First try...

[Rick Nantais]

Oh la la, more complex that I tought. Nikon Z8, 24-70 at 24 mm. ISO 1000, 500-24 about 15 seconds exposure. F2.8. My main concern is the focus. How do I make sure the focul is good ? I put the lens at infinity but no real good result. Then I do I achieve great colors like you guys have ?

 

[Comet Hunter]

Great start and you are ahead of me with a dslr. Following for the same advise

 

[JimFox]

A great start Rick. You can't use infinity, those days are long gone. AutoFocus lenses don't have a true Infinity because the AF system needs to be able to go beyond Infinity as it focuses. Old Manual lenses had a hard stop Infinity. I have found today's manual focus lenses to also go beyond infinity, though I believe a couple like from Zeiss still have a hard stop at infinity. But no AutoFocus Lenses do.

Make sure you have set up your focus peaking to show Red when in focus, you can use that to help know if you are in focus. This view looks tighter then 24mm.

A key to focusing is to focus while it's still light out, don't wait until it's dark as it can be impossible. Focus when it's lighter, and this depends on what you would add for a ground layer, but I use Hyperfocal Distance. So that both the ground and sky is in focus. A simple way to start out is to make sure you don't have anything close to you on the ground, make sure you set up in a location where the ground is far away, set your lens to wide open, in this case f2.8, and focus on the ground. As long as your ground layer object is 100 feet or so away, the sky should be in focus. In this case were you just have the stars, while it's still light out you could focus on the horizon.

Also as a tip, your AF system should be able to focus on a planet like Jupiter, so you can do that before it gets too dark if you are just going to capture the stars. Then turn off your AF once you have achieved focus, do not leave it on, or your next image it will get out of focus again.

Your lack of colors is because this is too dark. I have several threads here I have posted with tips as people have been asking a lot about how to capture the night sky with the Perseids coming up. At 24mm, you want your shutter speed to be 20 to 25 secs. So 15 secs is way too short. ISO 3200 to ISO 6400, and of course wide open, f2.8 in your case. You want your histogram to be a little more then 1/3rd from the left, but not all the way to 1/2.

I have a tutorial on how to photograph the Milky Way in the Article section too if you want to check it out.

 

[Rick Nantais]

A great start Rick. You can't use infinity, those days are long gone. AutoFocus lenses don't have a true Infinity because the AF system needs to be able to go beyond Infinity as it focuses. Old Manual lenses had a hard stop Infinity. I have found today's manual focus lenses to also go beyond infinity, though I believe a couple like from Zeiss still have a hard stop at infinity. But no AutoFocus Lenses do.

Make sure you have set up your focus peaking to show Red when in focus, you can use that to help know if you are in focus. This view looks tighter then 24mm.

A key to focusing is to focus while it's still light out, don't wait until it's dark as it can be impossible. Focus when it's lighter, and this depends on what you would add for a ground layer, but I use Hyperfocal Distance. So that both the ground and sky is in focus. A simple way to start out is to make sure you don't have anything close to you on the ground, make sure you set up in a location where the ground is far away, set your lens to wide open, in this case f2.8, and focus on the ground. As long as your ground layer object is 100 feet or so away, the sky should be in focus. In this case were you just have the stars, while it's still light out you could focus on the horizon.

Also as a tip, your AF system should be able to focus on a planet like Jupiter, so you can do that before it gets too dark if you are just going to capture the stars. Then turn off your AF once you have achieved focus, do not leave it on, or your next image it will get out of focus again.

Your lack of colors is because this is too dark. I have several threads here I have posted with tips as people have been asking a lot about how to capture the night sky with the Perseids coming up. At 24mm, you want your shutter speed to be 20 to 25 secs. So 15 secs is way too short. ISO 3200 to ISO 6400, and of course wide open, f2.8 in your case. You want your histogram to be a little more then 1/3rd from the left, but not all the way to 1/2.

I have a tutorial on how to photograph the Milky Way in the Article section too if you want to check it out.

Wow thank you very much, next experiment in 3 days, clouds on the way !

 

[Mike Lewis]

Great advice already from our resident wizard at nightscapes, Jim. But I would say you have a nice start there. As you realized, it is a little more complex than it might at first seem. I think you have a good start on colors, especially those star colors, which can really add to the result. Good luck on your next try. I have been shooting deep sky astro for years and still do not have what I would consider a decent Milky Way image, so it is good to realize that it is a journey to go from first steps to really great results.

ML

 

[Rick Nantais]

Great advice already from our resident wizard at nightscapes, Jim. But I would say you have a nice start there. As you realized, it is a little more complex than it might at first seem. I think you have a good start on colors, especially those star colors, which can really add to the result. Good luck on your next try. I have been shooting deep sky astro for years and still do not have what I would consider a decent Milky Way image, so it is good to realize that it is a journey to go from first steps to really great results.

ML

Thank you for your advise. The summer doesn't help this year. A lot of rain and clouds. Practice makes perfect