{"id":48310,"date":"2023-08-04T07:35:47","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T07:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=120813"},"modified":"2023-08-04T07:32:24","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T07:32:24","slug":"how-to-photograph-the-night-sky-with-a-fisheye-lens","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/how-to-photograph-the-night-sky-with-a-fisheye-lens\/","title":{"rendered":"How to photograph the night sky with a fisheye lens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ultra-wide-angle lenses capture our Galaxy crossing the whole sky. Here\u2019s what to consider. <\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 04 August 2023 at 07:30 AM<\/p>

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T<\/span>he night sky can be breathtaking, especially when it contains bright views of the Milky Way from a dark-sky location.<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s the best way to photograph the entire stretch of the night sky?<\/p>\n

There are several methods, but as ever compromises have to be made. In this guide we\u2019ll run through some of the options and then show you how to photograph the night sky, step-by-step with a fisheye or wide-angle lens.<\/p>\n

Read our guides on how to photograph the Milky Way<\/a> and astrophotography for beginners<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Options for shooting the night sky<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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A camera with an interchangeable lens system such as a DSLR or mirrorless camera gives you the best of all worlds, allowing you to go wide-angle or mid-angle.<\/p>\n

Read our guides on how to use a DSLR camera<\/a> and DSLR astrophotography<\/a> for advice.<\/p>\n

A wide-angle lens has a focal length<\/a> of 17mm or less, a mid-angle is 18-40mm. Anything over this is getting in too close to the subject to be considered all-encompassing.<\/p>\n

If you choose a mid-angle focal length, you\u2019ll be able to cover a decent portion of the Milky Way, but you\u2019ll need to consider mosaicking shots together to cover all of it.<\/p>\n

However, seemingly perfect shots can then reveal issues such as lens distortion and edge vignetting<\/a>, so be prepared to put significant time into a Milky Way mosaic in order to get something that looks natural.<\/p>\n

For help with this, read our guide on how to create a Milky Way mosaic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Using wide angle and fisheye lenses<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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The Northern Lights and the Milky Way, captured with a fisheye lens. Credit: Zhuoren Xu \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

An alternative for photographing the night sky is to use a wide-angle lens, essentially capturing most of the visible part of the Milky Way in one fell swoop.<\/p>\n

It seems an obvious choice to reduce workload, but wide-angle lenses have drawbacks of their own.<\/p>\n

As with photographing a meteor shower<\/a>, using a wide-angle lens may seem the ideal route.<\/p>\n

Catching a trail is down to luck, but the narrower the field of view, the less chance of success.<\/p>\n

So it seems a no-brainer to choose a lens that covers the entire sky in one go.<\/p>\n

However, unless you\u2019re lucky enough to grab a bright fireball tracking over most of the sky, a typical meteor trail will appear rather puny and unimpressive.<\/p>\n

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A fireball captured over Belgium by UK Fireball Network cameras stationed in the UK. Credit: UK Fireball Network and the Global Fireball Observatory.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

In addition, extreme wide-angle or fisheye lenses have a tendency to distort around the edge of frame both spatially and in terms of image finesse.<\/p>\n

By spatially we mean the angular scale at the centre of the frame will be different to that at the edge.<\/p>\n

Finesse refers to the quality of the image towards the frame edge and affects things like the tightness of stars and whether they actually look like stars!<\/p>\n

Another wide-angle compromise is the amount of sensor utilised.<\/p>\n

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The Milky Way with a fisheye lens. Credit: Nori Yuasa \/ Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

True fisheye lenses deliver a circular image. This either fits and underutilises the whole sensor area or does fill the sensor by cutting off part of the fisheye\u2019s image.<\/p>\n

Typically, an 8\u201310mm focal-length lens produces an image that fits circularly on a full-frame sensor. A 12\u201318mm will fill the sensor frame while cropping a bit of the fisheye\u2019s image.<\/p>\n

A long session outside with a fisheye lens requires careful placement of any dew-reduction kit, whether this is a passive lens dew shield or an active dew heater strap.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t pay attention to where you put these, it\u2019s easy for them to end up as a pseudo false horizon.<\/p>\n

Equipment<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n