster lens captured more light in one shot than my old one did with minutes of exposure tweaking. You can take hundreds of photos, but without quality glass, you're just wasting time. Getting the right lens first lets you actually see what your settings can do.

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joel_clark377mo ago

My buddy's old glass (so bad) made stars look fuzzy.

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