ESSENTIAL GEAR

The kit Chris relies on for capturing top night sky shots

EQUATORIAL MOUNT 1

Long exposures tend to pick up the Earth’s rotation and turn the stars from pin-points of light into trails, and this means Chris needs to track the stars at the same speed as the Earth’s rotation. He uses a battery-powered Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro equatorial mount on his Three Legged Thing Charles 2.0 tripod, which is lined up with Polaris, also know as the North Star.

MODIFIED CAMERA BODIES 2

Chris owns a standard Canon EOS 7D and two modified bodies – an EOS 70D and full-frame EOS 6D. He’s modified the DSLRs by removing the internal IR and UV filter, which allows more red spectrum to be recorded and optimises them for astrophotography. On his 70D he’s also added a Skytech Quad band filter, which lets in hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen beta wavelengths to capture more detail.

WIDE-ANGLE LENSES 3

50mm is considered to be a ‘standard’ focal length on a full-frame body as it has roughly the same angle of view as the human eye, so images have a natural look to them. A lens with a focal length wider than 50mm is considered to be a ‘wide-angle’, with a much wider perspective, which is perfect for squeezing in loads of starry details above your night scenes. Chris uses a Samyang 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC on his full-frame EOS 6D and a Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM on his Canon APS-C DSLRs when he needs to go wide.

TELEPHOTO LENS 4

A telephoto lens has a focal length longer than the ‘standard’ 50mm, and will bring distant details into view. Steve has a passion for wildlife photography, and had his telephoto Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM to hand, which was perfect for the task. You may be surprised to learn you don’t need a super-long focal length to fill the frame with distant nebulae or galaxies – 300mm is usually powerful enough on a full-frame body. Chris’s go-to telephoto is a William Optics RedCat 51, which has a focal length of 180mm, or 288mm on his APS-C Canons due to the 1.6x crop factor.

GOOD HEAD TORCH 5

A head torch is a must for astrophotographers, as it’ll help you stay safe and see where you’re walking, and it also frees up your hands to compose and operate your camera. Make sure you get a head torch with a red filter, as bright white LEDs are a surefire way to reduce your night vision – and annoy any fellow astrophotographers that may be taking shots!