Best aperture if you want to photograph stars?

6 years 2 months ago #567163 by Raymond Z
Considering how far stars are away, does the aperture really matter?  A buddy was trying to argue that you want to go f/16 to even f/22 to get them as sharp as you can.  I'm telling him you want to be around f/8-f/11. 

So, help us solve this debate.   Which is going to be the best aperture for photographing stars? 


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6 years 2 months ago - 6 years 2 months ago #567240 by effron
Wide open to a couple stops stopped down. You want all the light hitting that sensor as possible....At f22 or so the diffraction will kill a star field shot and the exposure time will be ridiculous....

photographylife.com/landscapes/how-to-photograph-the-milky-way

Why so serious?
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6 years 2 months ago #567291 by garyrhook
Wide open or slightly down, as stated above. At infinity the DoF is plenty wide, and you want as much light as possible.

Tight aperture won't get them sharper, and your buddy clearly hasn't pixel-peeped "good" astrophotographic images.


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6 years 2 months ago #567312 by Noah J
f/5.6 give or take IMO 


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6 years 2 months ago #568794 by Chris Yates
As others have already asserted, the most important thing is to get as much light hitting your sensor as possible – when you're photographing something so far away, your aperture isn't going to accomplish much.


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6 years 2 months ago #568815 by Roger Lang
I've typically shot stars wide open at f/2.8, you want to let in as much light as you can. 


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6 years 2 months ago #569002 by Carry
F/2.8 to F/5.6


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