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| I would say I'm still pretty new to deep sky imaging and even wide field so please bare with my newbie question. What are the benefits to changing the f-stop? Most of the articles I read suggest using the lowest f-stop possible to increase the light gathering ability. I have noticed most people on here step theirs down to say f/4 or some other value. Is this to increase the depth of field and in turn make focusing easier or are there other benefits I'm missing? Thanks! |
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| To say it simple, stopping down will show the objects sharper, it will reduce lens aberrations, but it depends on the quality of the lens (and personal taste),how many steps down are required, perhaps a few lenses are showing good results wide open. |
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| if I do wide field images I will always use 1 stop above fully open. For example my zoomlens at 55 mm is f5.6 so I stop it down to f6.3 otherwise too much lens aberrations will appear at the sides. In short you will have to do some trials to find the best f-value for you, but if you stop it down too much, much longer exposure times will be needed. |
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| First to reduce the aberrations but also to create diffraction spikes around the stars (1/3 to 1/2 a stop is sufficient there). |
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Hi, Closing down some lens improve the edge sharpness and can reduce the coma and vigneting. some lens can be used wide open, like the samyang 135. it depends of your taste : catching more light (signal), better sharpness, stars with spikes... ;) |
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1.20
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| Thanks for the help guys! |
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| I have up to this point not stopped down certain lenses for EX: Nikon 180mm f2.8 because I absolutely HATE diffraction patterns in my images and running the lens wide open has given me excellent results . Some lenses I have for example my Pentax 28mm f3.5 is so crappy around the edges I have to stop down or crop off the final image which defeats the whole purpose of a wide angle or fish-eye. |
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| Stopping down primarily increases sharpness while also reducing certain aberrations. If you do not like diffraction spikes, like myself, you can eliminate them while stopping down by using step down rings on the front of the lens (to match the desired aperture diameter). |
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When using the rings do you leave the lens wide open or adjust it using the camera settings to match the desired f ratio? I`ve just purchased a Canon 200 mm f2.8 USM and was using it last night for the first time at f4 (using the rings) but the camera was still set at f2.8. Thanks Alan |
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Alan, you did it correctly. That's the way to do it, leave the lens wide open, and just use the rings to stop it down. The stepdown rings basically take over the function the aperture stop does. You may notice more vignetting towards the edges. That's due to the way step down rings work. If you take flats with the exact same setup (step rings in place) you should be ok, the flats should correct for that vignetting. |
