Ultimate lens hood?? Need star gear..

Bayer-Z28

Star shots... no, not Jennifer Anniston star... Celestial galaxy star... The Andromeda Galaxy is QUITE visible in this area and I'm just itching to find a good spot to shoot it..

I would like to find a GOOD lens hood while I can still maintain a wide angle shot. I did a couple pics of the stars in my backyard, it's plenty dark, but the cars from the adjacent street seem to cast light thru the trees and my lens was picking it up.

Practice makes perfect, right?? I got a shot of the big dipper, but there was a bit of a glare to the entire shot..

I'm taking another one now... I would like to leave the lens open for a good hour but I'm impatient and I can't NOT think about the camera being out there.. :scratch

ziggy53

What lens(es) do you use and do you have a hood (or hoods) currently?

Bayer-Z28

whoop.. sorry.

I have a 18-55 DX Stock Nikon lens (no hood), and a 18-200 DX/VR Nikon Lens with a stock hood to fit that one.

Man, I wish fish-eye lenses weren't so expensive! :cry

ziggy53

Bayer-Z28 wrote:

whoop.. sorry.

I have a 18-55 DX Stock Nikon lens (no hood), and a 70-200 DX/VR Nikon Lens with a stock hood to fit that one.

Man, I wish fish-eye lenses weren't so expensive! :cry

Starting with the Nikkor 70-200mm, f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR (which is an "FX" lens BTW), the included petal hood is indeed only really competent at the widest setting. I suggest building a simple sleeve out of black "Foamies" sheet or use black felt. Either would be rolled into a tube shape, designed to fit over the diameter of the standard hood, and allowed to slide up and beyond the standard hood as required by the focal length. You could calibrate the sleeve during daylight hours when you can most easily see the vignetting caused by the sleeve when it impairs the FOV of the lens.

For the Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX, which is the "kit" lens for many DX Nikon bodies, you are best to use the recommended hood for wide angles and then I suggest the use of a "flag" or light-shield, made of some flat black material like those described above. Either tape or rubber band the flag in place as needed by the situation.

This is the standard hood for the lens above (in an Adorama brand):

http://www.amazon.com/Adorama-Dedicated-18-55mm-3-5-5-6G-HB-33/dp/B001CN9GPO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1248537740&sr=8-1

You might ultimately be better off finding a better site for astrophotography, a site with less light pollution to begin with.

Bayer-Z28

ok.. gotcha..

And FX?? Sorry, the first lens is an 18-200.. it says it's a DX lens on the body. Just need some clarification.

ziggy53

Bayer-Z28 wrote:

ok.. gotcha..

And FX?? Sorry, the first lens is an 18-200.. it says it's a DX lens on the body. Just need some clarification.

My bad, I misread.

The Nikkor 18-200mm, f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR hood is fairly inadequate at the long end, one of the compromises in a super-zoom. It should be possible to use the sleeve approach at the long end of the zoom, but I don't see that anyone has done that. You would probably have to design a few different length sleeves to accommodate the range of that lens.

Bayer-Z28

^ you didn't mis-read.. I accidentally listed it as a 70-200.. It was late when I posted that, I couldn't sleep.